150 Years: Lawyers Who Shaped Houston’s Legal Legacy -Judges Who Made History -Historical Public Servants -Legendary Lawyers HBA Milestones: Houston Bar Association Auxiliary
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THE HOUSTON
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Volume 58 – Number 3
November/December 2020
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contents November/December 2020
Volume 58 Number 3
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FEATURES Years: Lawyers Who Shaped 10 150 Houston’s Legal Legacy By Anna Archer
Who Made History 11 Judges • Peter W. Gray By Bill Kroger
• The Hon. Weldon Berry By Gregory Ulmer
• Hon. A. D. Azios
By Hon. Lupe S. Salinas
• Hon. Ruby Sondock By Hon. Erin Lunceford
• Hon. Andrew Jefferson
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20
By Daniella D. Landers
• Hon. James DeAnda By J. Michael Solar
Public Servants 16 Historical • Barbara Jordan By Anuj Shah
• Leon Jaworski By Eric D’Olive
• Hon. Gaynelle Griffin Jones By Hon. Vanessa Gilmore
Public Servants 20 Historical • Hon. Hortense Sparks Ward By David Furlow and Elizabeth Furlow
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• The Bracewells By Kelly Frels
• David T. Searls
By Harry Reasoner
• W. James Kronzer
By Benny Agosto, Jr. and Randall O. Sorrels
• Harry Gee, Jr.
By Ruby L. Powers
• Joseph D. Jamail By Harry Reasoner
• T. Gerald Treece
By Andrew Pearce and Avi Moshenberg
The Houston Lawyer
Cover: Photos of Downtown Houston from 1870 through 2020 represent 150 years of service to the legal profession, the city and its people. Top left 1870s - MSS 0114-687 and top right 1920s MSS 0114-1332, Houston Public Library, Houston Metropolitan Research Center. Second row, left 1942 - MSS 0158-0001 and right 1965 - MSS 0114-0676, Houston Public Library, Houston Metropolitan Research Center. Background: Houston Downtown 2020, Stock image from Ingimage.
Years: Celebrating the 30 150 Backbone of the HBA Bar Association 32 Houston Presidents
The Houston Lawyer (ISSN 0439-660X, U.S.P.S 008-175) is published bimonthly by The Houston Bar Association, 1111 Bagby Street, FLB 200, Houston, TX 77002. Periodical postage paid at Houston, Texas. Subscription rate: $12 for members. $25.00 non-members. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Houston Lawyer, 1111 Bagby Street, FLB 200, Houston, TX 77002. Telephone: 713-759-1133. All editorial inquiries should be addressed to The Houston Lawyer at the above address. All advertising inquiries should be addressed to: Quantum/ SUR, 10306 Olympia Dr., Houston, TX 77042, 281-955-2449 ext 1, www.thehoustonlawyer.com, e-mail: leo@quantumsur.com. Views expressed in The Houston Lawyer are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or the Houston Bar Association. Publishing of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of any product or service offered. ©The Houston Bar Association/QuantumSUR, Inc., 2019. All rights reserved.
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contents November/December 2020
Volume 58 Number 3
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departments Message 6 President’s The Houston Bar Association:150
Years of Progress By Bill Kroger
the Editor 8 From Making an Impact By Anna M. Archer
Milestones 34 HBA Houston Bar Association Auxiliary:
A History of Service to the Bar and Community By Tara Shockley
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38
Spotlight 36 Committee The Historical Committee: Preserving
the Bar’s Past for the Future By David T. Lopez
Profile in professionalism 37 AJames A. Baker, III
61st U.S. Secretary of State, Senior Partner, Baker Botts L.L.P.
THE RECORD 38 OFF Kate McConnico: ‘Accidental
Sailor’ Draws Connections to Law
By Elizabeth Furlow
Spotlight 39 Section HBA Litigation Section: A Great
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Responsibility
By Stephanie L. Holcombe
trends 40 legal Discussion of the Proposed
Disciplinary Rules and Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedures By Claude Ducloux
The “Boeing Fix” – SB 943 By Joseph R. Larsen
The Rise of AirBnB By Mia Lorick
reviews 42 Media Bibliography of Books By and About
Houston’s Legal Community Created by Lori-Ann Craig and Heather Holme
The Houston Lawyer
Legal Technology Must-Haves in the Virtual Home-Office By Ruby L. Powers
44 Litigation MarketPlace 4
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president’s message By Bill Kroger Baker Botts L.L.P.
the houston bar association:
I
150 Years of Progress
The Houston Lawyer
t is a remarkable time to be celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Houston Bar Association. We have just had a Presidential Election in which a record number of citizens exercised their right to vote. We are also experiencing another COVID-19 wave, with more than 150,000 new infections each day across the country. Countries across Europe are undergoing a second shutdown of their economies due to COVID-19, while the direction of our own economy is uncertain. Many law firms are working remotely. So is the HBA. We have been through difficult periods before this one. Indeed, such times are part of the founding of the City of Houston. When Millie Gray arrived in Houston from Virginia on January 2, 1839, one of her first observations about the city was its sickly water: “This must render any country intersected by these Bayous unhealthy, I should think.” These words proved prescient, as her husband died within a few years, leaving her son, Peter W. Gray, to provide for the family. Sam Houston came to Gray’s aid and gave him a start as Houston District Attorney. His career unfolded over time. By 1870, the city had grown, but had also seen turmoil and strife. The capital had been moved in 1839 to Austin. The Republic of Texas had collapsed, and Texas became a state. The horrors and sins of slavery had imposed unimaginable hardships on the city’s Black residents. Many formerly enslaved people, now called Freedmen, were setting up their own communities in town, wanting to participate in the building of the city. Tragically, Jim Crow laws, segregation, violence, and racism stood in the way of that dream for the next 100 years. Still, Gray had an idea that if Houston lawyers pulled together, they could do much good in the new and growing city. Thus, the Houston Bar Association was formed. It was far from perfect—it was segregated, for one. Nevertheless, the work of many Houston lawyers transformed the city into a transportation hub, first consisting of railroads and canals to haul timber and cotton; later, adding a ship channel, pipelines, transmission lines, and highways to move power, hydrocarbons, and manufactured goods. This growth required capital and larger commercial enterprises, and thus lawyers helped form the first banks, railroads, utilities, and energy companies. This brought prosperity to the city. Over time, Houston also became known for education, retail and commercial development, restaurants, health care, the arts, entertainment, and even space travel. Lawyers were involved in the creation and operation of each of these enterprises and activities. By 1970, three of the ten largest law firms in the United States were in
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Houston. It was then, and remains today, a “lawyer’s town.” Lawyers did more than just advance their own economic interests. They also helped the city work toward a just society. Again, this work wasn’t perfect—lawyers were sometimes on both sides of these issues. Still, Houston lawyers helped lead the efforts to desegregate lunch counters, businesses, schools, and neighborhoods. The HBA was desegregated in 1965. The first Black and female lawyers joined major Houston firms as partnership-track lawyers in the early 1970s and started becoming partners in the early 1980s. Over time, Houston became known for its diversity, something we are proud of today. Houston lawyers played a role in that, too. By the 1980s, Houston lawyers also embraced their responsibilities to provide pro bono legal services. The predecessor to the Dispute Resolution Center, which mediates low income disputes, was formed in 1980. Houston Volunteer Lawyers was formed in 1981 under the leadership of James B. Sales and every year provides thousands of hours of pro bono legal services to the poor. The Houston Bar Foundation was formed in 1982 to help fund those services. Over the past 40 years, Houston lawyers have raised millions of dollars for pro bono representation. Finally, LegalLine was created in 1986. Every year, lawyers serving in that program answer thousands of calls from their fellow Houstonians, some of whom have a problem that needs to be solved, while others just need to hear a kind voice on the phone. Today, the Houston Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary city bar associations in the United States. As in 1870, the HBA today is a leader in helping the City of Houston recover from hardships the city faces. Throughout the pandemic, the HBA has continued to offer a myriad of activities, including virtual mediations, virtual clinics, and virtual phone outreach by hundreds of HBA volunteers to thousands of Houstonians. We have been on the front lines—helping people who face evictions, organizing more than 20 blood drives, and helping feed the needy with the Houston Food Bank. We have diligently worked with the courts to reopen and restart civil, criminal, probate, and family law proceedings. We have advised our member firms on how to run their law firms safely, and how our members can deal with stress during lockdown. And we have never been more diverse, advocating for improvements in social justice and implicit bias training. Our actions demonstrate the importance of the Houston Bar Association in helping build a stronger, more diverse, tolerant, just, and economically successful city. Happy Anniversary.
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from the editor By Anna M. Archer U.S. District Court
Making an Impact
Associate Editors
“Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.” Anietie Akpan METRO
Brooksie Bonvillain Boutet Shipley Snell Montgomery LLP
Kimberly Chojnacki Baker Donelson
Elizabeth Furlow Baker Botts
The Houston Lawyer
Andrew Pearce BoyarMiller
Koby Wilbanks Murrah & Killough
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—Sheryl Sandberg
n celebration of the Houston Bar Association’s 150th Anniversary, The Houston Lawyer Editorial Board teamed up with the HBA’s Historical Committee to create this commemorative issue of The Houston Lawyer. The issue features leaders from the Houston Bar who have made a lasting impact on our legal community over the last 150 years—people that we, as Houston lawyers, can look to for inspiration when we ask ourselves how we can make a difference in this world. Certainly, there are many more lawyers who fit this criterion than we could fit into the pages of one edition of The Houston Lawyer. I encourage you to read about the featured lawyers, think about the lawyers who have inspired you, and, if possible, let them know how grateful you are. In addition to brilliant colleagues and lawyer friends who continue to inspire me every day, the Houston lawyer who has inspired me the most in my legal career is Judge Gray H. Miller. As his career law clerk, I have benefitted from his wisdom and no-nonsense approach to legal issues, but that is not the main reason he inspires me. What truly makes him a great lawyer and a person I want to emulate is, in my opinion, his humanity. He cares about people. He is thoughtful, compassionate, and kind. In the future, I have no doubt he will be remembered as a great judge, but I think when people reflect on their personal interactions with him, their most poignant recollections will be about how he treated every person with respect and dignity. One aspect of leadership that is echoed in every article in this issue is giving back. The HBA provides numerous opportunities for lawyers to give back to the Houston legal community and the greater community in a meaningful way. In addition to having the opportunity to educate lawyers in our community
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through my work with The Houston Lawyer and the accompanying “Behind the Lines” podcast, some of the ways that I have been able to contribute to our community through HBA programs include offering legal advice to those in need through LegalLine, donating books for veterans through the Lawyers for Literacy Committee, purchasing holiday gifts for families impacted by HIV or AIDS through the AIDS Outreach Committee’s Adopt-a-Family program, providing opportunities to diverse students through the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, mentoring young lawyers through a program offered by the Professionalism Committee, and helping inspire women lawyers through programming offered by the Gender Fairness Committee. If you are looking for a way to make an impact on somebody’s life that will last in your absence, there is a leadership opportunity that corresponds with your interests available through the HBA. Many thanks to all of the people who agreed to write for this issue. We were incredibly fortunate to have several authors who are legal legends themselves, and many of them know or knew the person they were writing about personally. All were impacted by the example and leadership of their subjects. We truly appreciate the time each author put into telling us about the great lawyers highlighted on the following pages. Thank you to the HBA President, Bill Kroger, for his vision for this issue, and to the co-chairs of the Historical Committee, Judge Ken Wise and David Lopez, and the members of that committee, for your help with this issue. And thank you to the guest editors for this issue, Tara Taheri, Tim McInturf, and Trey Holm, the HBA staff, and all the members of The Houston Lawyer Editorial Board who helped Bill’s vision become reality. And, finally, thanks to the Associate Editors, who have provided fantastic content in the regular columns, including a reading list compiled by Harris County law librarians for those who are interested in learning about more great Houston lawyers. Happy 150th Birthday HBA!
BOARD OF DIRECTORS President
Secretary
President-Elect
Treasurer
First Vice President
Past President
Bill Kroger
Daniella D. Landers
Jennifer A. Hasley
Chris Popov
David Harrell
Benny Agosto, Jr.
Second Vice President
Diana Gomez
DIRECTORS (2019-2021)
Collin Cox Pamela Medina
Greg Moore Greg Ulmer
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150 Years: Lawyers Who Shaped Houston’s Legal Legacy
O
n April 23, 1870, several Houston lawyers met at the courthouse to form the Houston Bar Association (“HBA”). Its purpose was to “raise the standard of the legal profession” and purchase a law library.1 Over the next one hundred and fifty years, while its mission has changed from time to time, the HBA has consistently remained committed to raising the standard of the profession. This is evident in the HBA’s current mission statement, which is “to serve the needs of Houston-area lawyers and enhance the legal profession through promoting: professionalism, access to justice, the rule of law, equality and inclusion in the legal profession, legal education for the profession and the public, and service to our community through law-related or high-impact and high-involvement projects.”2 The Houston lawyers who are profiled on the following pages are lawyers who are or were dedicated to raising the standard of the legal profession in Houston in important ways. They are or were leaders through important eras in Houston’s history when the community needed lawyers to step up. They are or were exceptional advocates. Some fought for civil rights; others shaped specific areas of the law. They all epitomize civility in the legal profession. And, they are all shining examples of serving humankind and changing the world at the same time. They thus embody the spirit of the HBA and are important components of Houston’s legal legacy. The Houston Lawyer therefore celebrates the HBA’s 150th Anniversary by sharing their stories. Anna Archer, Editor in Chief Endnotes
1. ERIC L. FREDERICKSON, A COMMITMENT TO PUBLIC SERVICE: THE HISTORY OF THE HOUSTON BAR ASSOCIATION (1992). 2. About the HBA: Our Mission, HOUS. BAR ASS’N, https://www.hba.org/?pg=About-the-HBA (last visited Nov. 13, 2020).
