austinbar.org JULY / AUGUST 2017 | VOLUME 26, NUMBER 5
Introducing Austin Bar Association President—Amy Welborn
O
n July 1, 2017, Amy Welborn takes the helm at the Austin Bar Association and begins her term as president. Joining her on the executive committee for the 2017-18 bar year are Adam Schramek, president-elect; D. Todd Smith, secretary; Kennon Wooten, treasurer; and Leslie Dippel, past-president. Welborn, a partner in the Austin office of Hawkins Parnell Thackston and Young, was born and raised in Denton, TX, with two younger brothers. She is a graduate of the University of Texas, where she majored in government and public relations before attending the UT School of Law. She is the proud mother of two energetic and active boys—Travis, age 12, and Jay, age 8. As a result, whenever she is not at work, she can be found on a baseball or soccer field somewhere in the state of Texas. Welborn recently answered the following questions about herself. AUSTIN BAR: Why did you want to become a lawyer? WELBORN: I wanted to become a lawyer after watching the court scene in “Miracle on 34th Street” in which Fred Gailey uses all the Dear Santa letters
from the post office to prove that Kris Kringle is Santa. I felt if he could prove there really is a Santa Clause, then the law could be used to do just about anything. AUSTIN BAR: What was your first job out of law school? WELBORN: When I graduated from law school, I worked for Jerry Galow at Watson, Bishop, London, and Galow. He taught me so very much about the practice of law and life. He taught me to always think about the double edge of any piece of evidence. And I cannot take an expert deposition without thinking about a doodle bug. AUSTIN BAR: What has been your career path from then until now? WELBORN: I have always been a trial lawyer. I love to be in the courtroom. Last year I joined Hawkins Parnell Thackston and Young where I am honored to practice with some of the best trial lawyers across the nation. AUSTIN BAR: What has been your biggest accomplishment so far? WELBORN: I would say time management is my biggest accomplishment. Being a single mom, raising two boys who play multiple sports on travel teams, while also working as a partner in a trial firm, and
Amy Welborn with sons, Travis Grey, 12 (right) and Jay Grey, 8.
serving as Austin Bar President, means that time management is everything. I love the challenge of juggling it all and would not change anything! AUSTIN BAR: How long have you been involved with the Austin Bar? WELBORN: I have been involved in Austin Bar since I was a first-year lawyer. I first ran for the Austin Bar Board of Directors as a second-year lawyer. I had no idea what I was dong, but it sounded fun and I have never looked back. It was a great decision! AUSTIN BAR: Why would you encourage someone to get involved in the Austin Bar? WELBORN: I would love
everyone to be involved. Just show up for something. Come to a CLE, meet someone new at our happy hours, or volunteer for our pro bono projects. We always need volunteers for our committees. If there is a program you like, or would like to see changed, please join the committee and help us improve. We are only as strong as our volunteers. AUSTIN BAR: What has been the biggest benefit you’ve received from being involved in the Austin Bar? WELBORN: The biggest benefit I have received is getting to meet, and become friends with, so many lawyers. I have met lawyers in so many different practice continued on page 5
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CONTENTS
AUSTINLAWYER JULY / AUGUST 2017 | VOLUME 26, NUMBER 6 AL A L INSIDE FEATURED ARTICLES 1 Introducing Austin Bar Association President—Amy Welborn Austin Bar Board Approves New Civil Rights and Immigration Section
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Spotlight on Austin Bar Foundation 2017 Grant Recipient: Austin Classical Guitar
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Austin Bar and AYLA Present Awards for Outstanding Service
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Diversity Fellowship Program Begins Eighth Year
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Judge Herb Evan Retires
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Nicholas Chu Investiture Ceremony
ONLINE
DEPARTMENTS 10 Opening Statement 12 Briefs 14 Third Court of Appeals Civil Update 15 Third Court of Appeals Criminal Update 16 Federal Criminal Court News 20 AYLA 22 Developing Your Practice 23 Ad Index
VLS Hosts Pro Bono Service Awards Attorneys and Law Firms Honored
Annual Color of Justice Program Held in April Program Paves the Way for Diversity
Price Ainsworth, Local Attorney, Pens Legal Thriller Book Signing at BookPeople on July 6
ONLINE austinbar.org EMAIL nancy@austinbar.org MAIL Nancy Gray, managing editor Austin Bar Association 816 Congress Ave., Suite 700 Austin, TX 78701-2665 SOCIAL LIKE facebook.com/austinbar FOLLOW twitter.com/theaustinbar
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Austin Bar Board Approves New Civil Rights and Immigration Section
AUSTINLAWYER OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE AL ALASSOCIATION AUSTIN BAR
mmigration, civil rights, and criminal defense attorneys have joined to create the new Civil Rights and Immigration Section. This section of the Austin Bar Association is dedicated to increasing access to information and collaboration on civil rights, immigration, and criminal law issues for attorneys in Central Texas. The section plans to focus primarily on training and informing attorneys about current issues related to these practice areas, as well as increasing collaboration among practitioners. The first section meeting was held on June 26, 2017. Future meetings will be held on the fourth Monday of the month from 11:45
AUSTIN BAR ASSOCIATION
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JUN 26 NEW CIVIL RIGHTS & IMMIGRATION SECTION FIRST SECTION MEETING 11:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m. RSVP: carol@austinbar.org
a.m. to 1:15 p.m. at the Austin Bar. All are welcome to join. Questions? Contact Abby Anna BatkoTaylor at abbyannabt@hotmail.com or Carol Tobias at carol@austinbar.org.
