James Snyder is a leader with quiet confidence who inspires others to better themselves in both their professional and personal lives. It is my great honor to celebrate James Snyder as this month’s One-to-Watch.

James is a native of Fort Worth and a graduate of Texas Christian University.  While attending law school at South Texas College of Law in Houston, James focused his studies on Probate and Estate Planning with the goal of practicing in those areas upon graduation. James is a pathfinder in probate and, from 2018 to 2019, James served as the second-ever Public Probate Administrator in the State of Texas. Combined with his prior experience as an estate planning attorney, James utilizes his diverse knowledge of planning and probate to zealously represent his clients in complex litigation involving wills, trusts, and estate disputes. His experience and expertise in probate is why his firm, Caldwell, Bennett, Thomas, Toraason & Mead, PLLC, and his clients trust him with difficult and monetarily significant cases. He is the man to call when it is all on the line.

Another sign of his expertise – James served on the North Texas Probate Bench Bar Planning Committee and helped to organize an extensive and substantive CLE program for probate practitioners across the state. He also volunteers his time assisting DVAP clients with probate and estate matters.

Outside of the probate and estate area, James serves on the DAYL Judicial Internship and the DAYL Elder Law Committees. James’ dedication to service is evident at every turn. James is the first to volunteer for committee work, and he has the follow-through necessary to see that the work gets done. For Judicial Internship, James has encouraged and helped grow opportunities for judicial interns to find opportunities with the Dallas County Probate Courts – a previously under-represented area of practice in the Judicial Internship Program. He also took on the challenge of planning the last in-person event Judicial Internship has had since the start of the pandemic – the 2019 Summer Intern-Judge Social. For Elder Law, James helped the committee adapt to the pandemic and organized the first ever virtual edition of “Coffee with the Probate Court” with the Honorable Judge Brenda Hull Thompson.

It is a joy to be James’ friend, and it is meaningful to work alongside him in serving the DAYL and our legal community. The committees he serves are made better by his presence, and the work all the more powerful. James is a man of integrity that leads by example as well as by action. He is a great asset to the DAYL and the Dallas Legal Community.