Judges Who Made History Peter W. Gray: Founder of the HBA –By Bill Kroger
A
bout 20 years ago, I discovered in the Baker Botts’ archives many of the original ledgers, law books, case files, and other documents pertaining to the life of Peter W. Gray, the founder of the law firm that became Baker Botts. Gray was one of the leading lawyers of early Texas, and he played an important role in the development of the City of Houston. Gray was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1819, and moved to Houston with his family in 1838. As a young man, he served as an officer in the Army of the Republic of Texas before joining his father’s legal practice. When his father died from illness just two years later, Gray found himself district attorney of Harris County, having been appointed by benefactor Sam Houston. Over time, Gray established a robust and varied legal practice. One of his early clients was Emeline, a free Black woman who was illegally held and sold in the slavery markets in Houston. Gray, although not an abolitionist, represented her and won injunctive relief against her white slaveowner, securing Emeline’s freedom. This case has been called the “first pro bono case” in Houston. Another Gray client was William Marsh Rice, an early merchant and money lender in the fragile Houston economy. In 1846, Gray was elected to the First Legislature for the new State of Texas, and was the primary author of the Practice Act, the first rules of civil procedure for the State of Texas. His copy of this Act was one of the documents that I found in the firm archives. During the 1850s, Gray served as a state senator in the Fourth Legislature, and as Judge of the Houston District Court. Chief Jus-
tice Oran Roberts called Gray “the very best district judge upon the Texas Bench.” Gray was also active in the Houston community. He and his parents were charter members of Christ Church, one of the first protestant churches in Texas. He also owned Gray’s Opera House, which was located on Court House Square and was one of the first music halls in Houston. Additionally, he co-founded the Houston Lyceum, which became the Houston Public Library. Gray supported succession, and served in various government positions for the Confederacy during the Civil War. His legal career collapsed. After the war, he and his cousin, Walter Browne Botts, founded a new firm, Gray & Botts. Gray worked to help restore the city, representing the first Houston national banks, canal companies, and railroads. In 1870, Gray became the first president of the Houston Bar Association. In 1874, he left his law firm after being appointed to the Texas Supreme Court, but he died shortly afterwards from tuberculosis at the age of 54. Gray’s legacy is large. He established that Houston lawyers must be active in the community, which remains a hallmark of Baker Botts today. In 1901, the firm represented the Estate of William Marsh Rice in creating what today is Rice University, which remains a client today, and later represented Rice University when it was successfully desegregated. And Gray’s firm remains a pro bono leader in the City of Houston through its work with the Houston Bar Association, which he also founded. For this writer, Gray’s career represents the important, varied civic contributions that can be made by lawyers. His picture hangs in my office, where he greets me each morning when I come to work. Bill Kroger is the president of the Houston Bar Association. He is a partner and energy litigation group chair at Baker Botts L.L.P.
Hon. Weldon Berry: A Champion for Civil Rights –By Gregory Ulmer
T
he recent protests and civil unrest surrounding racial injustice serve as a reminder of the continued struggle for equality. Those who continue the fight walk in the footsteps of the civil rights pioneers who came before them. Weldon Berry was among those civil rights leaders who had a significant impact on the Hous-
ton legal community and the community at large. As a young boy growing up in McKinney, Texas, Weldon Berry knew he wanted to be a lawyer. However, because of Jim Crow laws that denied Blacks basic human rights and the poverty in which he lived, Berry never thought becoming a lawyer was an attainable goal. Despite his pessimism, Berry leaned on his faith and with much hard work and determination, became an attorney, judge, and civil rights leader fighting the very segregation, discrimination, and racial injustice that he believed as a young boy would resign him to working in a shoe shine shop with his stepfather. thehoustonlawyer.com
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Berry was born in Henrietta, Texas in 1921. He attended Texas College in Tyler, Texas, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1941. He served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, holding the rank of Second Lieutenant. While in the military, he attended pilot training at Tuskegee, where he earned his wings as a bombardier. Berry enrolled in law school at Texas Southern University (TSU) (known then as “Texas State University for Negroes”) in 1949. His class had less than ten members and was one of TSU’s first law school classes. Berry graduated from law school in 1952 and was admitted to the Texas bar that same year. At that time, there were less than ten Black lawyers practicing law in the city of Houston. In 1955, Berry, along with A.M. Wickliff, Robert Hainsworth, Robeson King, and Mathew Plummer, founded the Houston Lawyers Association (HLA). HLA’s goal was to address the particular needs of Black attorneys and the legal needs of the Black community, as well as promote professional and social interaction among Black attorneys at a time when they were excluded from other bar organizations, including the Houston Bar Association. Shortly after launching his private law practice in Houston, Berry joined the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund as a cooperating attorney. In that capacity, he tried many civil rights cases, includ-
ing lawsuits filed by the Legal Defense Fund against the Houston Independent School District and other school districts across the state of Texas to accelerate the desegregation of public schools following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in 1954 that segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment. In 1983, then Texas Governor Mark White appointed Berry judge of the 80th Civil District Court of Harris County. After leaving the bench, Berry returned to private practice. He passed away in 2000. Berry’s legal career was a reflection of his long-standing commitment to fighting racial injustice. His accomplishments and contributions advanced the rights of Black Houstonians, as well as the practice of law for Black attorneys in the city of Houston. Berry’s legacy as an attorney, judge, and civil rights leader continues to inspire as the struggle for justice and equality continues. Gregory Ulmer is partner at BakerHostetler and leader of the firm’s national Product Liability Practice Team. He is an experienced trial lawyer whose practice consists of civil defense litigation with an emphasis on defending products, manufacturers and distributors, as well as premises owners in liability, wrongful death and toxic exposure cases. He is a member of the Houston Bar Association Board of Directors.
Hon. A. D. Azios: The Great A.D. –By Hon. Lupe S. Salinas
T
he “Great A.D.”—as he often referred to himself in the third person—was officially christened Arnulfo Daniel Azios at birth. After I met him in 1972, Judge Azios began to mentor me. The Judge honored me with his friendship and with administering my oath three times as a criminal court judge. I further benefitted from his guidance on legal and professional issues. When I was down after my 1984 election loss, Judge Azios came to my rescue with a court appointment. Judge Azios and I had much in common. Both my father and the Judge were born in Texas in 1921 and were christened “Arnulfo,” definitely not a common name. Judge Azios would always inquire about my father, asking “How’s my tocayo doing?” referring culturally to his namesake. Another common experience involved our background as paperboys, an experience I credit for my educational success (nothing to do except read when no buyers appear). Finally, both the Judge and I valued our teachers and their sacrifices. In an interview with a Laredo newspaper, Judge Azios emotionally praised his teachers, while I often dedicated my law review publications to educators who inspired me to succeed. A.D. Azios studied at the University of Texas (UT) until 1943 when the nation called him to serve in World War II. He stud12
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ied German in preparation for his service. After being injured by shrapnel during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, Judge Azios found refuge in a basement in Luxembourg. Upon hearing the approaching clicks of boots against the pavement outside (not knowing they were the boots of German soldiers), he called out that he was wounded and alone. This contact led to the beginning of Judge Azios’s four months as a German POW. After his capture in Germany, he utilized his German abilities to lead ten other POWs to safety. He returned to Laredo and married the beautiful Lauren Cuellar, and they had three children. After completing his undergraduate studies at UT, he enrolled at South Texas College of Law and obtained his law license in 1949. He and Lauren made Houston home. Judge Azios served as a Municipal Judge, Justice of the Peace, County Civil Court judge, and County Criminal Court judge. In 1972, Judge Azios and other Latino attorneys collaborated in founding the Mexican American Bar Association of Houston (MABAH). In 1983, the public elected Judge Azios to his ultimate dream of serving when he took the oath as state district judge of the 232nd Criminal District Court. In the late 1980s, Judge Azios became the first Texas jurist to allow DNA to establish identity of the rapist in the historic Henry Lee Bethune case. DNA evidence has impacted criminal justice since it can prove not only guilt, but also innocence of wrongfully convicted persons. After his state-mandated retirement, Judge Azios continued to serve Texas as a visiting judge throughout the state.
In closing this tribute to the life of the Great A.D., I must acknowledge his humor. The Judge enjoyed afternoon siestas. Once while the Judge slept on his chambers sofa, a clerk entered to retrieve a file. The clerk apologized when the Judge stirred, and the startled judge stated all was okay, that he was just reading an opinion. The clerk noticed a law reporter volume on his chest.
The clerk astutely stated, “But Judge, the book is upside down,” to which the even cleverer Judge responded, “That’s because the case got reversed on appeal!” Our blessings to the Great A.D.! Hon. Lupe S. Salinas, Retired Judge of the 351st District Court is currently a professor at Thurgood Marshall School of Law.
Hon. Ruby Sondock: A Trailblazer for Women in the Law in Every Sense of the Word –By Hon. Erin Lunceford
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ustice Ruby Kless Sondock is a role model and trailblazer for every female lawyer in Texas. While we attended the same law school, the University of Houston Law Center, she originally attended years after marrying and raising a family, with the goal of becoming the best legal secretary. She decided, however, to switch her career path and became a licensed attorney after graduating in 1962 as valedictorian of her law school class. She was the first woman ever to be appointed as a district judge in Harris County. Justice Sondock was also the first woman to be appointed to the Texas Supreme Court since 1925, when a special all-woman court served briefly to hear a single case involving the Woodmen of the World. Instead of seeking election to the Texas Supreme Court, Justice Sondock returned to the 234th District Court and won reelection to that trial court bench the next year, without opposition. Following her judicial service, Justice Sondock has had a very successful career as a private mediator in Houston. While I have not personally interacted with Justice Sondock, we certainly have many things in common, both having been appointed as district judges and later starting mediation careers. In researching Justice Sondock, I found that many of the articles noted that she is a very humble woman who does not like to be lauded for her many accomplishments. Therefore, I reached out to other female lawyers who were mentored by Justice Sondock to find special stories about her, and I discovered one told by Judge Susan Soussan that has particular importance in today’s world. Justice Sondock always told Judge Soussan to “not use your Barbs,” which meant,
as a lawyer, not to use being a woman as an excuse. This seems to support Justice Sondock’s reticence to take credit for being the “first woman” in her many professional achievements. Judge Soussan credits Justice Sondock for being her mentor throughout her legal career, even though she was sometimes very tough on Judge Soussan, who recalls a now very humorous teaching event. As an attorney, Judge Soussan had approached the bench in a full courtroom to argue a motion when Justice Sondock asked her to move closer. Justice Sondock then instructed Judge Soussan that she would hear her motion “after she cut her hair;” which Judge Soussan admits was very unruly and unprofessional. Judge Soussan later cut her hair and returned to court to argue her motion. I believe I owe Justice Sondock a debt of gratitude for blazing the trails as a lawyer, judge, justice, and mediator. Since her time as a Judge/Justice, Harris County and Texas have had many
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female lawyers/judges like Justice Sondock, most of whom have also been subject to the tough mentoring she provided, and the example she set not as a “female lawyer,” but as an outstanding lawyer, regardless of her gender.
Hon. Erin Lunceford is a 32-year lawyer, currently Counsel for Norton Rose Fulbright LLP where she practices trial law and performs mediations and arbitrations. She was previously appointed by the governor to serve as Judge of the 61st District Court from 2015-2016.
Hon. Andrew Jefferson: Pioneer in the Practice of Law –By Daniella D. Landers
J
udge Andrew Jefferson was a notable pioneer in the practice of law and the African-American community. Judge Jefferson started with humble beginnings in Texas as the son of a carpenter. He was born in Dallas, lived for a while in Crockett, then moved to Houston with his family as a child. He was a 1952 graduate of Jack Yates High School in Houston, and he earned a bachelor’s degree from Texas Southern University in 1956. In 1959, Judge Jefferson earned his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law during a time when there were very few Blacks admitted to the law school. After graduating, Judge Jefferson served in the U.S. Army before opening the Houston law firm of Washington & Jefferson with his friend George Washington, Jr., a 1954 graduate of the Univer-
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sity of Texas School of Law. In 1961, Judge Jefferson became the first Black Assistant District Attorney for Bexar County. A year later, he became Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas. His job performance reportedly earned him a Sustained Superior Award from the U.S. Department of Justice in 1967. In 1968, Judge Jefferson left the public sector to become trial and labor relations counsel for Humble Oil & Refinery Company (now ExxonMobil Corporation) in Houston. Then, in 1970, Judge Jefferson became the first African-American judge in Harris County (and one of the first in Texas) when Governor Preston Smith appointed him as judge of the former Court of Domestic Relations No. 2, where he served from December 1970 through 1973. He later served as the judge of the 208th District Court in Harris County in 1974 and 1975. He resigned from the bench in October 1975 for private practice with the firm of Jefferson, Sherman & Mims. In the early 1970s, Judge Jefferson was appointed to the Constitutional Revision Commission for the State of Texas, alongside such notable Texans as Peter Flawn, Page Keeton, and Ralph Yarborough. He received many awards and recognitions for his accomplishments, including being named to the International Society of Barristers in 1996. Notably, in 1980, President Jimmy Carter nominated Judge Jefferson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. But, unfortunately, his nomination died in the U.S. Judiciary Committee. If he had been confirmed, he would have been the first African-American justice to serve in that court. Although Judge Jefferson spent much of his career as a trial lawyer and judge, he devoted considerable time to public service in the community at large. He served as president of the Nu Boulé chapter of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, the first African-American Greek letter organization. Judge Jefferson also served as chairman of the board of the Houston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank and chairman of the Texas Southern University Foundation. Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is often credited for saying
“[p]eople who end up as ‘first’ don’t actually set out to be first. They set out to do something they love.” That is definitely true of Judge Andrew Jefferson. Judge Jefferson passed away peacefully on December 8, 2008, but will forever be remembered for his exemplary accomplishments and lifetime dedication to the
practice of law in Texas, and the community, as well as to the nation as a whole. Daniella D. Landers is a partner at Reed Smith LLP. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Houston Bar Association and the Houston Bar Foundation.
Hon. James DeAnda: Hometown Hero and Major Influence in My Life and Practice –By J. Michael Solar
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first encountered Judge James DeAnda at his investiture on May 11, 1979. I didn’t meet him that day because I didn’t believe I had a place in the reception line with so many dignitaries, judges, and lawyers as a second-year law student. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that Judge DeAnda would join Solar & Ellis (subsequently Solar & Fernandes) 12 years later when he retired from the bench at 67 years of age. The Judge blazed a formidable trail through American jurisprudence. Even so, he embodied the archetypal “everyman,” forced into surreal situations that occasioned his rise to heroism. Over the course of our 13-year collaboration, I discovered how the son of Mexican immigrants endured the ravages of the Depression; served in combat as a Marine during WWII1 in the South Pacific and China; graduated from Texas A&M (‘48),2 and subsequently from the University of Texas Law School (‘50) to join the paltry ranks of Texas’ Mexican-American lawyers3; overcame the withdrawal of a prestigious job offer when the energy company learned of his Mexican heritage; rose out of a two-man law office into center stage of the post-war civil rights movement; at the young age of 25, launched an appeal4 that became a landmark Supreme Court case;5 served as the GI Forum’s legal advocate;6 abolished “Mexican Schools” in Texas;7 desegregated Texas school districts;8 defied death threats;9 founded the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)10 and Texas Rural Legal Aid11 (now known as “Texas RioGrande Legal Aid”); and became the second lawyer of Mexican descent to become a federal district judge in U.S. history.12 All of that in one breath. All of that in a single lifetime. Judge James DeAnda inspired people from all walks of life by his virtuous example. He pursued justice insatiably and was a selfdisciplined warrior. He lifted a beacon of good judgment for all those he touched. No doubt the administration of justice was made more just by his mere presence among his fellow federal judges. He exemplified what the Mexican-American man was capable of becoming, destroying stereotypes to the contrary. His presence on the bench was a source of pride for his community and reinforced the belief that the administration of justice was fair and impartial.