Amy Welborn ............................ President Adam Schramek ....................... President-Elect D. Todd Smith ............................ Secretary Kennon Wooten ...................... Treasurer Leslie Dippel .............................. Immediate Past President
AUSTIN YOUNG LAWYERS ASSOCIATION Austin Kaplan ............................ President Jorge Padilla .............................. President-Elect Sandy Bayne .............................. Treasurer David King .................................. Secretary Katie Fillmore ........................... Immediate Past President
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Austin Bar Interviews Incoming President Amy Welborn continued from cover
areas and who are doing exciting things both in and outside of their practice. Lawyers are fun, creative, and driven individuals and I am privileged to have so many I can call my friends. AUSTIN BAR: If you could give your younger self a word of advice, what would you tell her? WELBORN: My advice to my younger self is that confidence is the key to success. No one will ever promote or believe in you unless you believe in yourself. You must be your own biggest cheerleader and cheer loud and proud. AUSTIN BAR: What do you want to achieve as president in the upcoming year? WELBORN: I want to increase membership and participation. AUSTIN BAR: Do you have any new initiatives or programs you’re hoping to start this year? WELBORN: I am starting
several new projects: Ten for Ten will be an opportunity for 10 lawyers to meet one another in an intimate lunch setting once a month. People You Should Know will be a breakfast series where Austin Bar members will have the opportunity to meet influential members of the Austin community over breakfast. Holiday Party will be a family-focused event to celebrate the winter holidays. 125th Birthday Party will be an unforgettable celebration of the Austin Bar’s 125th anniversary in 2018. Podcast/TV Show will be a show produced with AYLA. Stay tuned for more details on all of these projects. I am also expanding the outreach program at Akins High School for their law-track students, working with the YMCA on increasing their Texas Youth and Government program in our
The Austin Bar will turn 125 this year. I want to embrace the history while looking forward to find new and relevant ways we can support the lawyers of Austin... community, and growing the gala into the most fun and exciting fundraiser you will ever attend. AUSTIN BAR: Do you have a particular focus for your term? WELBORN: The Austin Bar will turn 125 this year. I want to embrace the history while looking forward to find new and relevant ways we can support the lawyers of Austin, and ensure that our legal community grows stronger and works together as an organization for the next 125 years. AUSTIN BAR: What challenges do you think we face as an organization and how do you think we can overcome them? WELBORN: All professional organizations are facing a decline in membership. We have to work
to ensure we are providing the best possible leadership, education, and volunteer opportunities for our members. We have to keep our organization exciting and fun to keep our membership growing. AUSTIN BAR: What excites you the most about the opportunity to be president of the Austin Bar? WELBORN: I am looking forward to finding ways to make the Austin Bar a place where all Austin lawyers come together to work as a community to provide education, friendship, and community service. I want to remove any barriers lawyers may feel which keep them from becoming active participants in AUSTIN LAWYER L AL the AustinABar.
KenDavison Greg Bourgeois Eric Galton David Moore Kim Kovach Fred Hawkins Ben Cunningham Lynn Rubinett Lucious Bunton
JULY / AUGUST 2017 | AUSTINLAWYER
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SPOTLIGHT ON AUSTIN BAR FOUNDATION 2017 GRANT RECIPIENT:
Austin Classical Guitar BY NANCY GRAY, AUSTIN BAR
T
he Austin Bar Foundation awarded almost $30,000 in grants this year to provide legal-related services to the Central Texas community. While Austin Classical Guitar (ACG) may seem an unlikely choice for a Bar Foundation grant, they received $4,000 to support an after-school program to offer classroom-based guitar instruction to court-involved youth as part of their mandated case plans. How did an arts organization created in 1990 for, and about, classical guitarists become the largest classical guitar non-profit of its kind in the U.S.? How has it become so successful in carrying out its mission to inspire members of the community through musical experiences of deep personal significance? And how has that mission suddenly intersected with that of the Austin Bar Foundation? The answers to those questions can be found in Matthew Hinsley, executive director of ACG. Hinsley began volunteering for the organization in 1996 while still a graduate student studying guitar at the University of Texas, becoming its first executive director in 2003. In 6
AUSTINLAWYER | JULY / AUGUST 2017
those early years, ACG was focused on serving guitarists, building audiences, and holding concerts. But Hinsley had a broader vision and saw a bigger opportunity: to serve the community through music. To him, it was about people. “The arts are a vital part of our society,” said Hinsley. “If we’re going to reach people—we need to start with people. We have to build programming that’s based on their needs, their individuality, and use what we’re good at—guitar—to reach them in the best possible way.” The result of this vision has been nothing short of remarkable. In the early 2000s, school-based guitar instruction was non-existent in area schools. Hinsley began a program at McCallum High School that quickly expanded into other high schools, middle schools, and even to elementary schools. In 2008, the economy was turbulent. AISD did a survey of services and found a dearth of participation in music programs for low-income kids—except for the guitar programs. Low-income kids loved it. It was much more relatable to them than other band or orchestra programs.
By offering rigorous, collaborative arts enrichment in an after-school setting, the goal of these classes is to help at-risk students develop new skills, build their confidence and self-identity, re-engage them in their education, and ultimately intervene in patterns of behavior that can lead to incarceration. The district recognized this and began utilizing it more, allowing the program to thrive. By leveraging the popularity of the instrument, ACG became more passionate about serving kids in need than about teaching guitar. They developed a curriculum and educated choir, band, and orchestra teachers on how to teach guitar. It proved wildly successful and people from all over the U.S. and the world started noticing. They now train, and have partnerships with, teachers from all over Central Texas, St. Louis, and New York City, as well as Mexico, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom. Hinsley became even more intent on listening to the community to find out what needs
ACG could meet. In 2010, two new programs were created as a result. ACG had been performing at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired for years. When several of the students there expressed an interest in learning to play the guitar, Hinsley responded by bringing in teachers and developing a rote learning system. By 2012, they were translating music to braille and teaching the students to read music. Unlike their sighted peers, they cannot read music and play it at the same time. The curriculum is all memory based: the students read, memorize, and then play. Their new-found musical literary and skill provided a deep sense of empowerment.
