Cox Smith Matthews Incorporated (“Cox Smith”) (San Antonio, Texas, USA) today announced the San Antonio Bar Association (SABA) has awarded Cox Smith attorney and former San Antonio mayor Phil Hardberger with its Joe Frazier Brown Award of Excellence.
The award, created to recognize outstanding attorneys in the community who demonstrate service to others, idealism, intelligence and a high degree of integrity, will be presented today at SABA’s annual Law Day luncheon. It is named in honor of Joe Frazier Brown, Sr., who had a distinguished career as a district court judge and also taught and influenced many attorneys throughout his life. Cox Smith founding partner J. Burleson “Burley” Smith received the Joe Frazier Brown Award of Excellence in 2006.
“Phil’s achievements and contributions to our community and practice of law are many, and he is dedicated to serving the needs of his clients,” said Jamie Smith, managing director of Cox Smith. “He fully demonstrates the ideals for which this award was created and the entire firm joins me in congratulating him on this well-deserved honor.”
Hardberger joined Cox Smith in 2009 after serving two terms as mayor of San Antonio, where he carried an approval rating of 86 percent and captured 77 percent of the vote during his re-election. At Cox Smith, Hardberger provides counsel to the firm’s Litigation, Appellate, Public Law and Economic Development practices, while also being actively involved in external affairs and community relations. Prior to being elected mayor, he served as Associate Justice and then Chief Justice of the Fourth Court of Appeals. He spent 25 years as a litigator before serving as a judge.
During Hardberger’s two terms in office, he was instrumental in growing San Antonio’s park space with the acquisition of Voelcker Park (renamed Phil Hardberger Park) and the San Antonio River expansion, starting Haven for Hope as a new city facility for San Antonio’s growing homeless population, and setting the city on the road to being recognized as a green city as a result of its Mission Verde initiative. He also was responsible for redeveloping Main Plaza to restore the city’s original downtown center of government and society (dating to Spanish territorial days).