He taught younger lawyers how to “be” quietly reverent, humble (he never spoke of his achievements) and kind, and forever charitable with their gifts of time, talent, and money to those in need. He lived without resentment or rancor for the hardships he endured. He remained unfailingly calm in the face of the fiercest of legal combat13 (that for me remains aspirational), and the deadliest weapon in his arsenal of profanity was “son of a gun.” I never knew him to have an argument, make demands, or have a detractor. Under the Judge’s generous tutelage, our small firm’s alumni today consist of one global energy general counsel, two federal district judges, numerous “BigLaw” partners, many highly successful trial and appellate lawyers, and law professors. Judge James DeAnda was a wellspring of inspiration to America, American jurisprudence, and Latinos everywhere. He was my hometown hero. J. Michael Solar is the founder and managing partner of Solar Law. He is recognized as a writer, lecturer, and the subject of local, national, and international interviews regarding legal issues and his litigation. Among numerous other awards, Michael is the recipient of the President’s Award from the State Bar of Texas. Endnotes
1. 152 CONG. REC. 18,950–51 (2006). 2. Aggie Lawyer Sworn in as U.S. District Judge, TEX. A&M SCHOOL OF LAW BLOG (Aug. 10, 2020, 12:45 PM), https://blog.law.tamu.edu/blog/aggie-attorney-sworn-in-as-u.s.-districtjudge. 3. The Judge once estimated that at the time of his graduation from law school there were only twenty-five Mexican-American lawyers in the entire state of Texas, including five in Houston. 4. V. Carl Allsup, Hernandez v. State of Texas, TEX. STATE HISTORICAL ASS’N, https://www. tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hernandez-v-state-of-texas (last visited Oct. 18, 2020). 5. Hernandez v. Texas, 347 US 475, 74 S. Ct. 667 (1954). In a unanimous ruling written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the court held that Mexican-Americans, and all other nationality groups in the United States, have equal protection under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This was a landmark case for a myriad of reasons: it was the first and only Mexican-American civil rights case heard and decided by the U.S. Supreme Court during the post-World War II period; moreover, it was the first case in which Mexican-American lawyers appeared before the Supreme Court. Judge DeAnda was one of those lawyers, serving as plaintiff’s counsel. 6. The Judge worked on matters involving returning Mexican-American war veterans who, among other things, were denied burial in Texas cemeteries or even service in restaurants. 7. Hernandez v. Driscoll Consol. Indep. Sch. Dist., 2 RACE REL. L.R. 329 (S.D. Tex. Jan. 11, 1957). 8. Sculpture of Civil Rights Champion DeAnda Unveiled at University of Texas School of Law, UNIV. OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, SCHOOL OF LAW (Nov. 12, 2010), https://law.utexas.edu/ news/2010/11/12/sculpture-honoring-james-deanda-unveiled/. 9. Excerpt from Corpus Christi Caller-Times (Sep. 8, 2006), on file with author. 10. CONG. REC., supra note 1. 11. Our History, TEXAS RIOGRANDE LEGAL AID, https://www.trla.org/who-we-are. TRLA was once described as legendary in Texas colonias, barrios and poor neighborhoods for its aggressive, fearless, first-rate lawyering for the most impoverished and oppressed Texans. Coined as TRLA’s “founding father,” James DeAnda was involved in several important causes, including providing counsel in the 1974 Supreme Court case that brought the Texas Rangers, who had retaliated brutally against striking workers at La Casita Farms, under the control of the Department of Public Safety where they remain today. Effectively, the case brought reform to the rogue Rangers. See Allee v. Medrano, 416 U.S. 802, 94 S. Ct. 2191 (1974). 12. CONG. REC., supra note 1 at 22,408–09. 13. One night we were working late, pulling our hair out trying to get out of a tight spot. He looked over at me, smiled, and said, “Can you believe we get paid for this?” It was always a labor of love.
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Historical Public Servants Barbara Jordan: A Politician Who Inspired Unity –By Anuj Shah “We are a people in a quandary about the present. We are a people in search of our future. We are a people in search of a national community.”1 native Houstonian, Barbara Charline Jordan was an attorney, legislator, and an educator who blazed countless trails in her illustrious career at both the state and national levels. Born in Houston in 1936, Jordan graduated at the top of her class at Phyllis Wheatley High School. She went on to Texas Southern University, where she was a star on the debate team and defeated competitors from the Ivy League universities. She then completed her law school education at Boston University School of Law in 1959. After practicing law privately for a few years, Jordan was elected to the Texas Senate in 1966, becoming the first African-American state senator since 1883 and the first Black woman to serve in that
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body. While there, Jordan influenced her white male cohorts to pass bills establishing the state’s first minimum wage law, antidiscrimination clauses in business contracts, and the Texas Fair Employment Practices Commission. Jordan served in the Texas Legislature until 1972, and during her tenure, she was the first African-American female to serve as president pro tem of the state senate. In this capacity, she served as acting governor of Texas for one day: June 10, 1972. To this day, Jordan appears to be the only African-American woman to serve as governor of a state. In 1972, Jordan was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the first woman elected to represent Texas in the House. In 1974, she galvanized the nation in a televised speech before the House Judiciary Committee supporting the impeachment of President Richard Nixon, stating, “I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution,” concluding that if her fellow committee members did not find the evidence for impeachment compelling enough, “then perhaps the eighteenth–century Constitution should be abandoned to a twentieth–century paper shredder.”2 While Jordan clearly fought for the advancement of the African-American community, she extended her deep commitment to justice for all underrepresented groups. In 1975, she stated, “I am neither a black politician nor a woman politician, just a politician, a professional politician,”3 and demonstrated this universal ethic by encouraging her congressional colleagues to extend the federal protection of civil rights to all Americans. When Congress voted that same year to extend the Voting Rights Act of 1965, for instance, Jordan sponsored legislation that broadened the provisions of the act to include Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans. In 1976, Jordan, became the first African-American woman to deliver a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, receiving not only a standing ovation, but one delegate vote (0.03%) for President at the Convention, despite not being a candidate. Jordan retired from politics in 1979 and became an adjunct professor teach-
ing ethics at the University of Texas’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. She received countless awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton in 1994. Jordan passed away in 1996, but her incredible legacy and light will burn brightly for a long time to come. Anuj Shah is the managing principal of Anuj A. Shah, P.C. He is board certified in immigration & nationality law by the Texas Board of Legal
Specialization, and is a member of The Houston Lawyer’s editorial board. Endnotes
1. Barbara Charline Jordan, Keynote Address at the Democratic National Convention (July 12, 1976), https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barbarajordan1976dnc.html. 2. Rep. Barbara Jordan, Statement on the Articles of Impeachment (July 25, 1974), in WASH. POST, Jan. 7, 1979, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/ magazine/1979/01/07/barbara-jordan-a-self-portrait/413aa701-8a85-4c89-8781-1b02b 0b8eba3/. 3. Barbara Charline Jordan, HISTORY, ART & ARCHIVES: U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/16031 (last visited Oct. 17, 2020).
Leon Jaworski: Standing Up for the Rule of Law –By Eric D’Olive
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eon Jaworski led several of the 20th century’s most impressive legal teams, and exemplified the ethical, objective, and patriotic practice of law. He was a legal prodigy, and became the youngest Texas attorney ever admitted at bar.1 In 1929, at 23 years old, he zealously defended a Black man accused of murdering a white couple, despite negative publicity.2 It was a pro bono appointment, yet he exhausted all appeals for his client, who was eventually executed. This was only the first of many stands that Mr. Jaworski would take for the rule of law despite controversy. During World War II, Mr. Jaworski joined the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps, rose to the rank of Colonel, and became chief trial counsel for prosecuting war criminals.3 The Army awarded him the Legion of Merit award for his efforts.4 However, he declined to participate in the international Nuremburg Trials,5 in part because he did not believe that all of the defendants would receive a fair trial.6 Mr. Jaworski returned to private practice and became managing partner at his firm, which became Fulbright & Jaworski, L.L.P., now Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP.7 He served as president of the Houston Bar Association (1948), the American College of Trial Lawyers (1961–62), the State Bar of Texas (1962– 63), and the American Bar Association (1971–72).8 In 1962, U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy asked Mr. Jaworski to prosecute the segregationist governor of Mississippi for criminal contempt of court.9 He accepted the appointment as a public service. As a result, some of Mr. Jaworski’s clients fired his firm out of spite, and he suffered frequent insults and hate mail.10 Mr. Jaworski’s most famous work was his service as the special prosecutor in the Watergate investigation in 1973–74. President Nixon pressured Mr. Jaworski’s predecessor out of office.11 Many public figures and his new staff assumed that Mr. Jaworski was compromised by accepting the appointment. He declined to ask the grand jury to indict the President in the
Watergate affair because he believed the President could not get a fair trial and that it would not be in the country’s best interest to prosecute the case in court. However, when the President refused to produce certain incriminating tapes in a related matter, Mr. Jaworski successfully appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to have the tapes produced.12 President Nixon resigned soon afterward. Beyond being a brilliant example of the Houston legal community on the national and international stage, Mr. Jaworski served Houston directly in many other ways. He was a trustee of the M.D. Anderson Foundation, a board member of the Baylor College of Medicine and the Texas Medical Center, the president of the Houston Chamber of Commerce, a director of several local companies, and an advocate for the construction of the Astrodome.13 Eric D’Olive is a member of the Houston Bar Association Historical Committee and is general counsel for Mambo Seafood® Restaurants. He is an avid outdoorsman and loves to share his love of nature with his friends and family, especially with his wife Kami and their wonderful children. Endnotes
1. Anne Dingus, Leon Jaworski, TEX. MONTHLY, Feb. 1999, https://www.texasmonthly. com/articles/leon-jaworski/. 2. See Scott v. State, 114 Tex. Crim. 631, 26 S.W.2d (1930); Harry Hurt, III, Have Conscience, Will Travel, TEX. MONTHLY, Nov. 1977, https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/haveconscience-will-travel/ (noting how Mr. Jaworski first made a name for himself as a courtappointed public defender in the highly publicized Jordan Scott murder case). 3. Gina Spada, Leon Jaworski, 46 TEX. B.J. 192, 193 (Feb. 1983). 4. Hurt, supra note 2. 5. A young Jaworski had led the prosecution against personnel of the Hadamar Euthanasia Center for the murder of 476 Soviet and Polish laborers in a legal proceeding considered to be the predecessor of the infamous Nuremburg Trials. The Hadamar Trial, U.S. HOLOCAUST MEM’L MUSEUM, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/thehadamar-trial (last visited Oct. 19, 2020). 6. Hurt, supra note 2. His reasons included, according to Hurt, that his father was gravely ill, that his “disliked the judicial hodgepodge of French, Russian, and U.S. law,” and that the “trials involved too many purely military offenses.” Id. 7. Firm History, NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT, http://www.fulbright.com/fjlib/media/flash/ history/index.cfm (last visited Oct. 19, 2020). 8. Newton Gresham & James A. Tinsley, Jaworski, Leon, TEX. STATE HISTORICAL ASS’N, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/jaworski-leon (last visited Oct. 19, 2020). 9. Hurt, supra note 2. 10. Robert Draper, Colonel of Truth, TEX. MONTHLY, Nov. 1, 2003, https://www.texas monthly.com/articles/colonel-of-truth/amp/. 11. Id. 12. Id.; Linda Charlton, Leon Jaworski, 77, Dies in Texas; Special Prosecutor for Watergate, N.Y. TIMES, Dec. 10, 1982, at A1, https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/10/obituaries/leonjaworski-77-dies-in-texas-special-prosecutor-for-watergate.html. 13. Gresham & Tinsley, supra note 8.
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Hon. Gaynelle Griffin Jones: Determined and Brilliant –By Hon. Vanessa Gilmore
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hen you live a life of service, honor, and distinction, then you will probably leave a legacy that many will want to remember. Gaynelle Griffin Jones was such a person. I first met Gaynelle Jones in 1992. Although we had both practiced law for many years by that point, our paths had never crossed because I was a civil litigator and she was a prosecutor with the United States Attorney’s office. That year, Governor Ann Richards nominated me to a seat on the First Court of Appeals. As I began the confirmation process, I learned that two state senators were having a power struggle about who should be able to nominate someone for that seat. Although this fight had nothing to do with me, my nomination was not to be fulfilled. Governor Richards then asked me if I could recommend another African-American woman to be nominated. After speaking to several people, Gaynelle Griffin Jones’s name came up. The governor nominated her for the seat. After Gaynelle was confirmed, she had to run for re-election. Because she was a career prosecutor and bound by the Hatch Act, she had not been politically active. I, on the other hand, had spent years representing the Democratic Party of Houston in election matters and had been involved in statewide political issues in Governor Richards’s administration. I decided that I owed it to
Gaynelle to try to make her run successful. I had a fundraiser for her, and I took her to meet a number of people that I thought could help her. Ultimately, her run was unsuccessful, but her grace, determination, and perseverance got the attention of President Clinton, who appointed her to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas. As a result, she was serving as U.S. Attorney at the time I became a federal judge in 1994. Ironically, as I was going through the confirmation process, I had many interviews in Washington to assess my qualifications and my temperament to serve as a federal judge. I was told that when inquiry was made about my temperament, the story that people told again and again was about how when I didn’t get the seat on the Court of Appeals, I helped another woman who was appointed. I was surprised that others were surprised by that. I think it speaks to the way women work to support each other. But it was also because a lot of them hadn’t had the pleasure of knowing Gaynelle Griffin Jones. Her quiet and determined demeanor and her obvious brilliance and qualification for the job would have motivated anybody to want to help her succeed. In the years that followed, I got to know Gaynelle better because we were both members of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, where we mentored young girls and where she served as a deaconess. Later, she struggled through her cancer with the same quiet determination. She was a remarkable legal legend in Houston. When Judge Vanessa Diane Gilmore was sworn in as a federal judge in 1994, she was then the youngest sitting federal judge in the nation. She was the first graduate of the University of Houston Law Center to be appointed to the federal bench.