The students excelled. In 2009, ACG partnered with Dr. Carl Streeter in the UT School of Social Work to do an impact study on the high school guitar programs. Forrest Novy, a research associate professor at UT who has studied criminal justice in America, took note of the study. He thought the program was extremely valuable because of the data around social engagement. Kids, in talking about how they value success, rate academic success far lower than social success. Social success, such as that found in gang-related activity, significantly raises their self-esteem. But along with gang-related activities, kids also ranked sports and arts achievements very high. Success in music could raise their self-esteem just as much as gang-related activity. This knowledge led Hinsley to the Gardner-Betts Juvenile Justice Center. In 2010, ACG developed an after-school program at Gardner-Betts. According to Hinsley, “The students there became engaged with it and succeeded in a way no one expected. They developed an interest and a fluency with the language related
to technique and musicality that would rival any peer in any other school.” Through this after-school program, a relationship was developed with Court Appointed Special Advocates of Travis County, which allowed the guitar students to perform at their swearing-in ceremonies. Laura Wolf, executive director of CASA, said, “What I love most about ACG’s program at Gardner-Betts, and their playing at our swearing-in ceremonies, is it gives all of us an opportunity to see kids, about whom we might have really quick, overly simplistic judgements, as people with talent, curiosity, and the courage to play in front of a bunch of strangers. We get to see a side of them that most people don’t see, and that’s a privilege. What’s most important is they get an opportunity to see themselves as talented artists, musicians, and performers. Sometimes you can see that impact register on them when a room full of adults, including a judge, all give them a standing ovation.” After these performances, many students report this was the first time anyone had clapped for them for
any reason. Let that sink in. In 2012, AISD asked ACG to offer the classes during the school day so students could earn an arts credit to meet their arts elective requirement towards graduation. It is now the only full core-credit arts program offered at Gardner Betts. When they leave the facility and go back to their home schools, they can continue playing in the schools’ guitar programs. They leave with a new skill and sense of achievement, and they have a place to connect and be involved once they return to school—something many did not have before. As a result of the success of this program, Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Estela Medina approached Hinsley, and asked him to devise a new program for court-involved, but non-incarcerated, youth. Hinsley applied for the Austin Bar Foundation grant, which will be used to implement this after-school program. The opportunity now exists to impact even more students. The program was launched on June 14, 2017 and is part of the students’ mandated case plans. By offering rigorous, collaborative arts enrichment in an after-school setting, the goal is to help at-risk students develop new skills, build their confidence and self-identity, re-engage them in their education, and ultimately intervene in patterns of behavior that can lead to incarceration. When asked why he does what he does, Hinsley replied,
“I often get asked what is the value of arts education; is there a justification for it outside of the arts? Sure, there is a causality: it helps with math, it improves attendance, etc. But the reality is, some of it has to do with the arts, and some of it doesn’t. We’re teaching personal development with an identitybuilding component. We do that through the measure of how well they learn to play the guitar. It’s hard to measure the impact, but we know this: in the pursuit of greatness, we connect. In the pursuit of excellence, they develop respect for us, we develop respect for them, and they develop respect for themselves.” One of ACG’s latest endeavors is the Lullaby Project, which helps teen mothers compose lullabies for their babies in order to foster connection and reflection in an incredibly stressful and vulnerable time. On July 28-29 at 8 p.m. at the Blanton Auditorium, ACG presents i/we, a musical journey exploring commonality, struggle, and perseverance through stories of refugees currently settling in Central Texas. With personal accounts drawn from hours of interviews and featuring a new work by Joseph V. Williams II, i/we is an international celebration of humanity’s strength and compassion through words and music. To find out more about ACG, or for ticketsAUSTIN to i/we, visit LAWYER AL AL austinclassicalguitar.org.
JULY / AUGUST 2017 | AUSTINLAWYER
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Austin Bar and AYLA Present Awards for Outstanding Service Austin Bar and AYLA Boards Celebrate Success of the 2016 Bar Year
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embers of the boards of directors for the Austin Bar Association and the Austin Young Lawyers Association celebrated the end of another successful bar year on May 23, 2017 at the UT Club. The event was the culmination of the leadership of Austin Bar President Leslie Dippel and AYLA President Katie Fillmore. Both had terms that expired on June 30, 2017, along with several members of their boards. Each outgoing president was given the opportunity to honor some of her outstanding board members and committee chairs. Fillmore presented Drew Harris with the Outstanding Officer Award and Travis Plummer with the Outstanding Committee Chair Award for his work with the Leadership Academy. Chari Kelly and Sandy Bayne were awarded the President’s Award of Merit for their leadership on Runway for Justice. Incoming AYLA president, Austin Kaplan, presented Fillmore with a plaque in recog-
nition of her year of service as president. Dippel presented the Outstanding Director Award to Blair Dancy and the Outstanding Committee Chair Award to Amanda Taylor for her work as auction chair of the 2017 Gala. Kennon Wooten, who was unable to attend the reception, was honored with the President’s Award of Merit for her longtime commitment as chair of the communications committee and service as editor-in-chief of Austin Lawyer magazine, as well as her overall dedication to the Austin Bar. Dippel also presented DeLaine Ward with a special gift from the board in honor of her 33rd anniversary as executive director. Amy Welborn, Austin Bar’s incoming president, presented Dippel with a plaque and thanked her for her service and leadership as president this year. New board members and officers for both organizations took office July 1, 2017. The new bar year kicks off in full swing in AUSTIN LAWYER AL AL September.
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Blair Dancy, winner of the Outstanding Director Award, with Leslie Dippel; Outstanding Committee Chair winner Amanda Taylor with Leslie Dippel; AYLA Board members Tom Jacob and Craig Moore; AYLA President’s Award of Merit winners Chari Kelly and Sandy Bayne with Katie Fillmore; and Travis Plummer, winner of AYLA’s Outstanding Committee Chair Award with Katie Fillmore.
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Diversity Fellowship Program Begins Eighth Year
M
embers of the newest Diversity Fellowship Program met recently at the Austin Bar to kick off its eighth year. This year’s participating law students are Paige Cheung, Markuz Griffie, Sojung Jeong, Priscilla Mosqueda, Karina Ochoa, Diego Pacheco, and Tucker Villarreal. The Diversity Fellowship Program enables first-year law students of diverse backgrounds to participate in law firm, governmental agency, and judicial internships for 10 weeks during the summer. They are selected through a competitive application process. Judge Lora Livingston, Judge Eric Shepperd, Rudy Metayer, Tony Nelson, and Leslie Dippel serve as co-chairs of the Diversity Committee that coordinates the program. Judge Orlinda Naranjo is also an active participant and advisor to the committee. The Austin Bar Foundation provides a stipend to each student, funded by donations from the participating firms. Past participants in the program have continued on to
traditional clerkships later in law school and have reported successful employment after graduation—some with the firms that sponsored them as interns through this program. “When we first agreed to chair this committee,” said Judge Shepperd, “it was important to us for the committee to do something big. Not just talk about diversity—but actually demonstrate cultural competency. This program has given highly qualified students great exposure to opportunities they may not have otherwise received. I am amazed the program is entering its eighth year and am so proud of these students’ successes. Watching them grow and hearing about their careers, some of them now with firms where they did their internships, is a testament to the success of the program.” The Diversity Committee could not be successful without the support of the participating firms: Burns Anderson Jury & Brenner; McGinnis Lochridge; Munsch Hardt Kopf and Harr; Locke Lord; Lloyd Gosselink; Jackson Walker; Graves
FRONT ROW (from left): Priscilla Mosqueda, Karina Ochoa, Sojung “Bridget” Jeong, Paige Cheung, Leslie Dippel; BACK ROW (from left): Diego Pacheco, Tucker Villarreal, Rudy Metayer, Judge Eric Shepperd, and Markuz Griffie.
