Ryan Brown/Photo by Ryan Brown Law Office

A well-known local criminal defense and civil rights lawyer will take on a rising star of the conservative legal community during a debate in Amarillo next week.

Jace Yarbrough/Photo by Jace Yarbrough for Texas Senate Campaign

According to an announcement shared by the Amarillo Federalist Society, a debate will be hosted next week regarding Proposition A — the proposed Amarillo Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance. The debate will focus on the legal implications of the item’s potential passage. The two lawyers participating in the debate will be Ryan Brown and Jace Yarbrough.

Brown is arguably one of the best known criminal defense attorneys in the city, managing a practice based in downtown Amarillo. Brown is a graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio and Texas Tech University School of Law. Prior to starting his own firm, Brown worked for the Innocence Project of Texas and was a partner in the law firm of Blackburn & Brown. Brown previously ran for the office of Potter County Attorney as a Democrat and was a candidate for the Amarillo ISD Board of Trustees in 2023.

Yarbrough is an attorney based out of Cedar Hill, and has become one of the leading legal voices for the pro-life movement in Texas. Yarbrough is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and he earned his law degree from Stanford Law School in 2018. In 2024, Yarbrough unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for State Senate District 30, losing in a runoff to Brent Hagenbuch. Throughout the Proposition A debate in Amarillo, Yarbrough has been one of the measure’s biggest supporters from the legal community and spoke in favor of the ordinance to the Amarillo City Council earlier this year.

The debate will be held in the second floor meeting room of the Amarillo National Bank Plaza II building downtown, on Tuesday, October 15th, at 12:00pm. The public is invited to attend and attendees should bring their own lunch. RSVPs should be sent to Leah Davis at ldavis@mw-law.com.