About Me
Marialyn Barnard was appointed as Justice to the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals on January 1, 2009. She is an experienced attorney with a broad base of legal experience in state and federal courts. At the time of her appointment, she was in private practice with the Prichard Hawkins McFarland & Young LLP law firm representing clients in civil litigation and appeals. Ms. Barnard started her legal career working for different courts including state appellate courts and a federal trial court.
Her early experiences include internships at the Texas State Supreme Court for former Justice John Cornyn and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for Judge Charlie Baird. Marialyn’s legal career has spanned working for several judges, litigating as an Assistant United States Attorney, and being a corporate counsel. She was also a high school teacher for many years and has worked as a social worker in the Food Stamp and Aid to Families with Dependent Children Programs.
Marialyn Barnard attended school in San Antonio and graduated from Samuel Clemens High School in 1971. Her father retired as a United States Air Force officer at Randolph A.F.B., and her family settled in Bexar County. She attended San Antonio College, Abilene Christian University, University of Texas at San Antonio, and graduated from Texas A&M Commerce in 1983. She graduated from St. Mary’s University Law School in 1992, although attended two semesters at the University of Texas while she interned at the Texas Supreme Court and the Court of Criminal Appeals. After law school, Marialyn worked at the Fourth Court of Appeals for Justice Orlando Garcia on civil and criminal appellate cases including:
- Commercial Litigation
- Family Law
- Oil and Gas
- Premises Liability
- Employment Law
- Personal Injury
- Negligence/Wrongful Death
- Consumer Protection
- Criminal Law
She also worked with all of the justices including former Chief Justices Blair Reeves and Carlos Cadena (as visiting judge) for whom the Bexar County Justice Center is now named.
In 1994, Marialyn worked at the United States District Courts for Judge Orlando Garcia. Marialyn worked again on a variety of civil and criminal cases in the federal court including:
- Intellectual Property
- Employment Law
- Voting Rights
- Health Care
- Defense Contracts
- Child Custody/Kidnapping
- Bankruptcy
- Tort Law
- Criminal Law
As a result of Marialyn’s diverse legal experience at the state and federal courts, in 1995 she became an Assistant United States Attorney for the United States Department of Justice. She handled various types of complex civil litigation cases in the Western District of Texas, many of which were parallel proceedings involving criminal cases. At the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Marialyn was selected for an “On the Spot Award” and a “Time-Off Award.” After a few years, she was selected in a competitive selection process by the United States Department of Justice for a special detail to train and establish trainings for other Assistant United States Attorneys and Department of Justice attorneys. The training areas included trials, appeals, evidence, and substantive law areas such as civil fraud, civil and criminal health care and defense contract fraud.
Marialyn has also worked as a corporate attorney and director of business intelligence for CPS Energy in San Antonio and as a managing director of Forensic and Litigation Services for KPMG, where she worked on mergers and acquisitions, compliance, and employee issues for individuals and international corporate clients.
Complimenting Marialyn’s strong legal knowledge, court experiences, public school teaching and social worker experiences, Marialyn has tirelessly volunteered time to our community through her legal profession as well as through numerous charities.
In addition to Marialyn’s many volunteer and charitable activities for the community, she was a director on the First Mark Credit Union Board, originally the San Antonio Teacher’s Credit Union. Marialyn was also a board member on the San Antonio Women’s Chamber of Commerce, and she was on the supervisory committee for the Academy of Creative Education for the Northeast Independent School District in San Antonio, working with students in preventing the number of high school dropouts. She is a member of the Downtown San Antonio Rotary Club International.
Marialyn is married to Gary Barnard, PhD. psychologist in private practice who works with families. Gary is her high school sweetheart, and they have been married thirty-seven years. They have two grown children and one grandchild. Their daughter, Capt. Brandi Barnard Cone is a U.S. Air Force Reserve C-5 pilot with the 433rd, married to Brandon Cone, who is an owner of an options and futures trading company. They have a one year old son, Wendall Barnard Cone. Marialyn and Gary’s son is Joshua Caleb Barnard who works in the futures market.
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