This program has given highly qualified students great exposure to opportunities they may not have otherwise received. Dougherty Hearon & Moody; and Armbrust & Brown. Special recognition goes to McGinnis Lochridge, Graves Dougherty
Hearon & Moody, and Armbrust & Brown, which have faithfully supported the program from the AUSTIN LAWYER AL AL very beginning.
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OPENING STATEMENT
Ten Times 10 Ten Years and 100 Columns on Writing BY WAYNE SCHIESS, TEXAS LAW, LEGALWRITING.NET
I
’ve been writing on legal writing for Austin Lawyer since 2007, and you’re now reading the 100th column. To commemorate this special occasion, I offer a top-10 list of my somewhat random writing-related favorites.
10. Best writing technique I often fail to use: outlining. Despite empirical data showing that outliners produce text faster and with fewer errors, I rarely do it. See “Should You Outline?” Austin Lawyer 11 (Oct. 2015); “Outlining Effectively,” Austin Lawyer 11 (Nov. 2015). In fact, when I wrote the column “Should You Outline?” and sent it to a friend for comments, he asked me, “Did you outline this?” “No,” I confessed. 9. My favorite question submitted by a lawyer at a writing seminar: “How useless is the semicolon?” I answered that question in an Austin Lawyer column. See “Semicolons: Not So Useless,” Austin Lawyer 11 (Nov. 2014). 8. My favorite (over) use of clearly: “The State clearly had legitimate reasons for excluding the panel members. The trial court was clearly of the opinion that the State exercised its peremptory strikes in a racially neutral manner. The quotation above clearly demonstrates that there were nonracial reasons for the State to exclude the panel members. Because the trial court’s ruling is clearly supported by the record, its decision should not be overturned.” See “Intensifiers: Are You Blatantly Bolstering?” Austin Lawyer 11 (Feb. 2017).
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7. My favorite obscure writing ambiguity: the squinting modifier. There’s one in here: Permitting parental pre-injury waivers to bind children directly undermines the purpose of tolling the statute of limitations for minors. The adverb directly could be modifying either bind or undermines, and is thus said to “squint.” See “Shedding Light on Ambiguous Modifiers,” Austin Lawyer 13 (July/Aug. 2014).
ing great advice for writing legal content so nonlawyers can understand it.
6. MY LEAST FAVORITE WAY TO CREATE EMPHASIS IN LEGAL TEXT. See “Tips for Creating EMPHASIS!,” Austin Lawyer 13 (May 2012).
2. My favorite transition word, even at the beginning of a sentence: but. See “Beginning with But,” Austin Lawyer 11 (July/Aug. 2013). For vigor and force, but outperforms on the other hand and even however.
5. My least favorite writing myth: You can’t split a verb phrase. This nonrule results in sentences like these: Green’s lawyers publicly had declared their distrust of the jury. Or this: Rogers always was drafting contracts. Under this myth, you can’t split the verb phrase had declared with the adverb publicly or split was drafting with always. But there’s no such rule, and it causes strange-sounding sentences, so it’s okay to write these: had publicly declared and was always drafting. (Most lawyers don’t believe this myth, anyway.) 4. My favorite plainEnglish book: “How to Write Plain English: A Book for Lawyers and Consumers,” by Rudolf Flesch. It tells the story of Flesch’s consulting work for the FCC in the 1970s and explains his Reading Ease Scale while offer-
3. My favorite punctuation mark: the dash. It’s great for short—and emphatic—insertions. And it’s a great way to add punch to the end of a sentence—like this. See “Mastering the Dash,” Austin Lawyer 11 (Apr. 2017). Just remember to use the longer em dash (—), not the shorter en dash (–).
1. My all-time favorite writing technique: the up-front summary. I’ve advocated it for memos, motions, briefs, and mediation statements. I’ve recommended it for letters, long email messages, notices, and even affidavits. I’ve suggested that it could replace the COMES NOW opener in many pleadings. That’s it. Thank you for reading the column and for your suggestions, which are always welcome. You can reach me through my law school email address, wschiess@law. utexas.edu, here: wayne@ AUSTINor LAWYER AL AL legalwriting.net.
Schiess
Austin Lawyer is grateful to Mr. Schiess for his awardwinning contribution to this publication. One hundred columns across 10 years is an amazing display of dedication and professionalism. Thank you, Mr. Schiess, for sharing your talent, and helping us become better legal writers.
Thank You !
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BRIEFS NEW MEMBERS The Austin Bar welcomes the following new members: Barbara Allen Kevin Bartz Bryce Bedford Bryan Brashears
AWARDS
Robert Brothers
Gerry Morris and Betty Blackwell were inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.
Michelle Fernald Michelle Ibeling Ralitza Kostadinova Renee Lapaglia Kirk Martin Marshall Meringola Brian Nesbit Taylor Romero Dylan Schultz Brian Tenzer Mark Vandermeulem Christopher Vonder Gruen Katlin Wilcox Julia Zaft
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Blackwell, Dancy, Graves, Morris, Rollins, and Scott
AUSTINLAWYER | JULY / AUGUST 2017
Mark Scott was named to the 2017 IP Stars by Managing Intellectual Property. The Travis County Women Lawyers’ Association and The Travis County Women Lawyers’ Foundation presented the 2017 Attorney Awards: Elizabeth Henneke for Public Interest, Claire Marie Bow for Contribution to Minority Community, Lauren Kalisek for Advancement of Women’s Interests, Katy Gallagher Parker for Government Service, Kate
Lincoln-Goldfinch for the Pro Bono Award, Shelley Dahlberg for Litigations/Appellate, Ann Benolken for Corporate/Transactional, Bianca Bentzin for Criminal Justice, Lea Brigtsen for the President’s Award, and Judge Aurora Martinez Jones for Outstanding Achievement. NEW TO THE OFFICE
Blair Dancy joined Cain & Skarnulis as a partner. Dancy specializes in insurance coverage and risk transfer, providing counsel and litigating first and third-party insurance and contractual indemnity claims in disputes ranging from construction defect to wrongful death and serious bodily injury.
Hallie E. Graves was hired by Ewell, Brown, Blanke & Knight. Graves focuses on commercial trial work involving antitrust, business torts, securities fraud, trademark infringement, and trade secret misappropriation. Kristina Rollins joined Winstead as a shareholder. Rollins focuses on regulatory law, with an emphasis on the electric and energy industries. Cain & Skarnulis hired Taylor Romero and Chris von der Gruen as associates. Romero focuses on civil litigation, including niche roles in jury selection and witness preparation. Von der Gruen focuses on litigation and transactional work.
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THIRD COURT OF APPEALS CIVIL UPDATE
Laurie Ratliff is board certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is a shareholder with Ikard Golden Jones. From 1998 through 2001, she was a staff attorney with the Third Court of Appeals.
