South Texas Law alumnae currently serve or have served in a number of key positions with the Houston Bar Association (HBA), State Bar of Texas, and Houston Young Lawyers Association (HYLA). This series of stories in honor of Women’s History Month will feature four women who have blazed trails of their own, in a variety of ways: Lynne Liberato ’81, Amy Dunn Taylor ’82, Samantha Torres ’13 and Brittny Mandarino ’20.
AMY DUNN TAYLOR ’82
Mediator/Arbitrator at Amy Taylor Mediation
Amy Dunn Taylor ’82 — who founded Amy Taylor Mediation in 2021 after more than 13 years at Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC — jokes she was “bar coded” from a very early age.
Her dad, Charles R. “Bob” Dunn ’66 served as Houston Bar Association (HBA) president after becoming a second-career attorney when Amy was in third grade. Her mother was simultaneously finishing her undergraduate degree at the University of Houston. “Our entire family studied together at the kitchen table,” she recalls.
Her mom, a teacher, was president of every auxiliary — local, state and national — including the American Lawyers Auxiliary in Washington, D.C. “They were both leaders and extraordinary role models,” Taylor said.
Taylor got involved with the HBA early in her career when she went to work for a Dallas firm that had opened a Houston office. Her boss, Rob Rowland, had been on the HBA board and encouraged her to run for the board in her early 30s.
She became actively involved in HBA leadership, moving through her years on the board and eventually serving as treasurer twice, as president-elect, and as president. “If you really want to understand an organization, learn how the money is made and the spending trigger points,” she said. “I’m not a numbers person at all, but I learned so much in every role.”
Taylor went on to serve on the board for the State Bar of Texas, as president of the Metropolitan Bar Caucus, and on the 15-member board of the National Bar Presidents’ Caucus, which had leaders across the country. She began honing her leadership skills in high school as a cheerleader, then through a number of organizations at her alma mater of Trinity University and through moot court and mock trial competitions at South Texas College of Law Houston.
“The skills I gained working with Dean Treece and my team members were valuable in my practice, and I learned that I really liked being on my feet in front of people,” Taylor said. “My name is on some of those trophies on campus to this day, so we all made a difference.”
Those courtroom skills served Taylor well as she tried cases for 40 years with much success.
She has shared her experience and knowledge at South Texas Law for almost four decades, serving as an adjunct professor — the longest serving adjunct professor in the organization’s history. She usually teaches Civil Pre-Trial Advocacy. “I love teaching, and I love that I was able to teach and to work on Zoom during the pandemic,” Taylor said.
Her ability to deftly handle online meetings and instruction has served her well as she launched her own business handling mediation and arbitration. In just a few examples, Taylor has successfully mediated multiple fatality cases with as many as a dozen layers of insurance, arbitrated disputes involving allegations of fraud and professional negligence claims, and arbitrated the settlement of complex residential construction disputes regarding multimillion dollar homes.
Through her years of Bar leadership, her work at her law firms, and teaching, Taylor has seen the value of mentoring. “Mentors come in all shapes, sizes, and nationalities,” she said. “Don’t limit your mentors to someone you currently work with or even someone in the same firm. I was not a risk taker at all but my mentors along the way forced me to reach beyond my comfort level — thus making a huge difference in my professional life.”
South Texas Law, where Taylor attended part time in the evenings, also made a huge impact on her life and career. “I made lifelong friends at South Texas,” she said. “We all came from different backgrounds so we broadened each others’ insight because of our differences. For years, we got together for lunch once or twice a year but Covid intervened. Then folks began retiring and moving away.”
She also is grateful to many of her professors and mentors, including Pamela George, Elaine Carlson, Byron Davis, and Catherine Burnett.
These days, Taylor stays connected with the other five women who have served as HBA president through the years — beginning with South Texas Law alumna Lynne Liberato ’81. “Every quarter, we take turns hosting each other for lunch,” she said. “We are all friends, and it’s a wonderful network and support system of like-minded women.”
Taylor looks fondly back on her career — and continues to work hard at it. But now she can handle her mediation and arbitration work from anywhere in the world. Inspired by that option, she and her husband bought a place in San Miguel de Allende
“My clients don’t care where I’m located; when we’re meeting together online, we’re all face to face, regardless of where we’re sitting. They just want my undivided attention to help them and their clients solve disputes.”
