As a native Houstonian, I’ve lived through my share of disasters. From hurricanes, freezes to those so-called “500-year floods” that arrive every few years. As a Texas attorney, I’ve also had a front-row seat to something far more encouraging: watching our legal community step up for clients, colleagues, and communities when things go sideways.
The Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program, an initiative of the Dallas Bar Association, Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, and local lawyers, is hosting free virtual and in-person legal clinics for eligible Dallas County residents throughout January.
Volunteer attorneys will be available to answer legal questions on Wednesdays in January through the Dallas Bar Association’s LegalLine E-Clinic. The clinics are free of cost to participants.
A volunteer attorney will call a participant for up to 15 minutes of legal advice. No attorney-client relationship will be established. Individuals may receive referrals to local, legal, or social service agencies.
Calls from the clinic will remain anonymous. Participants should expect a call from an unknown number labeled “No Caller ID” or something similar. To participate, an online form is available at https://shorturl.at/borO4. Registration for e-clinics closes at noon on the Tuesday prior.
Clinics are scheduled for January 7, January 14, January 21, and January 28, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
For more information, go to dallasbar.org/?pg=LawyerReferralService.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit adopted amendments to its rules in December 2025.
The approved amendment are as follows:
FIFTH CIRCUIT RULE 25.2.1
Electronic Filing. All cases will be assigned to the court’s electronic filing system. Counsel must register as Filing Users under Rule 25.2.3 and comply with the court’s electronic filing standards, posted separately on the court’s website, www.ca5.uscourts.gov, unless excused for good cause. Non-incarcerated pro se litigants may request the clerk’s permission to register as a Filing User, in civil cases only, under such conditions as the clerk may authorize.
Filing Users must submit all briefs, motions, and petitions for rehearing in PDF text (not scanned), format and only when directed by the clerk, in paper format. Whenever possible, other documents, e.g., record excerpts, etc., should be submitted in PDF text format, and only when directed by the clerk, in paper format. All paper filings must be identical to the electronic file(s).
The court received no comments on the proposed amendment, and the amended rule went into effect on December 1, 2025.
Additionally, the court adopted the following changes to local rules to conform with the December 1, 2025, changes to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure:
The State Bar of Texas Executive Committee will meet at 10 a.m. CST on January 8 at the Texas Law Center in Austin. The meeting is open to the public and will be streamed live on the State Bar of Texas YouTube page.
The agenda can be viewed here. The meeting materials are available here.
Among other agenda items, the committee will consider and discuss recommendation of Board approval of the SBOT 2026-2027 proposed budget in the Texas Bar Journal and consider and discuss approval of the recommendation of nominees for 2026-2027 SBOT president-elect candidacy.
Those who wish to address the Executive Committee in-person during this meeting should fill out a speaker card at the beginning of the meeting and submit it to a staff member onsite. To sign up to speak remotely during the meeting, please email boardofdirectors@texasbar.com or call 512-427-1400 or 800-204-2222 (toll free) before 5 p.m. CST on Wednesday, January 7. Please provide the agenda item number you wish to speak on.
Written comments regarding agenda items must be received by 5 p.m. CST on Monday, January 5, for timely distribution to the Executive Committee members before the meeting. Please submit written comments by email to boardofdirectors@texasbar.com and indicate the agenda item you are referring to.
Update 12.18.25: We received a report of two more scams similar to one we reported on in October 2023. The two scams share many of the same facts with each other. An attorney was contacted, and an engagement letter was signed. Then soon afterward, the “client” informed the attorney, “I worked it out myself, and I just need the settlement check to go through you” (or something similar). This seemed strange to the attorneys, but in both cases, the attorneys soon received funds, either by check or ACH, for distribution via an IOLTA account. Also in both cases, although the attorneys live in very different parts of the country, the “settlement” check came directly to them from Canada. And in each case, the settlement check turned out to be fraudulent and were either drawn on a non-existent bank account or counterfeited from a real account without permission. In one case, the attorney caught on, did not suffer any loss, and never heard back from the “client.” The reporting attorney did however later learn from police that the “client” had used a fake ID to sign up. But in the other case, the attorney forwarded proceeds too quickly. Days later, when a bank reversed the deposit and withdrew money from the bad “settlement” check, the attorney was out almost $80,000. The bank was able to recover some but not all of the funds. It seems the scammers figure that due to the prompt payment requirements involved in IOLTA, they can use this to their advantage to get attorneys to wire funds before a check fully clears.
We revisit this episode of the State Bar of Texas Podcast in which host Rocky Dhir welcomes Nelson Ebaugh to discuss Ebaugh’s article in the May 2023 issue of the Texas Bar Journal titled “Texas Cryptocurrency Jurisprudence.” Ever since cryptocurrency made its debut, many have repeatedly questioned its validity. Is it legal tender? A scam? Well, in today’s digital ether, both exist en masse, and lawyers need to understand how to recognize the real thing and how it fits into our current legal framework.
Accurate bookkeeping and reporting are crucial for law firms, not only for internal clarity but also for maintaining compliance with IRS regulations. One key step is handling the IRS 1099 form series correctly. While it may seem like extra paperwork, properly managing 1099s ensures your records are accurate and helps you avoid tax issues.
Explore how a 1099 works for lawyers, the rules that matter most, and the best practices that simplify compliance and collections.
The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas is accepting public comments on the following proposed ethics opinion:
Proposed Opinion 2025-3 (comment deadline 2/2/2026):
If a school’s lawyer attends an Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) meeting between a representative of the school and parents who are accompanied only by a nonlawyer advocate, and the school’s lawyer knows the parents are represented by a lawyer regarding the subject of the meeting, may the school’s lawyer communicate with the parents during the meeting without the consent of the parents’ lawyer?
Go here to read the proposed opinion and provide comments.
The State Bar of Texas Board of Directors Nominations and Elections Subcommittee voted on November 20 to recommend Sarah Clower Keathley, of Corsicana, and Ray Thomas, of McAllen, as candidates for 2026-2027 State Bar president-elect. If the board approves their nominations, Keathley and Thomas would appear on the ballot in April 2026 along with any certified petition candidates.
Potential petition candidates could begin collecting signatures on September 1, 2025, and have until March 2, 2026, to submit their nominating petitions to the State Bar for certification. For information on how to run for president-elect, go here.
This year, the subcommittee considered candidates from any county of the state, in compliance with State Bar election rules. Click the names below to read the nominees’ interest letters and resumes as submitted to the Nominations and Elections Subcommittee.
Nominations and Elections is a subcommittee of the State Bar board co-chaired by Immediate Past President Steve Benesh and Immediate Past Board Chair Paul K. Stafford.