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The following are summaries of selected civil opinions issued by the Third Court of Appeals during May 2017. The summaries are intended as an overview; counsel are cautioned to review the complete opinions. Subsequent histories are current as of June 9, 2017.
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW: Motion for rehearing a jurisdictional prerequisite for judicial review. E.A. v. Texas Dep’t of Fam. & Protective Servs., No. 03-1600473-CV (Tex. App.—Austin May 9, 2017, no pet. h.) (mem.
op.). E.A. was placed on Department’s misconduct registry. E.A. unsuccessfully challenged the placement at the administrative level. E.A. filed suit for judicial review but did not file a motion for rehearing. The trial court denied Department’s plea to the jurisdiction, but affirmed the order on the merits. Both parties appealed. The court of appeals concluded that APA 2001.145(a)’s rehearing requirement is jurisdictional and applies to all suits for judicial review, even when the agency-specific legislation does not expressly refer to the motion for rehearing or expressly incorporate the APA. Here, Human Resources Code § 48.406 did not expressly mention a rehearing, but did incorporate chapter 2001. The court reversed and dismissed. GOVERNMENTAL IMMUNITY: Overgrown vegetation in bike lane not a special defect. City of Austin v. Vykoukal, No. 03-16-00261-CV (Tex. App.— Austin May 10, 2017, no pet. h.) (mem. op.). Cyclists stopped in a bike lane were struck by a car and sued City, contending that the overgrown vegetation was a special defect. The trial court denied City’s plea to the jurisdiction. The court of appeals observed that for special defects, City must use ordinary care to reduce or eliminate unreasonable risks of harm of
which it knew or should have known. The critical factor was whether the vegetation presented an unexpected and unusual danger to the roadway’s ordinary users. The parties disagreed over whom was the ordinary user—the automobile driver or the cyclists. According to the court, there was no special defect because plaintiffs testified that they were aware of the overgrown vegetation. The court reversed and dismissed.
safety railing is no less discretionary than whether to do so. These are planning and execution matters to which the discretionary act exception applies and immunity is retained. The court reversed and dismissed.
GOVERNMENTAL IMMUNITY: City immune from decisions relating to street safety issues. City of Austin v. Frame, No. 0315-00292-CV (Tex. App.—Austin May 2017) (no. pet. h.) (op. on reh’g) (mem. op.). Pedestrian on walking trail was killed when a car jumped the curb and went onto the trail. Family sued, alleging that City failed to maintain the trail and that City was aware of the problem and failed to correct it. The trial court denied City’s plea to the jurisdiction. The court of appeals addressed the discretionary powers exception to a waiver of immunity. The court noted that immunity is preserved for negligent formulation of policy, but is waived for negligent implementation of policy. According to the court, actions implicating social, economic, or political considerations are discretionary. When City installs
MANDAMUS: Trial court abused discretion by failing to sever. In re Progressive County Mut. Ins., No. 03-17-00088-CV (Tex. App.—Austin May 26, 2017, orig. proceeding) (mem. op.). Father filed a friendly suit against mother on behalf of daughter to approve settlement with carrier. Guardian ad litem sought additional damages under the policy’s underinsured-motorist provision. Carrier intervened and disputed application of the underinsured-motorist provision. The trial court denied carrier’s intervention and motion to sever. According to the court of appeals, severance was appropriate because the controversy involved more than one cause of action and did not involve the same facts. Further, severance was necessary to avoid prejudice. Evidence of insurance was necessary to establish the underinsured-motorist claim, but such evidence violated wife’s right to have liability to be determined without mentioning insurance. Thus, the trial court abused its discretion. The court granted AUSTIN LAWYER AL AL mandamus relief.
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AUSTINLAWYER | JULY / AUGUST 2017
THIRD COURT OF APPEALS CRIMINAL UPDATE
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The cases summarized are from January 2017 and subsequent histories are current as of June 1, 2017.
POLICE-CITIZEN INTERACTIONS: Trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying motion to suppress on ground that police-citizen interaction was consensual encounter rather than investigatory detention. Oliveira v. State, No. 03-1400816-CR (Tex. App.—Austin Jan. 25, 2017, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication). Appellant was charged with DWI. Prior to trial, appellant filed a motion to suppress evidence of her intoxication, claiming that the evidence was obtained pursuant to an unlawful detention. At the suppression hearing, the arresting officer testified that on the night in question, he observed a car parked on the side of the road in a “somewhat remote and isolated
area” near the I-35 frontage road in Austin. The officer parked behind the car, activated his overhead emergency lights, and approached the driver’s side window, which appellant had lowered. The officer testified that he immediately smelled the odor of alcohol and observed other indicators of intoxication, which ultimately led to appellant’s arrest. The issue on appeal was whether the officer’s interaction with appellant rose to the level of a detention. The appellate court concluded that it did not. The officer “issued no verbal commands, did not activate his siren, did not physically prevent Oliveira from leaving, or engage in other conduct that would have signaled to a reasonable person that she was not free to leave.” Appellant argued that the activation of the overhead lights on the officer’s patrol car indicated that appellant was not free to leave. However, the appellate court
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concluded that the record supported a finding that the overhead lights were activated for “safety purposes and so that [the] vehicle could be more easily located” in the remote area. Moreover, the court cited to prior cases holding that the activation of overhead lights, without more, did not rise to the level of a detention, and appellant “failed to cite to any authority for the proposition that an officer’s activation of a patrol car’s emergency lights behind a stationary vehicle on the shoulder of a roadway constitutes an ‘order or direction’ with which a person is required to comply.” The court concluded that the officer’s conduct in this case, when considered in its totality, “would not have communicated to a reasonable person that she was not free to ignore the officer’s presence and leave.” EVIDENTIARY SUFFICIENCY: Evidence sufficient to convict appellant of attempted capital murder and other offenses. Lardieri v. State, No. 03-1500247-CR (Tex. App.—Austin Jan. 13, 2017, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication). The evidence presented at trial tended to show that appellant, a 17-year-old girl at the time of the offenses, and two accomplices, had attacked the victim by stabbing her with a knife, tasing her, beating her, and kicking her, after which they proceeded to handcuff, gag, blindfold, shackle, and hogtie the victim. When they were done, the assailants wrapped the victim in a sheet and carried her to a shed and left her there. The victim later escaped the shed, got help, and survived. Subsequently, the assailants, along with appellant’s boyfriend, burned the victim’s possessions and clothing in a fire pit. Appellant testified at trial and admitted to being involved in the attack and assaulting the victim, but she claimed she did not intend to kill her. The appellate court
Zak Hall is a staff attorney for the Third Court of Appeals. The summaries represent the views of the author alone and do not reflect the views of the Court or any of the individual Justices on the Court.
