The Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program, or DVAP, a joint initiative of the Dallas Bar Association and Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, and Dallas law firms have partnered to hold free virtual and in-person legal clinics in September. Virtual clinics are as follows: Thursday, September 1—DVAP and solo practitioners, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, September … Continue Reading
The story behind Night Court and its 2022 production ‘Night Court at 30 Presents Justice by the Dozen’ By Tara Taheri Night Court is Houston’s very own all-lawyer musical theater company, which in recent years has transitioned to a public 501(c)(3) and has been approved for 2 hours of CLE ethics credits.… Continue Reading
The American Lawyers Alliance, or ALA, has named Texas Supreme Court Justice Brett Busby the 2022 recipient of its Judicial Civic Education Award. The ALA is an American Bar Association affiliate that supports law-related education, and the Judicial Civic Education Award honors judges for their work promoting civic education in their communities or states. Busby, … Continue Reading
The Houston Bar Association presented its Diversity Awards to recognize outstanding law firms and individuals for their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within the legal profession and greater Houston community, during the HBA’s 24th Annual Summer Associate Luncheon on July 21 in Houston. The recipients of the 2022 HBA Diversity Awards are Frost Brown Todd; … Continue Reading
This year’s Fastcase 50 award winners include two from the Texas legal world. Attorney Anne-Marie Rábago and law library director Joe Lawson are among those honored as “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries, [and] leaders.”… Continue Reading
The Texas Bar College will honor five distinguished lawyers at the Texas Bar College Summer School Course on July 21 at Moody Gardens in Galveston. Jerry D. Bullard, of Grapevine, will be presented with the Franklin Jones Best CLE Article Award for his article, Looking over the 87th Lege: An Overview of Selected Bills That Passed … Continue Reading
Former State Bar of Texas President and Houston attorney Randy Sorrels has been named the 2022 Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Texas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, or TEX-ABOTA. “This is one of the highlights of my career, and I am thankful to TEX-ABOTA, my partner and wife, Alex, as … Continue Reading
Registration is now open for the 5th annual Judicial Summit on Mental Health, hosted by the Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health, or JCMH, that will be held November 2-4, 2022, at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine. The JCMH, a joint commission under the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, … Continue Reading
John Browning, a former justice on the 5th Court of Appeals in Dallas and a partner in Spencer Fane, is part of the team of the Oklahoma Bar Journal to be recognized as one of eight recipients of this year’s American Bar Association Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts. The award, which recognizes … Continue Reading
The American Bar Association, or ABA, will honor Texas lawyers Maddy Dwertman and Mark Melton with the Pro Bono Publico Award for demonstrating outstanding commitment to volunteer legal services for low-income and disadvantaged persons on August 5 during the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago. This award is the highest honor given by the ABA Standing Committee on Pro … Continue Reading
Jason P. Nance, an education policy and law scholar who studies inequalities in public education, has been named the Judge James Noel Dean of SMU’s Dedman School of Law. Nance comes from the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law, where he served as associate dean for research and faculty development and was a professor … Continue Reading
The Texas Access to Justice Foundation, or TAJF, which provides grant funding for civil legal aid in Texas, announced the creation of the Terry O. Tottenham Veterans Justice Fellowship. The fellowship honors veteran, current TAJF Secretary, and former State Bar of Texas President Terry O. Tottenham, who is of counsel at Norton Rose Fulbright in Austin. … Continue Reading
The State Bar of Texas Legal Services to the Poor in Criminal Matters Committee announced Michael J. Ritter as the 2022 recipient of the Michael K. Moore Award for Excellence in Research or Writing in the Area of Indigent Criminal Defense. Jeff Blackburn is the 2022 recipient of the Warren Burnett Award. Ritter is senior … Continue Reading
Christopher V. Popov, of Vinson & Elkins, took office as president of the Houston Bar Association during the HBA Annual Dinner on May 19.… Continue Reading
The Managing Director’s Office of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar released bar pass data for ABA-approved law schools that lists pass rates based on race, ethnicity, and gender.… Continue Reading
Texas Bar Foundation donates $6,000 to Tarrant County nonprofit The Texas Bar Foundation’s donation to Alliance For Children will help facilitate the presentation of a new training course—Behavioral Characteristics of Sex Offenders— for staff and partners. The course will be led by Michael L. Bourke, a former chief psychologist for the U.S. Marshals Service.… Continue Reading
The State Bar of Texas Legal Services to the Poor in Civil Matters Committee has announced its 2022 Pro Bono Excellence awards winners. Michael Logan Ware, of Fort Worth, received the Frank J. Scurlock Award; the Rev. Brooks Harrington, of Fort Worth, received the J. Chrys Dougherty Award; Judge Jerry W. Simoneaux Jr., of Harris … Continue Reading
Thank you to the 14 writers who submitted entries to the Texas Bar Journal Short Story contest this year. Author names were removed from entries before being submitted to judges in order to keep the contest fair and impartial. Two panels of judges faced the challenging task of selecting winners, and for each round, … Continue Reading
To provide a streamlined solution for those individuals in need of legal representation throughout 68 southwest Texas counties, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, or TRLA, recently established new universal local and toll-free phone numbers. Anyone seeking to apply for legal services, contact a TRLA office, or contact a TRLA staff member should now dial 956-996-TRLA (8752) … Continue Reading
The State Bar of Texas Board of Directors held its quarterly meeting on April 29 in El Paso. Highlights of the meeting appear below. You can watch video of the meeting at youtube.com/statebaroftexas and read the agenda and meeting materials at texasbar.com/bodmaterials. New board chair-elect The board elected Dallas district director Chad Baruch chair of the board for … Continue Reading
The State Bar of Texas is excited to welcome three dynamic keynote speakers for its 2022 Annual Meeting in Houston, on June 9 and 10. Award-winning chef Chris Shepherd, internationally best-selling novelist Corban Addison, and Simon Tam—an activist and bassist of The Slants, will speak separately over the two-day event held at the Marriott Marquis … Continue Reading
Law students from some of the top trial advocacy programs in the country will take part in the thirteenth annual National Top Gun Mock Trial Competition, scheduled for June 1-5 at Baylor Law School in Waco. This year’s competition, known as Top Gun XIII, is by invitation only and is among the nation’s most prestigious … Continue Reading
Cinco de Música will return for its second year via the American Bar Association Hispanic Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities. Held online, the virtual event features comedy from Michael Freed, president of the National Conference of Bar Presidents, and five musical performances, including Dallas’ “Off the Record.”… Continue Reading
AUSTIN—Texas attorneys elected Cindy V. Tisdale of Granbury to be president-elect of the State Bar of Texas. Tisdale received 51.69%—11,081—of the 21,437 votes cast during the monthlong voting period that ended May 2. Her opponent, Jose “Joe” Escobedo Jr. of Edinburg, received 48.31%, or 10,356 votes. Tisdale will be sworn in as president-elect during a … Continue Reading
