Press Release
City of Port Arthur Announces City Attorney Finalists
Port Arthur, TX (July 12, 2024) – The City of Port Arthur is in search of its next City Attorney and is considering four highly
qualified candidates.
The City selected SGR to assist in conducting the extensive search that resulted in an impressive candidate pool. SGR is an executive recruitment firm based in Texas, specializing in recruiting, assessing, and developing innovative, collaborative, and authentic leaders for local governments. SGR’s proprietary recruitment and vetting process produced an incredibly strong field of candidates.
The finalists:
Samer Shobassy has over 18 years of post-graduate legal experience and is currently a Senior Associate Attorney for Hyde Kelley, LLP. Before this, he was
General Counsel for Advanced Pain Care, Assistant General Counsel III, Litigation Staff Attorney V, and IV for the Texas Medical Board. Samer was an Attorney-at-Law for Shobassy Law from 2007 to 2016 and was the Assistant City Attorney II for Port Arthur from 2010 to 2015.
Samer has a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in Dallas, TX, an M.D. from the University of Texas Medical Branch in
Galveston, TX, and a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry/mathematics from the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. He is also a member of the Texas State Bar Association and the Texas City Attorneys Association.
Roxann Pais Cotroneo has over 29 years of municipal law experience and is currently with the Law Office of Roxann Pais Cotroneo where she is legal counsel for various cities, including their officials and employees, since 2013. Prior to this, she was the City Attorney for the City of Harlingen, TX, the Executive Assistant City
Attorney – Special Projects for the City of
Dallas, TX, the Special Assistant United States Attorney, Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) and Anti-Gang Crime Initiative, and Executive Assistant City Attorney – Chief of Community Prosecution and Community Courts for the City of Dallas.
Roxann has a Doctor of Jurisprudence from St. Mary’s School of Law in San Antonio, TX, and a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin, TX. She completed the
32nd Program of Instruction for Lawyers at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, MA. Roxann was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 1995 and she is a certified instructor with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education.
Quentin Price has served as the Assistant District Attorney – Civil Division for Jefferson County, TX since 2017. Before this, he was the First Assistant City Attorney for the City of Beaumont, TX from 2009-2016. He was a Senior Partner for Barton, Price, McElroy, & Townsend in Orange, TX, and a Civil Defense Associate for Strong, Pipkin, Nelson, & Bissell in Beaumont, TX.
Quentin has a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Texas Tech School of Law in Lubbock, TX, a master’s degree in business administration from Texas Tech University, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Lubbock Christion College in Texas. He’s been a Texas State Bar member since 1991 and is licensed to practice in all state courts in the State of Texas.
William (Kent) McIlyar has over three decades of experience in legal counsel for local governments and most recently has served as the Senior Assistant City Attorney (ACA-3) for the City of Corpus Christi, TX since 2017. Prior to
this, he was a contract attorney for various municipal law firms, City Attorney for the City of Paris, TX, Senior Assistant City Attorney III for the City of Plano, and the Assistant City Attorney – Litigation Division for the City of Dallas, TX.
Kent has a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Oklahoma City University School of Law in Oklahoma City, OK, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Oklahoma in
Norman, OK. He is licensed with the State Bar of Texas, certified in Municipal Law from the Texas City Attorneys Association/Texas Municipal League, and is a member of the International City Attorneys Association.
The Port Arthur Mayor and City Council reviewed the applicants and selected these four Finalists, who participated in interviews on July 11.
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