As a girl growing up in West, a small Texas town near Waco, Judge Jessica Mangrum saw first hand how being a lawyer can be a helping profession.

“My dad is an attorney, so I guess I grew up seeing him and his work, and I saw him very much as a helper,” said Mangrum, who took the bench in January of Travis County’s 200th District Court in Austin. “He did family law, he did personal injury, he did criminal defense. Hearing about his work, I saw the legal profession as a noble calling and as a way to be a helper in the community.”