Dallas Bar Association
HEADNOTES March 2012 Volume 37 Number 3
Focus Sports & Entertainment Law
Slack & Davis LLP Helps DVAP Reach Historic Goal By Alicia Hernandez
Ladd Sanger and Paula Sweeney of Slack & Davis’ Dallas office played a major role in the 2012 Equal Access to Justice Campaign benefitting the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program (DVAP). Their $15,000 gift to the campaign was the donation that made the campaign reach its historic $750,000 goal. Slack & Davis, an Austin-based personal injury firm specializing in aviation, catastrophic collisions and other matters, is a first time donor to the Equal Access to Justice Campaign but no stranger to community service. Their gift to the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program, a joint program of the Dallas Bar Association and Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, is an extension of their many efforts to support legal aid organizations and other services for the poor, including the Legal Aid Society of Central Texas, Volunteer Legal Services, Habitat for Humanity and Goodwill Industries. Access to our courthouse has been a constant refrain in the 2012 Equal Access to Justice Campaign and a primary reason many donors support the campaign. Slack & Davis is no different. “The courthouse doors need to be accessible to everyone,” said Mr. Sanger, Managing Partner of the firm’s Dallas
Ladd Sanger office. “Many times those who have the highest need for access to the justice system have the least access. Both contributions to DVAP and our daily practice are geared to helping those in their time of need get access to and navigate the civil justice system.” Access to justice not only keeps the courthouse doors open, it helps people build trust in a legal system that can oftentimes be intimidating and confus-
Paula Sweeney ing. It gives DVAP’s clients the legal advice, information and representation they need to understand their rights. It helps them make informed decisions about personal matters that can deeply affect their lives. And it provides the advocates needed to guide people through the legal system. It is also about keeping the promises of our constitution working for all. “We appreciate that DVAP is one
of the forces working to keep the 7th Amendment right to jury trial in civil cases alive and meaningful,” said Ms. Sweeney, Of Counsel at Slack & Davis. “If everyone does not have an equal opportunity to seek justice at the courthouse it will become a tool for those with the means. If that were ever to happen, it would undermine the integrity of the entire civil justice system,” added Mr. Sanger. Slack & Davis’ gift also demonstrates the continued influence that our past supporters—those who believed in the cause but are no longer with us—have had on DVAP, the campaign and the Dallas community. “In my first job out of law school, John Howie told me that as lawyers we need to do our part to keep the court house doors open to those without the financial resources to pay a lawyer,” said Mr. Sanger of his mentor, the late John Howie. Ms. Sweeney’s decision to support the Equal Access to Justice Campaign was also influenced by her good friend and former law partner Mr. Howie: “John was a tireless supporter of access to justice for all,” she said. “It is our honor HN to continue his tradition.” Alicia Hernandez is the Director of the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program and the DBA Director of Community Services. She can be reached at ahernandez@dallasbar.org.
Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn To Receive 2012 DBF Fellows Award by Kim J. Askew
The Dallas Bar Foundation will honor Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn on March 28, 2012, with the 2012 Dallas Bar Foundation Fellows Award. The Fellows Award honors a lawyer who adheres to the “highest principles and traditions of the legal profession,” “is highly respected in the community,” and provides “service to the community while adhering to the highest ethical standards.” As a leader in the community and profession, a legal trailblazer, and successful jurist, Judge Lynn epitomizes the ideals recognized by the DBF Fellows Award. Her long-time friend Ronald L. Marmer, Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation, captures the essence of Judge Lynn. “I have known Barbara since the fourth grade and she has always been a natural leader. She is one of a kind.” Indeed, her keen intellect and leadership skills have catapulted her to the top of the profession. After graduating summa cum laude from the University of Virginia, and first in her class from SMU Dedman School of Law, Judge Lynn began her legal career at Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal LLP. She was consistently named among the Best Lawyers in
America in Business Litigation, and the Board of Trial Advocates honored Judge National Law Journal named her as one of Lynn as “Judge of the Year.” Judge Lynn’s service to the profession the 50 most influential women lawyers in is legendary. She has served the nation in 1998. In 1999, as chair of both the ABA SMU bestowed upon her its Section of Litigation and the Distinguished Alumni Award ABA Judicial Division. Mr. for private practice. Marmer described her as one James E. Coleman, a forof the ABA Section of Litimer recipient of the Fellows gation’s “treasured advisors,” Award, recalled meeting whose “volunteer and proJudge Lynn as a law student fessional work is exhausting at SMU and immediately just to recount. But she does knowing that she would have it all with enormous skill and a significant impact on the good humor.” profession. “We hired BarShe has chaired the bara when the downtown law Committee on the Adminfirms did not hire female lawistration of the Bankruptcy yers. Being a feminist myself, Hon. Barbara M.G. Lynn System of the Judicial Conthat was never an issue for my firm. She was smart, had boundless ference of the United States, the Fedenergy, and the drive to achieve what- eral Trial Judges Conference, and the ever she wanted. The rest is history. She Research Fellows of the Southwestern is simply outstanding in everything she Legal Foundation (now The Center for American and International Law), and has ever done.” After success as a practicing law- served as a member of the ABA Standyer, Judge Lynn began her service on ing Committee on Federal Judicial the United States District Court for the Improvements. She is a Fellow and forNorthern District of Texas in February mer Committee Chair of the American 2000, where she is known as a brilliant, College of Trial Lawyers, and a member fair and hard-working jurist who has pre- of the American Law Institute. She has sided over high-profile cases. In 2004, served as President, and on the Board of The Dallas Chapter of the American Directors, of the International Women’s
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Forum of Dallas. Judge Lynn is a former President of the Patrick E. Higginbotham Inn of Court where she is still an active member. Last year, when a new American Inn of Court for intellectual property lawyers was chartered in Dallas, its founders designated it “The Honorable Barbara M.G. Lynn American Inn of Court.” She has spoken on trial, evidentiary and intellectual property topics at seminars and conferences across the country. Ever the teacher, she has presided over countless mock trials for high school and law school students. Judge Lynn is known for her mentorship of women lawyers. She has set an example for others through her own life, having balanced the demands of being a wife and mother while maintaining a highly successful law practice. She opens doors for women lawyers and has done so at every level in the profession. Roberta D. Liebenberg, a former Chair of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, spoke of the importance of Judge Lynn’s mentoring role. “Judge Lynn is a paradigm of how to mentor women lawyers and has always done so as a practicing lawyer and now continued on page 6