concluded, however, that the evidence was sufficient for the jury to find that appellate had the requisite culpable mental state. Observing that intent may be inferred from circumstantial evidence such as acts, words, and the conduct of the accused, as well as the extent of the injuries to the victim, the court explained the evidence tended to show the victim’s injuries were severe and, following the attack, appellant had told her boyfriend the victim was “bleeding out” and not “breathing very well.” Also, the co-defendants testified they thought the victim was going to die in the shed, which was why they left her there. Moreover, the victim testified that during the attack, appellant was the “most aggressive of all” the assailants. Viewing this and other evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and assuming the jury resolved the evidentiary conflicts in favor of the verdict, the appellate court concluded that a rational jury could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant intended to commit the offense of capital murder. The appellate court also concluded the evidence was sufficient to prove that appellant had committed the other charged offenses of aggravated robbery and tamperAUSTIN LAWYER AL AL ing with evidence.
JULY / AUGUST 2017 | AUSTINLAWYER
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FEDERAL CRIMINAL COURT NEWS
Drugged Driving Texas DWI Law on Substances Other Than Alcohol BY DAN DWORIN
T
exas’ Driving While Intoxicated statute defines intoxication in two distinct ways:
(A) not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties by reason of the introduction of alcohol, a controlled substance, a drug, a dangerous drug, a combination of two or more of those substances, or any other substance into the body; or (B) having an alcohol concentration of 0.08 (grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath, or 100 milliliters of blood) or more.1 A “dangerous drug” is one requiring a doctor’s prescription.2 Academic studies have shown there has been an increased prevalence of non-alcohol drugs found in toxicology reports on drivers involved in fatality collisions from 1999 to 2010.3 Growing public concern about prescription drug abuse, coupled with greater legal and cultural acceptance of the use of other drugs, will probably lead to an increased number of cases involving alleged intoxication from substances other than alcohol. In states that have legalized the possession of marijuana, there continues to be a robust debate about whether a “per se” limit for blood concentration of the psychoactive compound found in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), makes sense. In Colorado, for example, state law defines marijuana intoxication, for the purposes of driving while intoxicated, at five nanograms of “active” THC per milliliter of whole blood. Some experts have publicly questioned whether the concentra-
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AUSTINLAWYER | JULY / AUGUST 2017
tion of THC in a given person’s bloodstream is a valid method of proving intoxication, since frequent users of marijuana could have a higher amount in their body based on past use, but not be presently impaired at the time of driving. Conversely, others suggest that the variety of ways of ingesting marijuana, including food products containing marijuana or compounds derived from the plant, may cause a greater level of impairment without an accompanying increase in the user’s THC level. See “What Counts as Driving While High?,” Keith Humphreys, Washington Post, May 31, 2017. Because Texas law does not set a per se definition for intoxication for any substance other than alcohol, prosecutors alleging “drugged driving” must prove their case under the “loss of normal use” theory, and rely heavily on expert testimony, usually from a chemist or toxicologist who tests the defendant’s blood (if a sample is lawfully obtained, which almost always requires a search warrant or consent) and who is qualified to state that a given level of a certain substance would cause impairment. Also, police departments are investing heavily in training certain officers to become certified as “drug recognition experts,” who receive some specialized training to theoretically be able to identify clues as to what type of substance a person may have ingested and help bolster whatever other evidence may be present on the police video (e.g. poor driving, lack of awareness of surroundings, being asleep at the wheel, incoherent answers
to officers’ questions, poor performance on field sobriety tests, etc.). It’s worth nothing, however, that what tends to be the most incriminating information collected in the “DRE evaluation” often consists of admissions by the defendant, who of course has a Fifth Amendment right to refuse to self-incriminate after arrest. Since many of the “drug recognition expert” interviews occur after an officer has already arrested the suspect, this part of the analysis (unlike a blood draw authorized by a search warrant) relies in large part on the voluntary cooperation of the suspect. There are many possible legal challenges to the admissibility of these interviews, depending on the facts of the case. In cases involving drugs, the presence (or lack thereof) of drugs in the suspect’s possession at the time of the arrest can be very important, and savvy officers have been known to count the number of pills in a prescription bottle—when found on the defendant’s person or
in their vehicle—to determine whether it appears that a suspect has been taking the pills at a rate higher than the label instructions dictate. Of course, this doesn’t, by itself, prove the medicine was misused causing intoxication while driving on a given day, but is certainly probative circumstantial evidence, if allowed. Finally, it’s worth noting that since Texas does not require a culpable mental state as an element of DWI, a defendant cannot argue involuntary intoxication unless they can prove they did not voluntarily ingest the substance caused AUSTINwhich LAWYER AL 4 AL their impairment. Footnotes: 1. Texas Penal Code § 49.01. 2. Texas Health & Safety Code § 483.001. 3. Trends in Alcohol and Other Drugs Detected in Fatally Injured Drivers in the United States, 1999–2010 Joanne E. Brady Guohua Li, Am J Epidemiol (2014) 179 (6): 692-699. 4. See, e.g., Farmer v. State, 411 S.W.3d 901, 906 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013).
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Judge Herb Evan Retires BY NICHOLAS CHU, JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, PRECINCT FIVE
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udge Herb Evans retired on May 1, 2017 after serving 17 years as Travis County Justice of the Peace, Precinct Five. Known as the “Courthouse JP,” Judge Evans’ precinct encompassed central Travis County. He juggled the civil and criminal cases normally seen in JP court but was also a critical part in programs that addressed the needs of criminal cases in higher courts. For years, Judge Evans ran a weekly CLE course focusing on criminal law topics that were well attended by both defense attorneys and prosecutors. Before he was a judge, his practice mainly focused on criminal defense. He is passionate about basketball, very active in the Democratic Party, and an avid collector of antiques. He was commissioned
as an officer in the United States Army, and served during the Vietnam War. If that was all I wrote, it would be a fine article to recognize Judge Evans’ service to our community, but it would have left out the greatest attributes of his service—his passion for the work he was doing. Like Judge Evans, I started my career appointed as Justice of the Peace, Precinct Five by the Travis County Commissioners Court to fill an unexpired term. Two weeks prior to his retirement, I had the opportunity to shadow Judge Evans, learn from him, and understand the big shoes I would soon fill. In that time, I saw in Herb a man who very deeply cared about his staff, earned the public’s trust every day, and saw his court as an opportunity for government to serve the people
I saw in Herb a man who very deeply cared about his staff, who earned the public’s trust every day, and saw his court as an opportunity for government to serve the people of Travis County.