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Equal Access Champions The firms and corporations listed below have agreed to assume a leadership role in providing equal access to justice for all Harris County citizens. Each has made a commitment to provide representation in a certain number of cases through the Houston Volunteer Lawyers. Large Firm Champions Baker Botts L.L.P. Bracewell LLP Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP Kirkland & Ellis LLP Locke Lord LLP Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP Vinson & Elkins LLP
Corporate Champions CenterPoint Energy, Inc. Exxon Mobil Corporation Halliburton Energy LyondellBasell Industries Marathon Oil Company Shell Oil Company
Mid-Size Firm Champions Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP BakerHostetler LLP Beck Redden LLP Chamberlain Hrdlicka Clark Hill Strasburger Foley & Lardner LLP Gibbs & Bruns LLP Gray Reed & McGraw, P.C. Greenberg Traurig, LLP Haynes and Boone, L.L.P. Jackson Walker L.L.P. Jones Day King & Spalding LLP Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Porter Hedges LLP ReedSmith LLP Winstead PC Winston & Strawn LLP
Shortt & Nguyen, P.C. Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP Trahan Kornegay Payne, LLP
Individual Champions Boutique Firm Champions Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner Blank Rome LLP Dentons US LLP Fullenweider Wilhite PC Hogan Lovells US LLP Jenkins & Kamin, L.L.P. McDowell & Hetherington LLP Ogden, Broocks & Hall, L.L.P. Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart P.C. Weycer, Kaplan, Pulaski & Zuber, P.C. Wilson, Cribbs & Goren, P.C. Yetter Coleman LLP
Small Firm Champions Coane & Associates Frye, Benavidez and O’Neil, PLLC Fuqua & Associates, P.C. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP Givens & Johnston Katine & Nechman L.L.P. Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP KoonsFuller, P.C. MehaffyWeber, P.C. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP Rapp & Krock, PC
Law Office of Peter J. Bennett Law Office of Travis A. Bryan I, PLLC Burford Perry, LLP The Dieye Firm The Ericksen Law Firm Law Office of Todd M. Frankfort Hasley Scarano L.L.P. David Hsu and Associates The Jurek Law Group, PLLC Law Firm of Min Gyu Kim PLLC The LaFitte Law Group, PLLC Law Firm of Catherine Le PLLC C. Y. Lee Legal Group, PLLC Law Office of Gregory S. Lindley Martin R. G. Marasigan Law Offices McGarvey PLLC Law Office of Evangeline Mitchell, PLLC Rita Pattni, Attorney at Law Pilgrim Law Office Law Office of Robert E. Price The Reece Law Firm, PLLC Law Office of Cindi L. Rickman, J.D. Sanchez Law Firm Law Office of Jeff Skarda Angela Solice, Attorney at Law Diane C. Treich, Attorney at Law Law Office of Norma Levine Trusch Trey Yates Law
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Legendary Lawyers Hon. Hortense Sparks Ward: A Texas Trailblazer for Equality and Suffrage –By David Furlow and Elizabeth Furlow
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ortense Sparks Ward is a household name in our family. As a father and a daughter, we have both been inspired by Ward’s example as an attorney who fought for justice and equal rights. Ward was a Texas attorney who blazed a trail for others to follow. She was the first woman in Texas to pass the bar exam, in 1910, and she was one of the first woman
members of the State Bar. Ward drafted a bill to protect the property rights of women who acquired income, then successfully lobbied the Texas Legislature for its enactment.1 She served as Special Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court’s “All Woman-Court” in 1925, the first all-female panel of a state supreme court.2 But Ward’s greatest victories occurred between 1915 and 1920 during the struggle to enfranchise Texas’s women voters. Ward led the successful campaign for ratification of a federal constitutional amendment to grant Texas women the right to vote. As president of the Houston Equal Suffrage Association, Ward also successfully lobbied Texas Governor William P. Hobby and the Legislature to pass a bill in 1918 that authorized women to vote in primary elections. Ward published newspaper articles and a pamphlet, “Instructions for Women Voters,” that helped convince nearly 386,000 women to register to vote in just 17 days during 1918. To honor her instrumental role in mobilizing women’s suffrage, Ward,
with the support of Democratic Party officials, was the first woman to register to vote in Harris County. Texas was the first Southern state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Secretary of State certified the amendment’s ratification on August 26, 1920. After winning the battle for women’s suffrage in Texas, Ward and her law partner husband, William Henry Ward, filed a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of the new poll tax law the Legislature had just enacted. The Wards recruited a well-respected plaintiff and filed a mandamus action in accord with the Texas Constitution. The Wards’ victory opened doors to voters of every race and gender, ultimately enabling all citizens to vote as equals.3 David A. Furlow, attorney and historian, serves as Editor Emeritus of The Journal of the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society. Elizabeth Furlow is a litigation associate at Baker Botts L.L.P. She is the Off the Record Editor of The Houston Lawyer. Endnotes
1. JAMES L. HALEY, A NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE TEXAS SUPREME COURT, 1836– 1986 146, 168, 278 (2013). 2. See Barbara Karkabi, Judge O’Connor’s Nomination Reminds Us: Once Texas Had an All-Woman Supreme Court!, HOUS. CHRON., July 13, 1981, at 6; LINDA C. HUNSAKER, FAMILY REMEMBRANCES AND THE LEGACY OF CHIEF JUSTICE HORTENSE SPARKS WArd, 4 J. TEX. SUP. CT. HIST. SOC’Y 51–61 (2015), http://texascourthistory.org/Content/Newsletters//TSCHS%20Journal%20Summer%202015.pdf; Debbie Mauldin Cottrell, All-Woman Supreme Court, TEXAS STATE HISTORICAL ASS’N, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/ entries/all-woman-supreme-court. 3. Despite Ward’s efforts, people of color continued to face significant obstacles in exercising their right in the years that followed. See, e.g., Jen Rice, How Texas Prevented Black Women from Voting Decades after the 19th Amendment, HOUS. PUBLIC MEDIA (June 28, 2019, 12:30 PM), https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/in-depth/2019/06/28/338050/100years-ago-with-womens-suffrage-black-women-in-texas-didnt-get-the-right-to-vote/. The authors hope Ward’s work will inspire readers to keep up the efforts for positive change.
The Bracewells: A Lineage of Political and Community Engagement –By Kelly Frels
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“Mr. Bracewell, I am running for office, and I need your advice.” hese words were repeated many times by aspiring politicians who passed my office in Pennzoil Place on their way to Searcy Bracewell’s point conference room seeking his guidance, and hoping to receive his blessing. Searcy was Harris County’s sole state senator for ten years when state law limited any county to a single senator. He was also a frequent participant with other Houston leaders in Lamar Hotel Suite 8-F meetings.1 Searcy came by his legal and political interests naturally. His 20
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father, J. S. Bracewell, was a notable trial lawyer known for his oratory skills, especially in jury arguments. As youngsters, Searcy and his brother Fentress, on summer days, would listen to their father’s jury arguments through open windows of the Harris County Courthouse. The racial prejudices and hatred displayed by the Ku Klux Klan and the White Men’s Union that J. S. Bracewell encountered on juries when representing African-American clients led him in 1922 to run for Harris County Criminal District Attorney as the anti-Klan candidate. While he lost that election, his campaign helped bring change. Popular among Houston lawyers, J. S. was elected to serve as the president for the Houston Bar Association in 1939. Searcy Bracewell spent many hours visiting with us younger lawyers about life and lawyering. Listening to others and understanding their views on issues was a key message we received in these
sessions. Searcy’s listening and capacity to find solutions were personal traits that won him acclaim from his fellow lawmakers and lawyers. He certainly knew how to tell stories—especially about his exploits while serving on General George Patton’s staff in Europe. One adventure for General Patton required him to return to England and replenish the General’s supply of bourbon. When Searcy returned to France with the bounty, the 3rd Army had advanced so far it took days of travel plus much explaining to military officials why he had so much whiskey. After graduating from Texas A&M, Searcy worked in his father’s law office while studying law at Houston Law School, which was established by Houston lawyers in 1912 and closed with the advent of World War II. When Searcy returned from Army service in Europe and Fentress returned from Naval service in the Pacific, they joined their father J. S. and trial lawyer Burt H. Tunks in 1945 to form a new law firm, Bracewell & Tunks. November 1, 1945, marked the beginning of today’s Bracewell LLP, which will be celebrating its 75th Anniversary virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, much like the Houston Bar Association is celebrating its 150th Anniversary virtually. Searcy began his 12-year stint in the Texas Legislature two years after the war, serving in the House of Representatives for two years, then in the Senate for ten years where he sponsored legislation that helped in the development of the Texas Medical Center, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston. Fentress Bracewell was Bracewell’s
first Managing Partner and was appointed to the Port of Houston Commission. Fentress served as the Chairman of the Port Commission from 1970 to 1985 and was instrumental in developing the Barbours Cut Container Terminal which bears his name.2 Searcy, J. S., and Fentress Bracewell lived lives of community service that have served as examples for all of us who followed. Bracewell lawyers learned from being a part of the founders’ life experiences that we can enjoy a family life, coach our children’s sports teams, be involved in religious pursuits, engage in political activities, become integral participants in community and charitable organizations and participate in bar activities. Thank you, Searcy, J. S., and Fentress. Kelly Frels, a retired partner of Bracewell LLP and now of counsel, joined the firm in 1970 and served as its managing partner from 1995–2001. Frels, who served as president of the Houston Bar Association and the State Bar of Texas, is a recognized national leader in representing school districts and colleges. Endnotes
1. See Harry Hurt III, The Most Powerful Texans, TEX. MONTHLY, April 1976, https:// www.texasmonthly.com/politics/the-most-powerful-texans/ (“These men, who became known to themselves and to other prominent people as the ‘8F Crowd,’ called the shots on most major business and political developments in Texas during the Thirties, Forties, Fifties, and much of the Sixties.”). 2. The Barbours Cut Container Terminal is “one of the premier container-handling facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico” and was completed in 1977. Port of Houston, Barbours Cut Container Terminal, https://porthouston.com/container-terminals/barbours-cutcontainer-terminal/ (last visited Sept. 21, 2020).
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David T. Searls: An Inspiration to Me and Others –By Harry Reasoner
D
avid Searls was one of the greatest trial lawyers in the nation. In the 1960s, the federal government pursued an aggressive antitrust policy against mergers and acquisitions to limit economic concentration, particularly in the energy industry. Searls defended major government antitrust cases in Albuquerque, Chicago, Los Angeles, the District of Columbia, and New York. His eminence in the profession was recognized when Searls became the first lawyer from Texas to chair the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Section. Searls played a critical leadership role in the development of Vinson & Elkins into a major international firm. He had left Vinson & Elkins to become general counsel of Gulf Oil Corporation. He was persuaded to return, and the firm name was changed to Vinson, Elkins, Weems & Searls. Judge James A. Elkins had run both Vinson & Elkins and First City National Bank since they were formed. In his last years however, Judge Elkins shifted his attention away from the law firm to concentrate on growing the bank. The firm had come to a critical crossroads. No new partners had been made in over five years, and the firm did not recruit on a systematic basis at law schools. With Searls’s leadership, the firm made partners again and created an orderly system to make partners on an annual basis. Through contacts at the University of Texas School of Law (“Texas Law”), the firm was
able to recruit a substantial percentage of the top students of the Texas Law Class of 1963. That group was then given leadership roles in recruiting systematically for future classes. Searls’s leadership instilled values that serve Vinson & Elkins well today. I was fortunate to begin my career working with him. He made clear at the outset that I was to tell him exactly what I thought, not what I thought he wanted to hear. In my first trial with him, we disagreed on how a legal motion should be argued. He did it his way. I said, “You were right and I was wrong.” He said, “No, we did it my way and it worked out. Might not have, or if we had done it your way, it might have worked.” Searls treated everyone with respect and expected his colleagues to do the same. A law firm that has a culture of treating everyone with respect has a valuable asset. He also valued the aspirational values of the bar highly. Searls supported hiring diverse attorneys at a time when large law firms across the country were just beginning to do so. He insisted that Vinson & Elkins decline to represent clients who opposed Rice University’s suit to eliminate the provision in its charter that prohibited any non-white students from enrolling. Instead, in 1963, Searls represented Rice in the case to overturn the charter provision. David Searls was an inspiration to me and many others. Harry Reasoner is a partner at Vinson & Elkins LLP and was the managing partner from 1992 through 2001. He is the chair of the Texas Access to Justice Commission, a life trustee of the University of Texas Law School Foundation, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Baker Institute of Rice University.
W. James Kronzer: Changing the Course of the Law –By Benny Agosto, Jr. and Randall O. Sorrels
W.
James Kronzer, Jr. is a Texas legal legend. His love for the law and the legal profession was certain throughout his career. His legal history and dedication to the law earned him many titles, including “first appellate guru” in Texas, “Lawyer of the Century,” and “The “Krown,” to name a few. Following graduation from the University of Texas Law School, Jim joined the law firm of Helm & Jones as an associate. In 1951, after his departure from Helm & Jones, Jim, along with friends Frank Abraham and John Hill, founded the law firm of Hill, Kronzer & Abraham in Houston. The firm, now known as Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner, specialized in 22
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personal injury and civil litigation and quickly became a success. In addition to his trial work, Jim became a leading appellate lawyer in his firm with a major concentration on trial, legal research, briefing, and appellate arguments. He was involved in over 400 appeals and had many appellate victories, including representing Pennzoil on appeal in Pennzoil v. Texaco, which resulted in a judgment of over $8 billion. Jim was considered to be the top appellate lawyer in the United States. As a result of Jim’s outstanding trial and appellate career and continued success in the courtroom, he was honored as the “Lawyer of the Century” by the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. When not practicing law, Jim was active in the community and enjoyed service. He was president of the Houston Bar Association, president of the University of Texas Law School Alumnus, and president of the Houston Legal Foundation. He also shared his knowledge, experience, and career success with law students, serving as an adjunct professor at three law schools.
