Dallas Bar Association
HEADNOTES July 2009 Volume 33 Number 6
Focus Intellectual Property Law
Quest for Justice: L.A. Bedford’s Nina Cortell Named Career & Strive for Equal Rights DBA’s Outstanding Lawyer of the Year by Heather Bailey New
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he Dallas Bar Association has chosen appellate specialist Nina Cortell to receive the Outstanding Lawyer of the Year Award. The award will be presented at the Bench Bar Conference in September at the Horseshoe Bay Resort Marriott. A first-generation American, Ms. Cortell was born and raised in Dallas, where her parents met after fleeing Germany during World War II. She cites her parents’ experiences in Nazi Germany and the loss of family members in the Holocaust as profoundly influencing her life and as the basis for her deep appreciation of the American Nina Cortell justice system. Ms. Cortell attended Dallas ISD schools and remains a true advocate for public education. She earned undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. In 1976, Ms. Cortell became the first female lawyer at Haynes and Boone, which then had only 12 lawyers. George Bramblett, one of her partners, recalls that “even as a young lawyer, she was a brilliant writer and speaker, and her commitment to excellence in her work was unparalleled.” Ms. Cortell helped pioneer the appellate practice as a specialty in Texas, establishing the Haynes and Boone appellate section in the late 1980s and building that section to 19 full-time practitioners. “Nina Cortell is not just a well-respected lawyer and a zealous advocate for her clients, but she has been a shining example to many lawyers – including myself,” DBA President Christina Melton Crain said. “She is adept at handling complex matters and always portrays a unique finesse. We admire her commitment to professionalism and involvement in the legal community, but we honor her also for her willingness to mentor young lawyers throughout her career.” Ms. Cortell’s professional career has been marked by landmark victories and delighted clients. Ms. Cortell helped obtain a ruling from the Texas Supreme Court overhauling the Texas public school finance system, persuaded the trial and appellate courts to allow Continental Airlines to fly out of Love Field, and helped Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway secure a train route in Houston. see Bench, page 11
tion of descendant Louis A. Bedford Jr. into one of the most respected and prominent attorneys the profession uest for Justice: Louis A. Bedford, Jr. and the Struggle has ever known. The harsh realities of city life in the segregated Dalfor Equal Rights in Texas is as much a biography las of the first-half of the 20th century are discussed in about Hon. Louis A. Bedford as it is a tutorial informative detail – as well as the vibrancy of Dallas’s on the advent of African-American attorneys in African-American enclaves, particularly the Thomasthe nation, the state, and particularly Dallas. Hall-State area where young Louis A. BedThis project began several years ago ford Jr. was reared. From this period grew under the guidance of Hon. Elizabeth Langprominent names and dynamic personMiers, justice of the Court of Appeals for alities that elicit recollections not only the Fifth District of Texas, and was made of familiar Dallas street names and landpossible largely by a grant from the Dalmarks, but also conjure images of men and las Bar Foundation. The extensive work women committed to just causes – armed and research of author and SMU Professor with conviction, steadied by courage, and Emeritus Darwin Payne were reviewed by committed to change. a DBF editorial committee, of which I and This environment – and the personalities several others served as members. and experiences that constituted it – had a Quest speaks of Macon Bolling Allen, lasting influence upon young Louis. As Quest the nation’s earliest known black attorney states, “[A]s he grew older and learned more (admitted to practice law in Maine in 1844), Louis A. Bedford Jr. about the community around him, Bedford as well as John Mercer Langston, the first became aware of the discrimination awaiting him as an black applicant to an American law school. It provides well-researched speculation as to the identity of the adult.” This discrimination was particularly evident in the first African-American to practice law in Texas, Allen Dallas justice system, which, as Quest accurately recounts, W. Wilder, as well as the first two African-Americans was the source of many injustices against African-Amerto practice law in Dallas – Sam H. Scott and Joseph E. ican litigants, attorneys, and even citizens called upon to be potential jurors. The brutal attack upon educator Wiley. In Quest, Mr. Payne explains the historical connec- George F. Porter, resulting in his eventual blindness, is tion between these African-American legal trailblaz- an especially captivating portion of Quest and a painful ers and other subsequent legal pioneers such as John L. reminder of Dallas’s not-so-distant past. Quest provides interesting details of Judge BedTurner Sr., D.M. Mason, William J. Durham, Crawford B. ford’s college days at Prairie View College – from his Bunkley Jr., John L. Turner Jr., and Louis A. Bedford Jr. Quest chronicles the ancestry of Judge Bedford – from its humble Texas roots in the 1800s to the evolusee book, page 8 by Paul K. Stafford
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Lawyers Rockin’ for Access to Justice
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he Dallas Bar Association will host Law Jam 2 on Saturday, August 8 at the Granada Theatre to benefit pro bono legal services for low-income residents. The event, emceed by KLUV’s Jody Dean, will feature seven local bands, each comprised mostly of attorneys. This unique battle of the bands event will raise funds for the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program, a joint initiative of the DBA and Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas. The Dallas Bar Association hosted its first Law Jam three years ago and raised more than $100,000. In addition to great music, Law Jam 2 will feature a silent auction that will include autographed posters, musical instruments, tickets to theater and music venues and restaurant packages. The Wrecking Crew
Inside 6 Bar None Produces Laughs & Scholarships 7 Legislature Passes Journalist Shield Law 9 Copyright Fair Use and the Online World
The following bands will perform at Law Jam 2: The Usuals, The Wrecking Crew, Second Hand Noise, Independent George, The Catdaddies, Blue Collar Crime and FlashCube. Doors open at 5 p.m. Purchase your tickets today at http://www.dbalawjam.org.
Blue Collar Crime