• My Cart
      was successfully added to your cart.
  • Directory
  • News & Publications
  • Contact
  • For Members
Texas Bar CollegeTexas Bar CollegeTexas Bar CollegeTexas Bar College
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • For Members
    • Paralegal Membership
    • Committees
    • Board of Directors
    • Grants
    • The Endowment Fund
  • Awards
    • The Franklin Jones Best CLE Article Award
    • The Steven G. Condos Award for Outstanding New Member to the College
    • The Merianne Gaston Award for Excellence in Legal Support
    • The Jim Bowmer Professionalism Award
    • The Patrick A. Nester Outstanding Achievement in CLE Award
  • Merchandise
  • Donate
  • Join
  • Renew

The Merianne Gaston Award for Excellence in Legal Support

  • The Jim Bowmer Professionalism Award
  • The Franklin Jones Best CLE Article Award
  • The Steven G. Condos Award for Outstanding New Member to the College
  • The Patrick A. Nester Outstanding Achievement in CLE Award
  • The Merianne Gaston Award for Excellence in Legal Support
Home Awards The Merianne Gaston Award for Excellence in Legal Support

This award recognizes a legal support professional whose conduct, commitment, and actions demonstrate extraordinary dedication to the legal profession. The award is named in honor of Merianne Gaston, who worked for over 30 years at the State Bar of Texas. She served the Texas Bar College from 2009 until her retirement in 2018, first as Managing Director and then as Executive Director. Merianne dedicated her entire career to promoting the importance of continuing legal education and improving the quality and content of the programing.

2021 Recipient – Jena Parker, CP

Jena Parker has over 27 years of experience as a criminal law paralegal.  Since 1997, Jena has been a certified paralegal through the National Association of Legal Assistants which the American Bar Association recognizes as a designation of her ability to provide exceptional paralegal services and marking a “high level of professional achievement” (www.nala.org). To maintain this highest level of national accreditation, Jena must fulfill ongoing educational requirements mandating a minimum of 50 hours of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) every 5 years.

In addition to her nationally recognized accreditation, Jena was on the board of the Texas Bar College for approximately 10 years and has been a member of the State Bar of Texas Paralegal Division for many years. Jena also joined the Fort Worth Paralegal Association (FWPA) in 1992, serving on its board for 6 years, receiving nominations for “Paralegal of the Year” each year from 2003-2006, and was elected President of the FWPA in 2005.  Jena’s “Paralegal Profile” has been featured in West’s Paralegal Today (Fourth edition, p 587), and she was featured in the popular paralegal reference guide Lessons from the Top Paralegal Experts: The 15 Most Successful Paralegals and What You Can Learn from Them by Carole Bruno.

Jena was featured in the documentary series Dallas DNA (Investigation Discovery Channel) for her work with the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU).  The CIU was the first of its kind in the United States, created to review claims of actual innocence by those convicted of serious crimes, remedy wrongful convictions, reaffirm proper ones, and lobby the legislature to pass laws to prevent wrongful convictions and minimize their impacts moving forward.  Jena was the CIU paralegal from its inception in 2007 through 2011 when she returned to the private sector.  In the subsequent years, the groundbreaking work done by Jena and her colleagues at the Dallas County CIU has been a model for successfully reviewing the integrity of convictions from within District Attorney’s Offices nationwide and, in some cases, overseas.

Jena currently works for renowned criminal defense attorneys Terri Moore and Mike Ware, and for the Innocence Project of Texas (where Mike is Executive Director), a non-profit organization that works to free the wrongfully convicted statewide and assists with corresponding efforts nationwide.

Past Recipients

2020

Emily Walterscheid

2019

Kay Redburn

2018

Merianne Gaston

The Bulletin

  • Spring/Summer 2018s
  • Fall 2017s
  • Summer 2017s

Helpful Links

  • View Your Membership Record
  • TexasBarCLE Online Library
  • State Bar of Texas
  • Associations

News & Publications

  • Texas Bar College Summer School – July 21-23, 2022
  • TECHNOEVIDENCE: The “Turing Limit” 2020
  • Remembering Bettie Lou Saunders
  • A Year of Texas Force Majeure: From Coronavirus to Snowpocalypse

Recent Posts

  • Texas Bar College Summer School – July 21-23, 2022

    LIVE Galveston July 21-23, 2022 Register Here.

    March 1, 2022

Chat provider: LiveChat

Custom Pet BlanketRoyal Pet Portraits
  • Sitemap
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
©Texas Bar College - All Rights Reserved
  • 40th Anniversary
  • About
    • Board of Directors
    • Committees
    • Grants
    • Our Mission
    • Paralegal Membership
    • The Endowment Fund
  • Associations
  • Awards
    • The Franklin Jones Best CLE Article Award
    • The Jim Bowmer Professionalism Award
    • The Merianne Gaston Award for Excellence in Legal Support
    • The Patrick A. Nester Outstanding Achievement in CLE Award
    • The Steven G. Condos Award for Outstanding New Member to the College
  • Cart
  • Checkout
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Member Benefits
  • Membership Directory
  • Merchandise
  • News and Publications
    • Member Spotlight
  • Online Library
  • Privacy Policy
  • Shop
  • Sitemap
  • Terms and Conditions
  • The College Designation
  • Home
  • About
    ▼
    • Our Mission
    • Committees
    • Board of Directors
    • Grants
    • The Endowment Fund
  • For Members
  • Paralegal Membership
  • Join
  • Renew
  • Donate
  • Awards
    ▲
    • The Franklin Jones Best CLE Article Award
    • The Steven G. Condos Award for Outstanding New Member to the College
    • The Merianne Gaston Award for Excellence in Legal Support
    • The Jim Bowmer Professionalism Award
    • The Patrick A. Nester Outstanding Achievement in CLE Award
  • Directory
  • News & Publications
  • Contact
  • Merchandise
  • Cart