Posted inNews

Texas Access to Justice Foundation wraps up Texas Veterans Legal Aid Week

By Eric Quitugua on

The Texas Access to Justice Foundation, or TAJF, wraped up Texas Veterans Legal Aid Week, a statewide effort to provide legal aid to qualified veterans, on Saturday, November 17. The weeklong event brought legal aid programs, local bar associations, law schools, and pro bono attorneys together to offer free legal services in civil legal matters, including:

1. Denial of critical medical care;
2. Problems receiving benefits;
3. Legal issues related to disabilities;
4. Family law matters arising from deployment; and
5. Other issues that may arise due to a veteran’s absence from home during military service. Continue Reading

Posted inConferenceEducationNews

Registration Open for State Bar LRE Annual Conference

By Adam Faderewski on

The State Bar of Texas Law-Related Education Annual Conference will be held on January 25-26, 2019, at the Commons Conference Center in Austin. The theme for 2019 is “Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society, and Free Enterprise,” which expands on the 2019 Law Day theme.

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Posted inAccess to JusticeNews

Chief Justice Hecht, Texas legal aid leaders honored by National Legal Aid & Defender Association

By Eric Quitugua on

Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan L. Hecht received the Equal Justice Ambassador Award at the NLADA annual conference at the Westin Galleria in Houston on November 2. Photo by Eric Quitugua

The National Legal Aid & Defender Association, or NLADA, honored and featured several notable Texans at its annual conference at the Westin Galleria in Houston in November. The event celebrates, advocates for, and educates on access to justice, bringing together legal aid and indigent defense lawyers from across the U.S. Continue Reading

Posted inNewsTexas Supreme Court

Texas Supreme Court holds special session to commemorate 100th anniversary of World War I armistice

By Adam Faderewski on

Justices of the Supreme Court of Texas convened a special session of the court on Wednesday to honor judges and governors who served in the armed forces during the Great War. Descendants of those honored were among those present in the crowd.

The session was held in the historic Texas Supreme Court courtroom in the Texas Capitol in recognition of 100 years since the end of World War I on November 11, 1918. Justice Paul Green presided over the court in the absence of Chief Justice Nathan L. Hecht, who was unable to attend the ceremony.

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Posted inGuest BlogTexas Lawyers' Assistance ProgramTLAP

Stories of Recovery: Life’s terms

By Guest Blogger on

Editor’s note: This post was originally published on July 3, 2014, as part of the Texas Lawyers’ Assistance Program’s Stories of Recovery blog series. TLAP offers confidential assistance for lawyers, law students, and judges with substance abuse or mental health issues. Call TLAP at 1-800-343-8527 (TLAP) and find more information at tlaphelps.org.

The first time I got intentionally drunk was on May 26, 1972. I was 12 years old and woke up that morning to find that my father had died during the night.

By that afternoon I had dipped into Dad’s liquor cabinet and I was drunk. For some reason I instinctively knew that alcohol was the balm for the pain that I thought was going to kill me. Please understand that I am not an alcoholic because my father died. Rather, what this illustrates is that alcohol was not my problem, it was my solution—to everything—and THAT was the problem. Continue Reading

Posted inNewsTexas Young Lawyers Association

New TYLA podcast offers tips for young attorneys

By Adam Faderewski on

Young Gunners, a new podcast from the Texas Young Lawyers Association, or TYLA, discusses practical tips and challenges that face new attorneys.

The podcast, first released on October 23, 2018, has eight episodes, with new episodes dropping every Tuesday. Episodes feature TYLA directors talking with experienced attorneys about topics including demand letters, going to court, the basics of oil and gas law, social media, mergers and acquisitions, and work/life balance.

Topics currently featured on the podcast include drafting effective (and ethical) demand letters, effective use of objections in court, social media, cross-border transactions, going to court, and getting evidence admitted before a jury.

Young Gunners episodes are available for download on iTunes.

Posted inNews

Texas Courts of Appeals issues nearly 10,000 opinions in FY 2018

By Adam Faderewski on

The 14 Texas Courts of Appeals issued almost 10,000 opinions in the FY 2018, an increase of 1.3 percent from the previous year. The number of opinions issued by each justice increased by 4.5 percent.

The majority of the appellate cases before the court are now civil cases—making up a record percentage of the docket with 54.3 percent of all cases.

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