As president of the HBA in 1965, Jim was instrumental in ending segregation within the organization. Prior to his presidency, membership was limited to “whites.”1 The moment Jim became president, he made it his top priority to remove the “white-only” clause from the HBA constitution. He thought racism was “ridiculous for professional people” and held an emergency board of directors meeting that lasted all day and went into the night.2 It was during this meeting that the directors agreed to remove “white” from the constitution.3 “Mr. Kronzer’s influence in the bar and in Texas jurisprudence is second to none... He promoted not only outstanding legal work product, but also a commitment to helping the profession and community as a whole,” said Randy Sorrels, the 2005–2006 president of the HBA. Joe Jamail observed that “[Jim] changed the law to be more progressive and kinder toward people who were injured” and the “[p]eople of Texas are much better off because of his changing the course of the law.” Richard “Racehorse” Haynes similarly noted, “In my opinion, no other person has made any more impact on Texas law than Jim Kronzer.”4 “As only the fourth plaintiff attorney to be president of the HBA in its 150year history, I was honored to follow in the footsteps of ‘The Krown,’” said Benny Agosto, Jr., immediate past president of the HBA. Sorrels similarly noted, “I am proud to be part of the law firm Mr. Kronzer started—the only ‘non-big law firm’ that produced three HBA presidents.” Jim will forever be an important element of the HBA’s and Houston’s legal history.
row, submitted a proposal to delete the word “white” from Article II, Section I of the HBA Constitution. The By-Laws Committee endorsed the proposal, but when it came to vote, HBA members rejected the proposed change. ERIC L. FREDRICKSON, A COMMITMENT TO PUBLIC SERVICE: THE HISTORY OF THE HOUSTON BAR ASSOCIATION 106 (1992). 2. Id. 3. Once the directors agreed to remove “white” from the HBA Constitution, a referendum was presented to membership for a vote. Unlike last time however, members voted 1,097 to 321 in support of admitting Black attorneys to the HBA. Id. 4. Observations about Jim Kronzer from these and other famous Texas lawyers can be found in Nick C. Nichols, W. James Kronzer, Jr.: Texas Appellate Hall of Fame (Jan. 2017), which is available on the following website: https://www.ttla. com/index.cfm?pg=TTLAPioneers. This article also lists the numerous awards Kronzer received.
Benny Agosto, Jr is a partner at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner, where he has practiced for more than two decades. He is immediate past president of the Houston Bar Association and former president of the Hispanic National Bar Association. Randall O. Sorrels is the immediate past president of the State Bar of Texas and former president of the Houston Bar Association. He is the managing partner at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner.
Endnotes
1. In 1964, previous HBA President, George T. Bar-
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Harry Gee, Jr.: Contributions to the Bar and Beyond –By Ruby L. Powers
H
arry Gee, Jr. is an esteemed public figure and a highly experienced and respected immigration attorney who has made a tremendous impact in many facets of our community. Gee began his legal career in 1963 as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Texas. In 1966, he started his own private law firm, which provided an opportunity to help the Asian-American community. He recounts using the HBA Houston Referral service to help kickstart his firm. In the 1960s, most immigration attorneys were located in New York or San Francisco. However, the law changed substantially, and attorneys from across the country had an opportunity to practice immigration law. Immigration law practice was very adversarial early in Gee’s career. Attorneys were not allowed to go into the government offices, and the lines of communication were strained. Gee explains that this changed when Houston-based Leonel Castillo became the Commissioner of Immigration for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in 1977. Around that time, Gee was involved with the
liaison work between the association of immigration attorneys, now known as the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and the government counterpart, Immigration and Nationality Service (INS). Gee helped contribute to a decades-old solution to ease the acknowledgement of attorney representation with the process of submitting the document on a blue sheet of paper so that INS, now USCIS, could identify legal representation more readily. In 1979, Gee was one of the first attorneys to become certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. In 1993, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the State Bar of Texas and chaired the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Gee also was instrumental with the formation of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) and served as its second ever president in 1990. NAPABA is the preeminent professional development organization and voice for 50,000 Asian Pacific American attorneys, judges, law professors, and law students. During Gee’s term, NAPABA established the Thomas Tang Moot Court competition, which has become a most prestigious event at the annual NAPABA conference. Two of the accomplishments Gee is most proud of relate to his work in civic organizations. Gee served as the president and chairman of the Friends of the Houston Public Library. During his chairmanship, the format of the annual book sale was es-
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Join the HBA 100 Club! The Houston Bar Association 100 Club is a special category of membership that indicates a commitment to the advancement of the legal profession and the betterment of the community. The following law firms, government agencies, law schools and corporate legal departments with five or more attorneys have become members of the 100 Club by enrolling 100 percent of their attorneys as members of the HBA. Firms of 5-24 Attorneys Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner Ajamie LLP Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC Baker Williams Matthiesen LLP The Bale Law Firm, PLLC Berg & Androphy Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP Buck Keenan LLP Bush & Ramirez, PLLC Carter Morris, LLP Cozen O’Connor Crady, Jewett, McCulley & Houren, LLP De Lange Hudspeth McConnell & Tibbets LLP Dentons US LLP Devlin Naylor & Turbyfill PLLC Dobrowski, Larkin & Stafford, L.L.P. Doyle Restrepo Harvin & Robbins LLP Ewing & Jones, PLLC Fisher & Phillips LLP Fizer Beck Webster Bentley & Scroggins Fogler, Brar, O’Neil & Gray LLP Frank, Elmore, Lievens, Chesney & Turet, L.L.P. Funderburk Funderburk Courtois, LLP Galligan & Manning Germer PLLC Givens & Johnston PLLC Gordon Rees Scully & Mansukhani Henke, Williams & Boll, LLP Hirsch & Westheimer, P.C. Holm | Bambace LLP Horne Rota Moos LLP Husch Blackwell LLP Irelan McDaniel, PLLC Jackson Lewis P.C. Jenkins & Kamin PC Johnson DeLuca Kurisky & Gould, P.C. Jordan, Lynch & Cancienne PLLC Kean | Miller LLP
Kelly, Sutter & Kendrick, P.C. Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP KoonsFuller, PC Law Feehan Adams LLP Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP Lorance Thompson, P.C. MacIntyre McCulloch & Stanfield, L.L.P. McGinnis Lochridge McGuireWoods LLP McKool Smith MehaffyWeber PC Morris Lendais Hollrah & Snowden Nathan Sommers Jacobs PC Peckar & Abramson, P.C. Phelps Dunbar LLP Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP Pipkin Ferguson PLLC Ramey, Chandler, Quinn & Zito, P.C. Rapp & Krock, PC Reynolds Frizzell LLP Roach & Newton, L.L.P. Ross Banks May Cron & Cavin PC Royston, Rayzor, Vickery & Williams, L.L.P. Rusty Hardin & Associates, P.C. Rymer, Echols, Slay & Nelson Archer, P.C. Schiffer Hicks Johnson PLLC Schirrmeister Diaz-Arrastia Brem LLP Schwartz, Page & Harding, L.L.P. Scott, Clawater & Houston, L.L.P. Shannon Martin Finkelstein Alvarado & Dunne, P.C. Shearman & Sterling LLP Shellist | Lazarz | Slobin LLP Shipley Snell Montgomery LLP Smith Murdaugh Little & Bonham LLP Sponsel Miller Greenberg PLLC Sprott Newsom Quattlebaum & Messenger Strong Pipkin Bissell & Ledyard LLP
Stuart PC Taunton Snyder & Parish Taylor Book Allen & Morris Law Firm Thompson & Horton LLP Tindall England PC Tracey & Fox Law Firm Ware, Jackson, Lee, O’Neill, Smith & Barrow, LLP West Mermis, PLLC Weycer, Kaplan, Pulaski & Zuber, PC Williams Hart Boundas Easterby LLP Wilson Cribbs & Goren PC Wright Abshire, Attorneys, PC Wright Close & Barger, LLP Ytterberg Deery Knull LLP Zukowski, Bresenhan & Piazza L.L.P. Firms of 25-49 Attorneys Adams and Reese LLP Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C. Andrews Myers, P.C. Beck Redden LLP BoyarMiller Coats | Rose Cokinos | Young Gibbs & Bruns LLP Hogan Lovells US LLP Kane Russell Coleman & Logan PC Liskow & Lewis Littler Mendelson P.C. Martin, Disiere, Jefferson & Wisdom McDowell & Hetherington LLP Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart, P.C. Yetter Coleman LLP
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Susman Godfrey LLP Winstead PC Firms of 100+ Attorneys Baker Botts L.L.P. Bracewell LLP Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP Locke Lord LLP Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP Porter Hedges LLP Vinson & Elkins LLP Corporate Legal Departments CenterPoint Energy, Inc. EOG Resources, Inc. MAXXAM, Inc. Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. Quantlab Financial, LLC Rice University S & B Engineers and Constructors, Ltd. Law School Faculty South Texas College of Law Houston Thurgood Marshall School of Law University of Houston Law Center Government Agencies Harris County Attorney’s Office Harris County District Attorney’s Office Harris County Domestic Relations Office Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County Texas Port of Houston Authority of Harris County, Texas 1st Court of Appeals 14th Court of Appeals
Firms of 50-100 Attorneys BakerHostetler LLP Greenberg Traurig, LLP Haynes and Boone, LLP Jackson Walker L.L.P.
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tablished so as to substantially increase sales revenues. Additionally, for four years, Gee served as president of Sister Cities of Houston, Inc., an organization dedicated to the promotion of cultural, educational, and economic interests between Houston and its 18 sister cities throughout the world. Gee and his wife of 40-plus years have established as many as ten scholarships in the community at local universities, law schools, and civic organizations. Gee’s expertise and interests outside of the law and community service include playing gin rummy, poker, and mahjong. Additionally, he is part owner of the Houston Texans. His family of three children and eight grandchildren tend to gather at Texans games. Gee has made an impact not only as a law firm owner for 54-
plus years and a specialist in his field, but also in paving the way for immigration attorneys and the Asian Pacific Bar. His additional contributions to his community are an inspiration for all lawyers to go over and beyond the practice of law and pay it forward for future generations. Ruby L. Powers is founder of Powers Law Group, P.C., a full-service immigration law firm, and is board certified in Immigration and Nationality Law. She authored AILA’s Build and Manage Your Successful Immigration Law Practice (Without Losing Your Mind) and provides law practice management consulting services to attorneys. She is a former candidate for public office and advocate for immigrants and her community at large. She is a member of The Houston Lawyer editorial board.
Joseph D. Jamail: A Great Lawyer and Philanthropist –By Harry Reasoner
J
oe Jamail was the most successful plaintiff’s trial lawyer in American history. He obtained billions of dollars in judgments and got critically important judgments that forced the recall of dangerous products. But he was far more than that; he was a man of many interests and facets. Joe had a great command of language and was one the best-read people I have known. Mark Twain was his favorite author, and I think he was a happy inspiration for trial language. Joe never spoke in legalese. He spoke to the juries in clear language, never talking down to them. His career is vividly, educationally, and entertainingly covered in his book, Lawyer: My Trials and Jubilations,1 co-written with Mickey Herskowitz. I recommend it to you.
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I got to know Joe when he asked me to join the appellate team in Pennzoil Co. v. Texaco Inc. after Joe and an outstanding team of Baker Botts lawyers hit Texaco with a $10.5 billion verdict. In the years we spent working on the appeal, we became close friends and tried several cases together. I have tried to analyze what seemed to me the critical factors in Joe’s great record of success. First, he had a charismatic personality that people found very attractive (I can’t explain that any more than I can tell you why Meryl Streep is a great actress). He made an effort to be friendly to everyone in the courtroom (with the exception of his adversaries). He also prepared meticulously and developed a vision of the case that a jury could follow and relate to. He was not diverted from it by attacks or arguments that were immaterial to his thesis. Finally, he chose great trial colleagues who were brilliantly able lawyers. Judge George Cire, Gus Kolius, Richard Mithoff, and Janet Evans were the ones I knew. His office operation was highly and tightly organized and directed by his brilliant office manager, Denise Davidson. Joe’s description of the transaction and conduct in the Pennzoil case exemplified these factors of success. He put before the jury a clear story of an agreement and a broken promise. Contrary to Texaco’s publicity campaign, this was never a frivolous case. In an earlier action, filed in a Delaware court by Baker Botts, the court had found a contract existed. It denied injunctive relief because damages would be adequate relief. When Joe was retained, the Delaware action was dismissed in favor of Texas litigation. Texaco could never find a persuasive reason why the parties’ agreement shouldn’t be enforced. There are several books written in whole or in part about the litigation. The saga is well told in Steve Coll’s The Taking of Getty Oil.2 Joe believed strongly in the aspirational ideals of our profession. He personally represented many clients who could not afford legal representation. He contributed for many years to legal aid for veterans. At his death, a memorial endowment in honor of Joe’s commitment to veterans and access to justice was created
to fund legal aid to veterans; the Texas Access to Justice Commission initiated the fundraising for the endowment, which is held and administered by the Texas Access to Justice Foundation.3 Joe and his wife, Lee, contributed millions to the University of Texas at Austin (UT), UT School of Law, UT Austin School of Nursing, Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine, and many charitable causes. They worked hard for diversity at UT, contributing large scholarship endowments to the UT Alumni Association to fund scholarships for underrepresented minorities. Joe was a great lawyer who did not let financial success turn him from the moral obligations of our profession.
Harry Reasoner is a partner at Vinson & Elkins LLP and was the managing partner from 1992 through 2001. He is the chair of the Texas Access to Justice Commission, a life trustee of the University of Texas Law School Foundation, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Baker Institute of Rice University. Endnotes
1. JOE JAMAIL & MICKEY HERSKOWITZ, LAWYER: MY TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS (2003). 2. STEVE COLL, THE TAKING OF GETTY OIL: PENZOIL, TEXACO, AND THE TAKEOVER BATTLE THAT MADE HISTORY (2017). 3. See Joe Jamail Endowment for Veteran Legal Services, TEX. ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOUND., https://www.teajf.org/donate/JamailEndowment.aspx (last visited Oct. 7, 2020). This website also contains a video tribute by Richard Mithoff, who created the endowment “to honor Jamail’s vision for access to justice for all.” Id.
Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em: The Legacy of Coach T. Gerald Treece –By Andrew Pearce & Avi Moshenberg
T
he Houston legal community shared in loss this summer over the passing of T. Gerald Treece. Coach Treece wore many hats (but only one outfit). He was a legal correspondent for the news. He was an accomplished appellate lawyer. He was a devout Astros fan. And he was a professor, vice president, and associate dean of advocacy at South Texas College of Law Houston for 42 years until his passing on July 13, 2020. We met Coach through South Texas’s advocacy program. If you were part of the advocacy program, you knew you were fortunate. You knew of Coach, or soon learned of him, before you had the chance to meet him. His reputation loomed large. Lines of students would try out for his advocacy program, and working with him didn’t disappoint. Coach had a knack for explaining complex legal issues in a way anyone could understand. Part of his brilliance was steering away from a discussion about a cold, sterile appellate record and making arguments come alive. He did it by focusing on themes, asking why the arguments mattered, and showing why our positions were fairer, better reasoned, and produced a better outcome. The way Coach taught his advocates to argue is part of his indelible legacy. In court, it’s always easy to tell which lawyers learned from Coach’s program. But Treece didn’t just teach the technique of oral argument. He was our Coach in the truest sense. He was always excited to see you. He gave nicknames to his advocates, and he kidded about which undergrad you attended or what town you were from. Yet he also stressed integrity and hard work. If he spotted you down the hallway, he’d tell you, “Work harder.” You wanted to win for Coach, even more than you wanted to win a trophy. Not surpris-
ingly, the outcome was winning tournaments—and we won a lot—but it was his method and his attitude that mattered. That’s why we learned even more from Coach when we lost. He would say just the right thing to help lift your spirits, dust off your knees, and get you back to work. Treece was so much more than just our Coach. He was kind and affable. He was one of the most charming people you’d ever meet. He had an endless number of catchphrases, like, “You’re a great American” and “Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em” and “Key cases, key concepts” and too many more to list. You always felt important when you were speaking with him. Part of the joy in spending time with Coach was that he genuinely wanted to visit with you, to learn about you, and to talk about almost anything. That’s what made him a wonderful mentor—not just a professor. Maybe Coach’s biggest gift was that he created a community of advocates. Coach could not (and did not want to) do it all by himself. He recruited former advocates to coach the next crop. We felt a sense of obligation to pay forward what we’d received from Coach and those advocates who came before us. Almost every advocate returns in some capacity, with many donating countless hours over several years to shape the next generation. The result is that every former advocate feels a connection to one another. We can’t overstate the impact Coach had on the hundreds of advocates who came through his program. We can all take comfort in the fact that his impact lives on, and will do so for generations. Today, however, we just miss our friend. Rest in peace, Coach. Andrew Pearce is a shareholder and the litigation group chair at BoyarMiller. He is the Media Reviews Editor for The Houston Lawyer. Avi Moshenberg is a senior commercial and employment litigator with McDowell Hetherington and serves on the editorial board of The Houston Lawyer. thehoustonlawyer.com
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71st Annual Harvest Campaign Thank you, Houston legal community, for your incredible generosity. Because of your support, the 2020 Harvest Campaign raised over $878,000 to fund pro bono legal services through Houston Volunteer Lawyers and serve the civil legal needs of the Greater Houston area. Thank you to our Charter Peer-to-Peer Giving Program participants: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP Baker Botts L.L.P. Beck Redden LLP Blank Rome LLP Gibbs & Bruns LLP Greenberg Traurig LLP King & Spalding LLP
These law offices launched our first-ever program to encourage firm-wide donations in any amount, by attorneys and non-attorneys alike, to reach a contribution goal and to encourage support for pro bono legal services.
Thank you to our judicial donors: Hon. Nancy Atlas Hon. Jane Bland Hon. Christina Bryan Hon. Rabeea Sultan Collier Hon. Julie Countiss Hon. Jason Cox Hon. Jennifer Walker Elrod Hon. Mike Engelhart Hon. Tanya Garrison Hon. Mike Gomez Hon. Kristen Hawkins Hon. James Horwitz Hon. Rebeca Huddle
Hon. David Medina Hon. Beau A. Miller Hon. Margaret Mirabal Hon. Daryl L. Moore Hon. Fredericka Phillips Hon. Ravi K. Sandill Hon. Robert Schaffer Hon. Chuck Silverman Hon. Charles Spain Hon. Barbara Stalder Hon. Clinton Chip Wells Hon. Ken Wise
The Boards of Directors of the Houston Bar Association, Houston Bar Foundation, HBA Auxiliary and Houston Volunteer Lawyers express their sincerest gratitude for all who contributed to the Harvest Campaign, and for all who volunteer their time and expertise in pro bono legal service to those in need. $35,000 Baker Botts L.L.P. Bracewell LLP Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP Vinson & Elkins LLP Williams Hart Boundas Easterby LLP
$2,500 Arnold & Porter LLP Baker & McKenzie LLP Baker Wotring LLP Berg & Androphy Susan Bickley and Bob Scott Bissinger, Oshman & Williams LLP $30,000 The Buck Family Fund Locke Lord LLP Burford Perry, LLP Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP Cokinos I Young $25,000 Hon. Rabeea Sultan Collier Elizabeth and Bill Kroger Wendy and Alistair Dawson Dobrowski Larkin & Stafford $20,000 Emma Doineau Dee and Phil Sellers Energy Transfer, L.P. $15,000 Fogler, Brar, O'Neil and Gray LLP Chevron Corporation Polly and Stephen Fohn $13,000 Frost Bank Baker Hostetler LLP Germer PLLC Melanie Gray and Mark Wawro $10,000 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP Gray Reed & McGraw LLP Hagans Montgomery Hagans CenterPoint Energy, Inc. David and Tammie Harrell Chamberlain Hrdlicka Jim S. Hart Mindy and Joshua Davidson Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP/Michael HBA Federal Practice Section HBA Juvenile Law Section P. Darden and Hillary H. Holmes Hogan Lovells US LLP The Weldon Granger Family Houston Lawyer Referral Service, Inc. HBA Litigation Section Jackson Walker Hicks Thomas LLP Jenkins & Kamin, LLP J. Dahr Jamail Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC King & Spalding LLP Daniella D. Landers LyondellBasell Industries Latham & Watkins LLP Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP Massey Law Firm PLLC $9,000 Mayer Brown LLP HBA Bench Bar Conference Committee Audrey Momanaee and Jeffrey Levett $8,000 Greg and Jennifer Moore Yetter Coleman LLP Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C. Nathan Sommers Jacobs, A Professional $7,500 Corporation Blank Rome LLP Jeff Paine and Brandon Holcomb/ $5,500 Goldman Sachs Nikki & Benny Agosto, Jr. Chris and Annsley Popov Porter Hedges LLP $5,000 Reynolds Frizzell LLP Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Jason M. and Megan Ryan Agosto, Aziz & Stogner Shearman & Sterling Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi Shipley Snell Montgomery LLP & Mensing Shook Hardy & Bacon L.L.P. Jane and Doug Bland Sidley Austin LLP Conoco Phillips Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom Dentons US LLP LLP Michael Donaldson/EOG Resources, South Texas College of Law Houston Inc. Tindall England PC Eversheds Sutherland US LLP Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP Foley & Lardner LLP Winstead PC Harry and Antje Gee Travis Wofford and Dr. Lisa Wofford Gibbs & Bruns LLP Wright Close & Barger, LLP Haynes and Boone, LLP HBA Alternative Dispute Resolution $1,600 Section HBA Mergers & Acquisitions Section HBA Oil Gas & Mineral Law Section $1,500 HBA Real Estate Law Section Bill Book Kirkland & Ellis LLP Stewart and Lynn Gagnon McKool Smith LLP Diana and Hon. Mike Gomez Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP Rusty Hardin & Associates, LLP Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan/ HBAA Charitable Fund, Inc. Karl Stern Jim Hurd and Cisselon Nichols Hurd Service Corporation International Neil and Dana Kelly Ann Stern Hon. David and Pamela Medina Susman Godfrey W. Michael and Laurie D. Moreland Thompson & Knight Foundation Hon. Frank Rynd Weil Gotshal & Manges Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP Smyser, Kaplan & Veselka, L.L.P. Winston & Strawn LLP Taylor, Book, Allen & Morris, LLP $3,000 Hilary Tyson HBA Corporate Counsel Section Sandy and Greg Ulmer Martin, Disiere, Jefferson & Wisdom, L.L.P.
$1,200 Dudley and Judy Oldham Tesha Peeples $1,100 Hughes Ellzey, LLP Shannon, Martin, Finkelstein, Alvarado & Dunn, P.C. Ware, Jackson, Lee, O'Neill, Smith & Barrow, LLP West Mermis $1,000 Barry Abrams Allegiance Bank Anonymous Donor Scott and Hon. Nancy Atlas Brent and Christy Benoit Keri Brown Hon. Christina Bryan and Mr. Trey Peacock Byman & Associates, PLLC Anne Chandler Collin J. Cox Cozen O'Connor Amy Catherine Dinn John and Annette Eldridge The Fealy Law Firm, PC George and Reagan Fibbe Kerry Anne Galvin Roland Garcia Craig and Penny Glidden John Goodgame Gregor Wynne Arney, PLLC HBA Appellate Practice Section HBA Bankruptcy Section HBA Commercial & Consumer Law Section HBA Construction Law Section HBA Criminal Law and Procedure Section HBA Labor and Employment Law Section HBA Taxation Section Judge Joseph "Tad" Halbach Lauren and Warren Harris Jennifer A. and Gregory M. Hasley Hon. Kristen Hawkins Lindsey and Greg Heath Linda and Tracy Hester Hicks Davis Wynn, P.C. Yvonne Y. Ho and Allen S. Rice The Hoerster Mediation Firm Jennifer and Richard Hogan Houston Young Lawyers Association Monica Hwang Kevin and Francyne Jacobs Johnson DeLuca Kurisky & Gould PC The Christine and Rob Johnson Family Fund Jones Day Frank G. Jones Hugh Rice Kelly Kirby, Mathews & Walrath, PLLC KoonsFuller Houston Christine and Craig LaFollette Chanler Langham James Lewis Leader Jose R. Lopez II Peter Lowy & Gabriela Boersner Gina Lucero and Terry G. Fry Hon. Erin Lunceford and Mike Lunceford Diana E. Marshall Guy and Carolyn Matthews Ginnie and Tim McConn Cassie McGarvey McKinney Taylor P.C. Hon. Margaret Garner Mirabal Ginni and Richard Mithoff Hon. Daryl L. Moore
William D. Morris Michael Neel Michele N. O'Brien Robert Painter Charlie Parker Judge Fredericka Phillips Colin and Sangita Pogge Carol and John Porter Mitch and Shannon Reid Barbara K. Runge Judith Sadler Beuna and James B. Sales Travis and Sandy Sales Hon. Ravi K. Sandill Alyssa Schindler Lionel M. Schooler Schulman, Lopez, Hoffer & Adelstein, LLP Denise and John Scofield Seyfarth Sheehy, Ware & Pappas, P.C. Shortt & Nguyen, P.C. Judge Chuck Silverman Nicole and David Singer Sponsel Miller Greenberg PLLC/Roger Greenberg Squire Patton Boggs Stacy & Baker, P.C. John and Pam Strasburger Travis Torrence and Heath LaPray University of Houston Law Center Roy and Dominique Varner Willie and Ingrid Wood Ytterberg Deery Knull, LLP Janie and Daniel Zilkha Additional Donors John Adkins Shaheryar Ahmed Amaro Law Firm Anonymous Donors Bolivar C. Andrews Anna M. Archer Michael Bell Levi J. Benton In honor of Blank Rome LLP Terri Boles Kristen Bollinger Bragg Law PC Kate and Mike Brem Dean Joan R. M. Bullock Nicole Soussan Caplan Christie Cardon Brian Q. Carmichael Angeles Garcia Cassin Seth J. Chandler Alison Chen Grant Cohen Hon. Julie Countiss Ronnye and Chip Cowell Hon. Jason Cox Scott Douglas Cunningham Stephen D. Davis/Akin Gump Rachel Delgado Bonnie and Otway B. Denny, Jr. Hon. Grant Dorfman Jennifer Walker Elrod Eva and Judge Mike Engelhart Brian Faulkner and Jacqueline Macha Patrick M. Flynn, P.C. Charles C. Foster Lisa Garrett Hon. Tanya Garrison The Christian A. and Janet G. Garza Family Bradley D. Gray Liza A. Greene David T. Harvin HBA Animal Law Section HBA Environmental Law Section
HBA Health Law Section HBA Law Practice Management Section HBA Probate, Trusts & Estate Section HBA Probate, Trusts & Estate Section in honor of Stephanie Donaho HBA Taxation Section HBA Social Security Section Lisa Hearn Richard Heaton Anthony E. Hilbert Judge James Horwitz Catherine North Hounfodji Justice Rebeca Huddle Kate Huggins Ruth A. Hughes-Deaton Patrick Hurley Veronica F. Jacobs Camille C. Jenman Penny Johnson Bill Lamb Tiffany C. Larsen Louie and Maggie Layrisson James R. Leahy Elizabeth and Russell Lewis Ronald C. Lewis David T. Lopez Maria Lowry Cynthia Mabry Melissa and Thomas McCaffrey MacIntyre, McCulloch & Stanfield LLP Tara and William McElhiney Meghan Dawson McElvy Kathlyn Hendrix Mickan Allison Standish Miller Hon. Beau A. Miller Steven L. Miller, Jr. Paul Monsour Amber Morrison Donna Moye E. Munoz Liam O'Rourke and Alexandra Caritis Nick Petree Michael Phillips Thomas R. Phillips Beth and Tommy Proctor Elizabeth Ray Susan and Barrett Reasoner Emery Gullickson Richards/Blank Rome LLP Jennifer Richardson Roger Rider and Nancy Huston Nikki Roberts and Krisa Benskin Anna Robshaw/Greenberg Traurig LLP Abrey & Lisa Rubinsky Christian Ryholt Judge Robert Schaffer Kevin Schott Julie Seifert Hon. Susan S. Soussan Hon. Charles Spain and John Adcock Kendall Valenti Speer Hon. Barbara Stalder Jocelyn Tau Roxanne Tizravesh Jennifer Tomsen Cara Vasquez Tony L. Visage Hon. Dale Wainwright Hon. Clinton Chip Wells Richard F. Whiteley Hon. Ken Wise Nikki Wise Margaret Wittenmyer Russell Taft Wong Gary L. Wood Wyly & Cook, PLLC Paul Yale Andrew Yeh Krisina Zuniga
150 Years: Celebrating the Backbone of the HBA
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hile Peter Gray and the lawyers who came after him who have been committed to serving the Houston community can be considered the heart of the HBA, the staff who have helped make these lawyers’ visions a reality are the backbone. Any celebration of the HBA’s history necessarily requires a nod to the members of the HBA staff who have made this all possible. We therefore include the following article about the HBA’s Executive Directors, and we additionally acknowledge all the people who have worked tirelessly to support the directors and members of the HBA in carrying out the HBA’s mission. The Board of The Houston Lawyer would also like to specifically acknowledge the contributions of Tara Shockley, the Associate Executive Director of the HBA and Managing Editor of The Houston Lawyer. Tara’s contributions to this publication over the last 40 years of the HBA’s history are immeasurable. The Houston legal community has been enriched by the Executive Directors, Tara, and all members of the HBA staff who have been dedicated to serving members and the community, and we celebrate their contributions. Anna Archer, Editor in Chief
Executive Directors Provide Crucial Leadership throughout HBA’s History
By Tara Shockley
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hile the lawyer leaders of the Houston Bar Association have had an extraordinary impact on the legal community and community at large, the leaders of the Houston Bar Association office have also played an indelible role in the association’s history. The HBA hired its first executive director in 1939. The board of directors employed Mrs. Ruth Laws, as she was known in all written records, for a trial period of three months at a salary “not to exceed $100 a month.”1 The HBA had decided it needed a permanent home and an executive secretary, her official title, as the organization grew in numbers and stature. The HBA’s first office was in a room off the 8th District Courtroom on the 4th floor of the Civil Courthouse. The remodel cost the bar $150. Mrs. Laws successfully passed the trial period, and went on to become an institution of the HBA, serving as executive secretary until 1962. She handled all aspects of bar management, including membership, billing, and communicating events to the public and the press.