Judge Evans (right) congratulates Judge Chu, who succeeded him as JP of Precinct Five in Travis County.
of Travis County. After 17 years, Judge Evans still showed compassion for those lives his rulings would affect. He still treated every decision with the same great level of care as he did his first day in office. Not one for big shows, when offered, he refused to have a reception honoring his years of service. Instead, he asked for any contributions for such a reception go toward funding
scholarships to educate young attorneys, and in keeping with his wishes, the Austin Bar Association provided scholarships in his name for two young attorneys to attend this year’s Bench Bar Conference. Judge Herb Evans has since moved to Hawaii to enjoy his retirement. While his public service career has come to an end, Judge Evans’ legacy to the Austin legal community AUSTIN LAWYER ALon. AL still lives
Nicholas Chu Investiture Ceremony
T Judge Brad Urrutia delivers the oath of office to Judge Chu, while presiding Judge Elisabeth Earle looks on.
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AUSTINLAWYER | JULY / AUGUST 2017
he Honorable Nicholas Chu was sworn in as Justice of the Peace, Precinct Five of Travis County on May 1, 2017 with a standing-room-only crowd in attendance. The Honorable Elisabeth Earle, Travis County Court at Law Seven, presided. Austin Bar President Leslie Dippel delivered the welcome. Amy Meredith, chair of the Austin Bar Criminal Law Section, and
the Honorable Randal Slagle, Justice of the Peace, Precinct Two, both shared remarks about Judge Chu. The Honorable Brad Urrutia, Travis County 450th District Court, delivered the oath of office. A reception, hosted by the Austin Bar and the Criminal Law Section of the Austin Bar, was held immediately AUSTIN LAWYER following the AL AL ceremony.
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AUSTIN YOUNG LAWYERS ASSOCIATION
AY LA PRESIDENT’S COLUMN AUSTIN KAPLAN KAPLAN LAW FIRM
Interview with Austin Kaplan
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YLA welcomes Austin Kaplan as president of the organization for the 2017-18 bar year. AYLA: Let’s start with everyone’s favorite question: Would you tell us a little about yourself? KAPLAN: I’m just a caveman. I fell in some ice, and later got thawed out by scientists. There are many things I don’t know. But there is one thing I do know: we have the country’s best legal community right here in Austin. This didn’t happen by luck or chance. It was thanks to the hard work and great example set by our bar leaders—folks like Adam Schramek, David Courreges, Amanda Arriaga, Chari Kelly, Katie Fillmore, and Drew Harris. I see my job as preserving, and if I’m lucky, furthering their excellent work. In my spare time, I’m a plaintiff’s employment and civil rights lawyer, handling anything an individual might need in the workplace: negotiating things like disability leave, pregnancy accommodation, and severance agreements, and handling litigation regarding unpaid overtime, commissions, non-competes, whistleblowers, and wrongful termination. I served for four years as 20
AUSTINLAWYER | JULY / AUGUST 2017
chairperson of the City of Austin’s Ethics Commission, and currently serve on the board of the Austin Anti-Defamation League where my focus is civil rights. In 2015, I represented marriage equality clients who successfully sued a county clerk to get their marriage license, and in 2016 I was honored to be named Austinite of the Year at the Austin Under 40 Awards. AYLA: What are some of your Austin-area favorites? KAPLAN: Food: Tacodeli’s famous Salsa Doña. I could eat it all day. Drinks: Bouldin Creek Cafe; Once Over Coffee Bar; SquareRut Kava Bar. These are my unofficial office locations. Fun: Barton Springs; Big Stacy; beach volleyball at Zilker Park; Dragonboat on Town Lake. (Dragonboat, for the uninitiated, is a large, canoe-like boat that looks like a dragon.) AYLA: Why did you first get involved with AYLA? KAPLAN: Networking. I went to law school in Illinois. It turns out Illinois is not Texas. When I got to Texas (as soon as I could), I knew two lawyers total. I needed help. I needed a community. AYLA provided it. I could meet young lawyers in town, hunt for jobs, celebrate, and commiserate. Most of whatever success I’ve had is thanks to AYLA and the great people I’ve met through it. AYLA: What are your goals for AYLA this year? KAPLAN: Openness: to share more of what we do and how we do it with you; Visibility: to share more of
what we do, and why we do it, one piece of wisdom on the and who we’re doing it for, with first-year lawyer and make it the greater ATX community; and stick, what would it be? Stewardship: continue AYLA’s KAPLAN: Ask too many membership growth, ensure questions. Looking back, I knew its financial independence, basically nothing as a first-year continue the award-winning lawyer, and was hesitant to ask programming, and try some fun basic questions. That’s a basic new things along the way. approach. Better to ask a basic AYLA: What do you think question than make a basic are the biggest challenges mistake! Don’t be basic. facing today’s young lawyers AYLA: What has been your in Austin? most rewarding AYLA experiKAPLAN: Jobs. It’s still jobs. ence so far? It’ll probably always be jobs. KAPLAN: Delivering holiday I joke that UT Law graduates gifts to needy families. It’s so around 400 lawyers each year heartwarming for us and them. who all want to stay, but are And it helps chip away at some forced to take higher-paying of the negative stereotypes jobs in Dallas and Houston. But, against lawyers. if I can manage to find my way AYLA: What is an interesthere, you can too. I’m happy to ing fact about you that people share my playbook with you at probably don’t know? the next Docket Call, and I bet KAPLAN: I was once a most other folks are as well. AUSTINprofessional LAWYER live-band karaoke A L AL AYLA: If you could impart host.
