Tom Crosley ‘92
Jan. 2, 2020 — As the current president of the San Antonio Bar Association, Thomas A. Crosley feels part of his responsibility is to uphold the high ethical standards of the legal profession. Crosley, a 1992 alumnus of the University of Houston Law Center, began his role in August and will serve through 2020.
"I'm honored to serve as the 121st president of the San Antonio Bar Association," Crosley said. "It's one of the state's oldest bar associations. I've always been a big believer that all the work we do to get through law school and be in this profession, it makes sense that we get involved in our bar associations.
“We should do everything we can from within to promote our profession for the betterment of our legal community.”
Crosley said his goals for the organization are to increase networking among attorneys in San Antonio, increase membership in the bar associations locally and to continue pro bono efforts.
"I want lawyers in our community to know each other well," he said. "When lawyers know each other, they treat each other better. When they treat each other better, you cut through a lot of the bureaucracy of handling cases and can cut to the heart of the matter."
Crosley is the founding partner of the Crosley Law Firm, P.C., a personal injury firm, which has offices in Houston and San Antonio. He started the firm in 2005 after working as a partner and shareholder at Branton & Hall for more than nine years.
"Since I was a young lawyer I always kind of had the mindset I'd like to be running my own law firm one day,” Crosley said. “I have a business degree from my undergrad education and I have a law degree. I like both of those things, and I love practicing law and especially love trial law in my area. I also like the idea of running my own business and being in control of my own destiny.”
Crosley said the most rewarding aspect of plaintiff’s work is achieving positive life-changing outcomes for his clients.
"The thing I enjoy the most is the personal relationships, especially with the people whose lives we were able to change," Crosley said. "I have countless examples of people whose lives are different now for the better as a result of my representation of them. The result of some of my cases is providing financial resources to take care of somebody because of their injury or to replace lost income for a family because of an injury.
“I get a lot of thank you cards from clients, a lot of gifts, a lot of personal notes, and hugs.”
When reflecting on his time as a law student, Crosley credited the Law Center for making him passionate about trial work, and also creating lifelong friendships with classmates.
“The first-year moot court program gave me the courtroom lawyer bug,” he said. “For the rest of law school I was on the moot court team, and was a brief writer for the moot court team. I came out of law school with this really strong desire to try lawsuits.
“I also love the core group of friends I made in my section. I'm still in touch with several of them.”