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After 23 years and during an illness, Mrs. Laws announced she would retire on October 15, 1962, but passed away a few days earlier. The HBA then hired Ann Krohn as executive secretary. During her tenure, the HBA decided it was time to move out of the courthouse. The association moved into an office in The Houston Club, where it rented 460 square feet for $185 per month. In 1967, the HBA moved again, this time to the Rusk Building, which was renamed the Houston Bar Center Building. The third executive director of the HBA was Gaye Powe Platt, who took over in 1970. During her tenure, the HBA addressed the issue of indigent criminal defense and long-range plans for the Harris County Courthouse complex, including breaking ground on the Family Law Center. The fourth executive director was Burton Berger, who joined the HBA in 1976, after previously working for the Nebraska State Bar Association. He expanded the HBA staff, including naming Kay Sim as associate executive director to handle coordinating social and educa-
present location in Heritage Plaza in 2014. James B. Sales, who served tional events for the HBA. He also hired a new publications director 2 as HBA president when Kay became executive director, called her “the to work with an expanded magazine and newsletters. The mid-1970s pivotal factor in the growth and prosperity of the Association.”3 Kay saw extraordinary growth in the association’s continuing legal education program, as part of an effort to retired in March 2019. raise professional standards and reMindy Davidson became the first store public confidence in the legal attorney to serve as executive director profession after Watergate. of the HBA. Shortly after she marked In 1981, Kay Sim became the HBA’s her one-year anniversary with the fifth executive director. During nearly HBA, Davidson and the HBA staff piv40 years in that role, Kay would create oted to working remotely during the and nurture some of the HBA’s most Mrs. Ruth Laws with Harry Jones, Joyce Cox, Nelson Jones and COVID-19 pandemic. Under her leadRichard Powell in 1952. enduring programs, leaving an unparership, the HBA has remained at the alleled legacy of professionalism and forefront in addressing issues that imservice. pact both the bar and the community, Kay, as she always preferred to including the crucial need for pro be called, was first hired in 1975 to bono legal services for low-income start the Juvenile Justice Mock Trial Houstonians, reopening the courts, Program, which gives eighth grade equity and racial justice, and helping students from school districts across members successfully adapt to the fuHarris County the opportunity to see ture of the legal profession. how a trial works, from writing a fic- Kay Sim Mindy Davidson tional fact set, to preparing questions for witnesses, to assuming the Endnotes 1. Harry ERIC L. FREDRICKSON, A COMMITMENT TO PUBLIC SERVICE: THE HISroles of judge, attorneys, witnesses, and defendant, with a different TORY OF THE HOUSTON BAR ASSOCIATION 77 (1992). 2. Author’s note: I was hired as the HBA publications director in November 1980. I now class often serving as the jurors. Prior to flooding from Hurricane serve as associate executive director/communications director. Harvey, students had the opportunity to travel to the courthouse to 3. ERIC L. FREDRICKSON, A COMMITMENT TO PUBLIC SERVICE: THE HISTORY OF THE HOUSTON BAR ASSOCIATION 148 (1992). enact their mock trial in a real courtroom, thanks to the cooperation Kay fostered with the Harris County judiciary. Although on hold because of COVID-19, the Mock Trial Program is still an educational outreach program of the HBA and has reached over 46,000 students. Kay was instrumental in developing many of the HBA’s current educational and service programs, including the HBA’s work with Houston Habitat for Humanity, the HAY Center, the Interprofessional Drug Education Alliance (IDEA), and the John J. Eikenburg Law Week Fun Run, benefiting The Center for Pursuit. In 2008, Kay and then-HBA President Travis Sales established the Veterans Legal Initiative, which in 2010 inspired the State Bar of Texas to create Texas Lawyers for Texas Veterans. Over the past 12 years, the program has reached more than 20,000 veterans, providing legal advice and pro bono representation for low income veterans who served our nation. During Kay’s tenure, the HBA office moved three times, from the Houston Bar Center Building to Texas Commerce Bank Building in 1979, to First City Tower in 1990, to its thehoustonlawyer.com
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150 Years of Leadership:
Houston Bar Association Presidents *The Hon. Peter W. Gray 1870 *A.C. Allen *O.T. Holt 1901-03 *The Hon. E.P. Hamblen 1904 *Major F. Charles Hume, Jr. 1905 *Thomas H. Ball 1906 *H.F. Ring 1907 *Clarence L. Carter 1908-09 *John Charles Harris 1910-11 *Lewis R. Bryan 1911 *The Hon. Presley K. Ewing 1912 *Wilmer S. Hunt 1913, 1915 *Samuel Streetman 1917 *A.R. Hamblen 1918 *The Hon. T.M. Kennerly 1919 *E.R. Campbell 1920-21 *John G. Logue 1922 *James W. Lockett 1923 *H.M. Garwood 1924 *Richard T. Fleming 1925 *W.L. Cook 1926 *Ned B. Morris 1927 *Frank Andrews 1928 *H.F. Montgomery 1929 *C.A. Teagle 1930 *Capt. James A. Baker 1931 *Lewis Fisher 1932 *John H. Freeman 1933 *W. P. Hamblen 1934 *Calvin B. Garwood 1935 *R. Wayne Lawler 1936 *Albert J. DeLange 1937 *The Hon. Walter Monteith 1938 *J.S. Bracewell 1939 *W.J. Howard 1940 *Murray G. Smyth 1941 *The Hon. Ewing Werlein 1942 *Newton Gresham 1943 *W.L. Kemper 1944 *James L. Shepherd, Jr. 1945 *Earl Cox 1946 *Palmer Hutcheson 1947 *Nowlin Randolph 1948 *Leon Jaworski 1949 *Herman Pressler 1950 *T. Everton Kennerly 1951 *Harry R. Jones 1952 *Paul Strong 1953 *Cecil N. Cook 1954 *Lewis W. Cutrer 1955 *Denman Moody 1956 *William N. Bonner 1957-58 *David T. Searls 1958-59 *Joyce Cox 1959-60 *Kraft W. Eidman 1960-61 *Latimer Murfee 1961-62 *Hall E. Timanus 1962-63 *George T. Barrow 1963-64
*Thomas M. Phillips 1964-65 *W. James Kronzer 1965-66 *Arthur P. Terrell 1966-67 *Harry W. Patterson 1967-68 *Leroy Jeffers 1968-69 *The Hon. W. Ervin James 1969-70 *Royce R. Till 1970-71 *Hartford H. Prewett 1971-72 *Seaborn Eastland, Jr. 1972-73 *Vincent W. Rehmet 1973-74 *Ralph S. Carrigan 1974-75 *George E. Pletcher 1975-76 John L. McConn 1976-77 *Tom Arnold 1977-78 James Greenwood, III 1978-79 *Charles R. (Bob) Dunn 1979-80 James B. Sales 1980-81 *The Hon. Joe L. Draughn 1981-82 William Key Wilde 1982-83 Albert B. Kimball, Jr. 1983-84 Frank B. Davis 1984-85 *John J. Eikenburg 1985-86 Harold Metts 1986-87 Raymond C. Kerr 1987-88 The Hon. Ewing Werlein, Jr. 1988-89 *The Hon. Eugene A. Cook 1989-90 Pearson Grimes 1990-91 Ben L. Aderholt 1991-92 Otway B. Denny, Jr. 1992-93 Lynne Liberato 1993-94 Kelly Frels 1994-95 Charles R. Gregg 1995-96 Scott E. Rozzell 1996-97 The Hon. Richard Trevathan 1997-98 *D. Gibson Walton 1998-99 The Hon. Andrew S. Hanen 1999-00 Amy Dunn Taylor 2000-01 Roland Garcia 2001-02 Tom Godbold 2002-03 Michael Connelly 2003-04 Kent W. (Rocky) Robinson 2004-05 Randall O. Sorrels 2005-06 Glenn A. Ballard, Jr. 2006-07 W. Thomas Proctor 2007-08 Travis J. Sales 2008-09 Barrett Reasoner 2009-10 T. Mark Kelly 2010-11 Denise Scofield 2011-12 Brent A. Benoit 2012-13 David Chaumette 2013-2014 M. Carter Crow 2014-2015 Laura Gibson 2015-2016 Neil Kelly 2016-2017 Alistair Dawson 2017-2018 Warren Harris 2018-2019 Benny Agosto, Jr 2019-2020 Bill Kroger 2020-2021 * Deceased
As the Houston Bar Association celebrates its 150th Anniversary, we also honor the ancillary organizations that were founded by the HBA to provide service and support to the legal community and people of the Houston Area.
Celebrating Our Partners Est. 1947
enter
Est. 1958
ving Residents of Harris County
ion DRC d its g to types and
t
C main nitytion
Est. 1980
1988-89 HBA President, the Hon. Ewing Werlein, Jr.; Hon. Frank Evans; James B. Sales and former DRC Executive Director Kim Kovach.
es ord/ umer/merchant, edit card debt etc.), ogram (disputes/cases nal injury, contract,
volunteers, who consistently state how much satisfaction they derive from giving back to their community. Volunteers who have helped make the DRC the
Est. 1981
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HBA Milestones
Phyllis Tucker, Dorothy Weatherly, and Marjorie Werlein. On April 18, 72 women were present as the new auxiliary adopted a constitution, elected Virginia Noel as president, and set annual dues at $2. On May 10, charter memberships were designated for 199 women and the HBAA held its first regular meeting at River Oaks Recreation Center. Over the next two years, HBAA members were integral to the development and organization of some of the Houston Bar’s largest events. In addition to the State Bar Annual Meeting, the HBAA, which had grown to well over 300 members, organized, planned and executed four major events for the HBA and the Junior Bar; devised a cutting-edge registration system for large conventions; orchestrated social events, including transportation; and hosted a style show in conjunction with the National Association of Attorneys General.2 By Tara Shockley In 1949, the HBAA was instrumental in organizing the first Harvest he Houston Bar Association Auxiliary (HBAA) was founded Party, which would become the legal community’s premier fall social in 1947.1 World War II was over, and many women who had event, attracting more than 1,000 attorneys and guests each year. The entered the workHBAA continues to play a role force during the war in what is now known as the found themselves Harvest Celebration, which in once again homemakers, as job 2009 became the main fundpreference went to those who raiser for the HBA’s pro bono had served in combat. The U.S. program, Houston Volunteer economy was thriving, and the Lawyers. legal profession followed suit, When the HBA first decided although there were still few Photos from the State Bar of Texas Convention and a luncheon for spouses during the to have an annual dinner in National Association of Attorneys General Convention in the 1940s. women lawyers. 1961, the HBA Board called The State Bar of Texas on the Auxiliary to help orwas planning to hold its anganize it at the Houston Club. nual meeting in Houston in Today, the HBAA president 1948, and HBA President and spouse sit at the head taPalmer Hutcheson believed ble at the annual dinner, and women could provide the orthe president of the Auxiliary ganization, guidance and serves as an ex officio member leadership to ensure a successof the HBA Board of Directors. ful convention. Social events By the 1980s, the HBA and that appealed to both lawyers the HBAA acknowledged “a Five of the original 12 Organizing Members of 2019-2020 HBAA President Keisha and their spouses were planned. the HBAA. Seated: Nancy Collie Reed, Maxine Phillips presents the HBAA Jaworski pervasive negativism about the Hutcheson asked Virginia Noel, Cook and Phyllis Tucker. Standing: Elsie Award to Stewart Gagnon in March legal profession, a loss of es2020. who was herself a lawyer, and Pressler and Marjorie Werlein. teem for practicing attorneys, Reagan Cartwright, then servand a lack of respect for the law ing as president of the Houston and the U.S. system of justice Junior Bar Association (now the by citizens.”3 The HBA realized Houston Young Lawyers Assothat lawyers needed to be more ciation) to organize a Women’s engaged with their community Auxiliary to the HBA. through pro bono legal service, Noel gathered 12 women support for local nonprofits, who would become known as The 1st place team from Hughes Watters Askanase at the February 2020 Chili and Pie and public education about the Organizing Founders at the Cookoff, benfiting the law school scholarship program of the HBAA Charitable Fund. the law. The HBAA established Houston Club on February 27, 1947. In addition to Virginia Noel, those the Houston Bar Auxiliary Charitable Fund, Inc. and developed its own women were Ruth Brown, Jean Cartwright, Maxine Cook, Nancy Colcommunity service projects. The Auxiliary created a library of law-related lie, Caroline Hutcheson, Mildred Patterson, Elsie Pressler, Lorna Terrell, video tapes for use in schools and community organizations, organized
Houston Bar Association Auxiliary:
A History of Service to the Bar and Community
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educational classes for senior citizens, and hosted receptions for new citizens after naturalization ceremonies. The HBAA also began distributing a handbook to high school seniors called “Now You are 18,” which explains the rights and responsibilities of reaching legal age. HBAA members read hundreds of essays as judges for Harris County’s “Do the Write Thing” program, which gives students the opportunity to examine their feelings about experiences with violence, changes in their lives, and how their actions can affect others. Through its Charitable Fund, the HBAA also financially supports many HBA service projects, including Habitat, the John J. Eikenburg Law Week Fun Run, the HAY Center, and the Harvest Celebration In 1988, the HBAA created its most prestigious honor, the Leon Jaworski Award, named after the eminent Texas attorney, law professor, war crimes prosecutor, and Watergate special prosecutor. The award is given annually to an individual lawyer solely for his or her non-legal community service, and honors all lawyers whose community involvement enhances the image of the legal profession. To commemorate the award, the HBAA commissioned a sculpture entitled “Family,” that symbolizes a family enveloped in the protective arms of the law. The sculpture was originally located in the Houston Family Law Center and now stands in the lobby of the Juvenile Justice Center, along with a plaque that lists all Jaworski Award recipients. In 2004, the HBAA established a scholarship program, awarding $5,000 to a deserving student at a Houston law school. In 2007, the program expanded to award a $5,000 scholarship to a student at each of Houston’s three law schools. In 2015, Hazel Donato, then president of the HBAA, had the idea to start a chili and pie cook off to raise money for the scholarship fund. The event is now held at the Bayou City Pavilion and attracts over 250 people, as well as about 15 teams from law firms and legal organizations. Members of the Harris County judiciary serve as judges, and an entry fee entitles participants to enjoy chili, pie, drinks, decorated booths, and music. The Houston Young Lawyers Association partners with the HBAA on the event, next planned in January 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the HBAA’s roots may have been based on more traditional roles for women, the group has always evolved with the times. Pearson Grimes, president of the HBA in 1990-91, was the first male to join the HBAA, and Greg Griffin was the first male to serve as president of the HBAA in 2018. Many HBAA members are professional women, and several attorneys have served as president, including current president Dominique Varner, an attorney with Hughes Watters Askanase LLP. HBAA events now include cooking classes with well-known chefs, wine tastings, and volunteering for HBA community and educational programs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Auxiliary has found creative ways to hold virtual events to remain connected and engaged with its members. “At this 150th anniversary of the HBA, the 73-year-old Auxiliary continues to enjoy its social and volunteer contributions to the Houston Bar Association,” said Carmela Frels, the 50th president of the HBAA.