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AUSTIN YOUNG LAWYERS ASSOCIATION
How Young Lawyers Can Avoid Being Replaced by Computers BY DREW HARRIS, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, GENERAL LITIGATION DIVISION
I
f lawyers think their jobs are safe from being replaced by machines, consider the case of DoNotPay. A 20-year-old Stanford student from London named Joshua Browder programmed a Facebook Messenger bot to help people contest their parking tickets…for free. The DoNotPay bot asks users a series of questions about the ticket (much like a lawyer would), and then generates a 500-word letter to send to the city. According to Browder, the bot’s success rate is 60 percent, with more than 160,000 parking tickets having been overturned. Browder has already modified DoNotPay to also address landlord/tenant disputes and even help fill out immigration asylum applications. On the other end of the spectrum, a startup named ROSS Intelligence uses IBM’s Watson artificial intelligence technology to read thousands of cases and find the ones with the closest facts. Large law firms such as Latham & Watkins have already licensed ROSS for commercial use. Tasks that junior attorneys typically do—document review, handling routine intake interviews, and
Young lawyers should specialize and strive to move up the chain in handling more complex matters within their practice areas. summarizing cases in research memos—are already being replaced by computers today. While broader automation of the legal industry will take some time, young lawyers now should be focused on developing skills that will not be easily replaced by computers. SPECIALIZATION
Routine matters—like parking tickets or boilerplate contracts—will be the first matters handled by computers. The more complexity and nuance a matter involves, the less reliability and trust there will be in computers. Young lawyers should specialize and strive to move up the chain in handling more complex matters within their practice areas. Avoid trying to be a generalist who handles basic stuff in many different practice areas. ADVOCACY SKILLS
Lawyering is about more than finding the case with the closest
facts (which computers can already do faster and better than humans). Lawyering is about advocating—to another human—why certain facts are more important than others. It will take a while before computers grow skilled at distinguishing adverse precedent (but it will likely inevitably happen). For now, critical reasoning, creativity, and effective communication skills cannot easily be replaced by software. Smart lawyers will continue to work hard to improve their verbal and written communication skills to stay ahead of the machines. EQ AND “PEOPLE SKILLS”
While Watson may already have a vastly higher IQ than any human, as long as clients and judges are human, emotional intelligence is perhaps the most important quality an attorney can have. Being able to inspire trust from clients, judges, and juries make a lawyer irreplace-
Drew Harris is an employment attorney in the General Litigation Division of the Office of the Attorney General. Any views expressed herein are his alone and not those of the OAG.
able by a machine. “People skills”—which are generally not taught in law school—may be the most important skills future lawyers will offer to their clients. Like other industries, the legal field will inevitably be affected by automation, but savvy lawyers can stay ahead and thrive. In a future article, I will outline ways that young lawyers can take advantage of automation trends in the legal industry. After AUSTIN all, who is going to miss LAWYER AL AL document review?
Offices in Austin, Round Rock and Dallas JULY / AUGUST 2017 | AUSTINLAWYER
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DEVELOPING YOUR PRACTICE
Growing as a Lawyer: Just Do It BY RAD WOOD
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t might be a tagline popularized by the most powerful sneaker company in the world, but Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan speaks directly to how one best grows as an attorney: there’s no substitute for doing something yourself. This is a difficult lesson for many attorneys to learn—we are a conservative bunch. And after seven years of higher education, where we listen to those older and wiser than us, we tend to want to remain in the same milieu, looking for older attorneys to guide us. But if we take the back seat for too long, we may miss out on much of what is needed to grow as an attorney. Admittedly, this was not how my career began. Out of law school, I went to work at Baker Botts, where I was surrounded by talented attorneys who provided me the safety to learn under their guidance and expertise. The training Baker Botts afforded me made me a better attorney and some of my former partners remain my mentors today. Yet, with so many fantastic attorneys around me in my early years, it also meant I rarely had the challenge of handling a project myself. Moreover, when faced with something difficult,
I could hide behind the firm’s collective knowledge and rely on those around me. There is nothing inherently wrong with this system, but safety can breed complacency, which can hinder one’s growth as a young attorney. When I left Baker Botts and began working on my own, that all changed. I still remember the first case I took. Without any support staff or other attorneys to help, the entire process immediately felt more complex. In that complexity, however, I learned a simplicity. As long as I worked hard, researched the law, and showed up, I learned something and became a better attorney. The simplicity did not mean the process was easy. To the contrary, it was one of the most difficult times in my career. It was terrifying. Yet by doing everything myself, from the seemingly simple task of e-filing to the more difficult tasks such as drafting certain motions for the first time, I grew as an attorney. This growth through trial (literally and figuratively) occurred again when I joined forces with my now-partner, Kevin Vela. Before my work at Vela Wood, I only did commercial litigation. But I soon began working on corporate matters as I grew more
intrigued by Kevin’s venture capital and startup practice. Those early months, filled with learning a new area of law, were tiring and stressful. What is more, Kevin had only been practicing law as long as I had. In other words, we had no 30year attorney to rely on (indeed we had no 10-year attorney, either). Instead, we would work through legal questions together with our colleagues. We would research and debate, research and debate, and eventually decide what we thought was the best way forward. Plus, as a growing firm, I was often thrown into deals or client meetings with only the knowledge I was able to research on my own. Yet it was in those situations where I would learn the most by talking through legal issues and problems. This pro-
cess definitely caused me more terrifying moments (at least I had malpractice insurance), but it was through these experiences that I learned the most. It’s called the practice of law for a reason. Indeed, Judge Yeakel recently confirmed this same perspective when he told a group of young civil attorneys at an AYLA CLE to take as many criminal cases as possible in order to gain trial experience, even if they didn’t know anything about that area of the law. Hearing a federal judge tell a group of attorneys to literally put aside risk and practice law was refreshing and reassuring. It reminded me that life hasn’t changed so much since I was a kid wearing Nikes at basketball practice. In life, and law, and sport, it is allLAWYER about showing up AUSTIN AL it. AL and just doing
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Real Estate Closings, Escrow, Title Insurance - Residential and Commercial Refinancing? You can choose us as title, and we can close the loan at your office. Selling? You can choose us as title, and we can close the sale at your home or office.
Sara Foskitt, Escrow Officer & Attorney Dave Floyd, Business Development & Attorney Katie Fry, Escrow Assistant 22
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THE LITIGATION, CO-COUNSEL TRIAL TEAM FOR SOLO AND SMALL FIRM PRACTITIONERS
Negotiate With Confidence - Our Trial Team Has Your Back Meghan Alexander | David M. Gottfried | Michael Jurgens | Tara Gillespie
OFFICE SPACE AVAILABLE 1210 San Antonio
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• 3 blocks from the Capitol & Travis County Courthouse • Ideal space for law firm • $32.88 Full-Service Rate • 4:1,000 Covered Parking for $125/month MARK GREINER
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PLANNING FOR TOMORROW IS THE EASY PART Preparing for years to come is another thing
You may be on stable financial footing today…but investing over the longer term takes sophisticated planning. Our Investment Management Group’s highly credentialed team actively manages each portfolio to provide personal attention and deliver desirable results.
OUR FINANCIAL KNOWLEDGE IS YOUR FINANCIAL EDGE. www.broadway.bank 866.975.4994
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