Hon. Elizabeth Byer Leonard, Midland

Judge Elizabeth Byer Leonard was born in Houston, Texas and raised in Columbia, Missouri. She attended Baylor University and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance. After graduation from Baylor, she worked in investment banking at First City Bank in Houston. In 1994, she received her Doctorate of Jurisprudence from South Texas College of Law. Following law school, she worked as a prosecutor for over 10 years; first as the juvenile prosecutor in Ector County and then as a felony prosecutor in Midland County. Upon leaving the Midland County District Attorney’s Office, she joined JTD Resources, LLC as an oil and gas attorney and landman.

In 2012, Governor Rick Perry appointed Judge Leonard to serve as District Judge of the 238th District Court. Since taking the bench, she and a team of stakeholders have established a mental health court that seeks to divert the mentally ill from the Midland County Jail and assist them in maintaining healthy lifestyles. In 2019, she and a mental health team began a jail-based restoration of competency program at the Midland County jail.

Judge Leonard is a member of Christ Church Anglican, St. Nicholas Episcopal Church’s handbell choir, Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health, Midland County Republican Women Board, Midland Behavioral Health Leadership Team, MARC Board, a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, Executive Women of Midland, Midland Teen Court volunteer, the Downtown Lions Club, P.E.O. sisterhood, a sustaining member of The Junior League of Midland, the Midland County Bar Association and a monthly book club. She was a 2015 recipient of the Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest’s “Women of Distinction” Award, a 2015 recipient of the Midland County Republican Women’s “Women for Justice” Award and a 2018 recipient of the Texas Federation of Republican Women’s “Tribute to Women” Award.