The University of Texas at Austin   School of Law

Alumni Association Executive Committee 2009–2010

The Honorable Marilyn Aboussie

Vice President

Marilyn Aboussie was born June 9, 1948, in Wichita Falls, Texas.  She was admitted to the honors program at Midwestern University, graduating in three years in 1969.  After two years on Capitol Hill in Washington, D. C., she entered the University of Texas School of Law, graduating in January 1974.   She is married to UT law graduate John A. Hay, Jr.; they are the parents of John Alvin Hay III, a University of Texas law student.

Aboussie began her law practice with a firm in Houston.  In June 1976, Aboussie and her husband moved to San Angelo, Texas, where they both became partners in the firm of Smith, Davis, Rose, Finley, and Hofmann.  Her husband continues to practice law in San Angelo with the firm of Hay, Wittenburg, Davis, Caldwell, and Bale.  He is board certified in Tax and in Estate Planning, and she is certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Effective September 1, 1983, the governor appointed Aboussie as the first judge of the newly created 340th district court.  In 1986, she was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Court of Appeals for the Third District of Texas, sitting in Austin.  In 1998, she was elected Chief Justice of the Court, holding that office until her retirement on January 1, 2003.  She continues to serve as a senior judge for the State of Texas.

Aboussie was the first female attorney in each law firm where she practiced, the first woman on a court of record in the Concho Valley, and the first woman to serve on the Court of Appeals since its creation in 1882.  She was the first woman elected president of the Tom Green County Bar Association and the Young Lawyers Association.  She served as chair of the Judicial Section of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Center for the Judiciary, the Council of Chief Justices, and as judicial member of the State Bar Board of Directors and the Texas Bar Foundation Board of Trustees.  Among her professional activities, she served on the Texas Judicial Council, the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism, and the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.  She has served on numerous State Bar and Supreme Court committees, many boards and commissions around the state, and is a frequent speaker and lecturer at civic events and professional seminars. 

Chief Justice Aboussie’s honors include being named the outstanding woman in government service, outstanding woman office holder in Texas, and distinguished citizen of the Concho Valley.  Midwestern State University named her its outstanding alumna, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers in Texas awarded her its first outstanding jurist award, and the State Bar of Texas awarded her a presidential citation.  Aboussie is a life member of the Texas Bar Foundation, the American Bar Foundation, Midwestern State University Ex-Students’ Association, and the University of Texas Ex-Students’ Association.  She is on the professional advisory board for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis and the Stennis Center for Public Service at Mississippi State University.  She is a member of the University of Texas Commission of 125, active in Emmanuel Episcopal Church, a trustee of the San Angelo Health Foundation, and a trained mediator.  She is on the advisory board for the Center for Public Policy Dispute Resolution and a 2004 Fellows Class graduate.  Aboussie joined the Executive Committee of the University of Texas Law Alumni Association in 2003.