Varner for their assistance on this article, as well as all of the amazing women who have been part of the HBAA. Endnotes
1. ERIC L. FREDRICKSON, A COMMITMENT TO PUBLIC SERVICE: THE HISTORY OF THE HOUSTON BAR ASSOCIATION 92 (1992). 2. Carolyn Matthews & Carmela Frels, Who Are These Women in Hats? The Houston Bar Association Auxiliary Celebrates its 50th Anniversary, HOUS. LAW., Mar—Apr. 1997, at 37. 3. Id. at 36.
Tara Shockley is the associate executive director/communications director for the Houston Bar Association and serves as managing editor of The Houston Lawyer. She would like to thank Carmela Frels and Dominque thehoustonlawyer.com
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Committee spotlight
The Historical Committee: Preserving the Bar’s Past for the Future
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The Houston Lawyer
By David T. Lopez
he Historical Committee works to preserve and present the fascinating history of the Houston Bar Association. In 1870, five years after the end of the Civil War, Houston lawyers assembled to form a bar association impelled, as those today, by a desire to enhance the standards and public recognition of the profession. They also perceived the need for a common approach to the challenges of the Reconstruction, which at the time included so-called Black Codes, laws that sought to mimic the conditions of slavery for African-Americans. Similar organizational efforts were underway nationwide, not only for lawyers, but also for physicians, engineers, and other professions. The Bar of the City of New York was formed that same year of 1870. As the Houston Bar Association observes its 150th anniversary, the Historical Committee refocuses its responsibility to research and preserve a record not only of HBA activities, but also of the notable accomplishments and contributions of its members to the community. A gala celebration planned for the occasion has been delayed because of the pandemic, and as it might develop, the Committee will contribute to the collection and display of photographs, drawings and other artifacts. For the HBA centennial in 1990, the Committee organized the publication of a commemorative book, “A Commitment to Public Service: The History of the Houston Bar Association.” An example of the interesting historical facts is a description of an 36
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early “bar examination.” It consisted of an oral examination of the candidate by a group of lawyers, followed by the celebratory sharing of an “examination bottle.” Notable among the Committee’s ongoing activities is the HBA Living History Project, which for more than 20 years has overseen the video recording of interviews with senior members of the Association. The interviews are available for viewing, either as brief highlights or in their entirety, on the HBA website. They are a source of inspiration, remembrances, practical advice, and even CLE credit in some cases. The Committee determines who will be included and who will conduct the interviews. The videos are accessible by clicking on the “About HBA” section and scrolling down to “Historical Videos.” Highlights are public, and full videos can be accessed by HBA members. Suggestions for addition of individuals can be made to the Committee through the HBA Office. The Committee works closely with the editorial board of The Houston Lawyer for the development and preparation of articles of historical interest. Members of the Committee also are available to work with the HBA staff on particular projects involving preservation and history of the Bar’s activities. David T. Lopez a former journalist, civil rights litigator and now domestic and international arbitrator and mediator, co-chairs the HBA Historical Committee with Justice Ken Wise.
A Profile
in pro f e s s i o n a l i s m
Secretary James A. Baker, III and his wife, Susan Baker
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James A. Baker, III 61st U.S. Secretary of State, Senior Partner, Baker Botts L.L.P.
rofessionalism is not specific to any one line of work or craft. Rather, it is an attention to detail, an intellectual curiosity, a strong ethical code and other personal traits that help a person do their very best in any chosen field. A professional approach is just as important to the success of a lawyer or a doctor as it is to a plumber or a nurse. One of the traits that has helped me most in life has been my adherence to a maxim that my father called the Five P’s—which stands for Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. My father, James A. Baker, Jr., was a tough but fair taskmaster who routinely drilled the Five P’s into my consciousness as a young man. Along the way, I discovered that he was absolutely right. If I got up a little earlier in the morning and worked a little longer at night, then I would be better prepared than the attorneys on the other side of the table. The same was true for my negotiations with world leaders when I was Secretary of State. My father was a fine attorney with the law firm that is now Baker Botts, as was his father and grandfather before him. His father, and my grandfather, Captain James A. Baker, was president of the Houston Bar Association during the depths of the Depression in 1931. He often told young attorneys coming to work for the firm to “work hard, study and keep out of politics.” I jokingly say that I followed the first two of my grandfather’s pieces of advice. Working hard and studying as an attorney helped me build a professional approach to my legal career that later greatly assisted me in my subsequent careers in politics and public service. In many ways, the message of both my father and grandfather was the same—the path of professionalism is paved by hard work and attention to detail. That means dotting the “i’s” and crossing the “t’s.” Some may consider the 5 P’s to be merely an aphorism that adults tell children. But I listened to my father, followed his advice and even at the age of 90, I routinely observe the 5 P’s when I start a new project, and I do so without embarrassment. If you look at the statue of me at Baker Common along Buffalo Bayou near the intersection of Smith and Preston in downtown Houston, you will see “5 P’s” inscribed at the base of the monument. They have been and remain a critical building block of my legal career and everything I do.
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OFF THE RECORD
Kate McConnico:
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‘Accidental Sailor’ Draws Connections to Law
The Houston Lawyer
By Elizabeth Furlow
we get into the wind, the boat sails faster to the mark. It’s really exciting to target a patch of wind.” In the same way, Kate says that sailing has taught her to understand how she can get her clients from “Point A to Point B in a way they understand, that fits with their personality and their goals.” It has also taught her the importance practice. of bracing herself, and her clients, for Kate first sailed as a freshman in high unexpected challenges. Kate has been school, when a friend took her out on thrown off a boat twice. “It’s like being a boat on Clear Lake. Throughout high thrown off a horse, except the horse school, she only sailed when a friend keeps going down the water with the happened to invite her out on a boat. wind and you can’t catch it,” she says. For that reason, she describes herself as She recalls that a skipper threw her a an “accidental sailor.” When she went line, which was difficult to catch beto college at Vassar, she wanted to join cause of the choppy swales and waves. the sailing team, and they were kind She swam as fast and hard as she could enough to accept a novice into their to catch the line, reached it, and the fold. There she sailed on the Hudson skipper pulled her up into the boat. River with the Vassar sailing team, Kate McConnico, right, says sailing has taught her the These and other sailing experiences where the temperature often dipped so importance of bracing yourself for unexpected challenges. have given Kate a sense of perspective about life. “When you’re out low in the spring that ice floated past her as she sailed. on a regatta next to the Ship Channel and see a Kuwaiti tanker barAfter college, Kate put sailing on pause for several years, focusreling forward at 20 miles per hour, and you’re wondering if you can ing her attention on law school and learning her practice. After five get out of the way in time, you look back at land and think, pshaw.” years as a lawyer, she realized that she needed to start sailing again. Sailing has also given Kate a way to give back. She supports SailKate recalls her first effort to return to the sport: “I wasn’t a memors for the Sea, a nonprofit organization that works through various ber of a yacht club and I didn’t own a boat, so I went down to the campaigns to preserve the oceans. Houston Yacht Club, wrote my name in pencil on a volunteer crew Kate encourages others to try their hand at sailing, too. “Somelist, and put it on a bulletin board.” She received a few calls in the thing that is that transforming and powerful—even if you do it following days, and soon she was back on the water again. only one time—changes your perspective on the world.” She has Now, Kate has been practicing law for 25 years, and sailing for 20. found that the “best lawyers have things outside of their legal caShe loves to sail in Galveston Bay, where the wind is good and the reers that delight them and inspire them.” For Kate, that delight motor traffic is light, and she regularly participates in regattas. comes from angling a boat through the water and from perfectly Kate draws many connections between sailing and the law. “The catching a patch of wind. rules of sailing are as strict as the rules of evidence and procedure,” she says. “Once you know the rules and follow them, you gain a lot Elizabeth Furlow is a litigation associate at Baker Botts L.LP. She is of confidence.” She notes that, for example, in sailing, “If you know the Off the Record editor for The Houston Lawyer. the rules of the race, you can look at the traffic, look at the wind on the water, and watch how the wind shifts. My job is on the foredeck. Endnotes I’ll stand with my back to the mast, scan 180 degrees for the wind, 1. Kate McConnico practices divorce and family law, as well as estate planning and probate law. She was selected to Super Lawyers for 2010-2020. She is a member of The and if I see more wind on starboard or port, I will sail into it. When Houston Lawyer editorial board.
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ate McConnico,1 a divorce, family law, and estate planning attorney, knows how to navigate stormy seas, both in and out of the courtroom. A passionate sailor in her free time, Kate has used the lessons she has learned on the water to inform her legal
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SECTION spotlight
S
HBA Litigation Section: A Great Responsibility
By Stephanie L. Holcombe
tan Lee, in what is now known as the Peter Parker principle, said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” The Houston Bar Association Litigation Section may not have great power, but as one of the largest HBA sections with more than 1,500 members, we do feel a great responsibility to serve our members meaningfully. As a section, we have sought to live up to that responsibility in a number of ways. For example, DJ Seidel, the section’s chair in 2017-2018, made sure our members were always the primary focus of everything we did. Following Hurricane Harvey, DJ reduced the costs of our section lunches to make it easier for everyone to attend. We also sought to increase our accessibility to our members by creating a Facebook page, which we hope you will join at www.facebook. com/HBALitigationSection/. When you do, you will receive notices of our upcoming lunches and other section activities, as well as see photos from prior events. We also hope to increase our digital presence by expanding to LinkedIn and Twitter—but we intend to remain off TikTok for the foreseeable future. And speaking of digital presence, in the midst of the COVID pandemic, we have adjusted like so many others by moving our functions to Zoom until we can meet again in person. Finally, the size and breadth of our section has meant that we have historically scheduled two lunches every month—one downtown and one on the west side—in an effort to be as ac-
cessible to as many of our members as possible. One of the advantages of such a large number of lunch events is our ability to bring in a wide range of speakers on some truly terrific topics. To that end, we are proud of the speakers and topics we have been able to present to our members. For example, in 2018, Judge Vanessa Gilmore spoke at our downtown lunch about implicit bias, well before it became a major news topic in 2020. In just that same year, we heard from numerous other judges, including Justice Bill Boyce and Judge Michael Engelhart on pro bono opportunities and experiences, Chief Judge Lee Rosenthal and Judge Gray Miller on best practices in federal court, Judge Andrew Edison on a fascinating discussion about the JFK assassination video and eminent domain, and Judge Beau Miller and Judge Lauren Reeder about lessons learned from the bench. We were also fortunate to hear from several great Houston lawyers on a wide range of topics, often involving cases making headlines across our city and state. Through it all, our members remain our focus. So, if you are not a member, I would ask that you check us out and maybe even join us. If you are a member, I hope you accept the great responsibility to get more involved, whether as a section officer, a potential speaker, or just by attending one of our functions. I hope to see you soon! Stephanie L. Holcombe is the current chair of the HBA Litigation section and a partner in the litigation group at Porter Hedges. thehoustonlawyer.com
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LEGAL TRENDS
Discussion of the Proposed Disciplinary Rules and Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedures1
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The Houston Lawyer
By Claude Ducloux
y first job as a lawyer in 1978, long before email, cellphones or computers, was as an Assistant General Counsel to the State Bar. For almost three years, my time was divided between Texas Disciplinary Rules, (that is, learning and administering them for Grievance Committees), and learning how to try lawsuits for the State Bar, which were all prosecuted in the accused lawyer’s own hometown district court. Since then I have stayed immersed in disciplinary rules and procedures, handling hundreds of complaints, and advising lawyers and firms on how these rules and procedures are interpreted and applied. To my good fortune, I was appointed by the Texas Supreme Court to the Committee on Disciplinary Rules and Referenda (“CDRR”) upon its creation by the most recent State Bar legislative renewal, and since January 1, 2018, I have worked enthusiastically with others to modernize these rules for a system which often suffers from obsolete applications and the unmet need for change. Texas lawyers now are going to decide if that hard work paid off. The first step in ratifying three years of hard work was the Texas Supreme Court’s September 29 order which will allow Texas lawyers to vote on each proposed change separately next February 2021 in a Rules Referendum. You can review the “official” Summary of the Rules, which explains the eight proposals, known as Ballot Items A through H, at texasbar. com/rulesvote. Below are my thoughts on each proposed amendment. Comments on Proposed Amendments Ballot Item A: Scope and Objectives of Represen-
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tation; Clients with Diminished Capacity As our population ages, and many of our citizens work longer than they anticipated, the danger of encountering clients with decreased mental facility is increasing. Lawyers need a rule like this, equipping and guiding us with additional tools for handling situations which put the client or the client’s estate at risk. Under this rule, a lawyer with reasonable doubt about his/her client’s mental capacity can break the bond of confidentiality for reasonable consultations about the client’s mental status. This is permissive, however, and your failure to reach out is not a ground for discipline. This is an important change which is needed and will ultimately benefit clients. Ballot Item B: Confidentiality of Information – Exception to Permit Disclosure to Secure Legal Ethics Advice This rule is close to the heart of all lawyers who provide ethics advice. In effect, this is not an actual change in a rule, but a confirmation that if you need to consult with ethics counsel (and almost every lawyer will have that need at some point during an active career), you are not breaking the confidentiality rules in securing that advice. This is a “no-brainer” improvement. Ballot Item C: Confidentiality of Information – Exception to Permit Disclosure to Prevent Client Death by Suicide We all know that there are certain exceptions to our duty to keep client confidences and unprivileged information. Those exceptions in DR 1.05 have generally involved the lawyer’s good faith belief that a crime or fraud is occurring or shall occur, or when the lawyer believes a failure to disclose will result in serious bodily injury to someone. In these days of mounting mental health issues, Texas is adopting the position that you may also reveal your good faith belief that your client is in danger of dying by suicide. REST ASSURED, however, that decision to reveal is yours under this provision. If you choose not to do so, that decision cannot be held against you or be a disciplinary matter. Ballot Item D: Conflict of Interest Exceptions for Nonprofit and Limited Pro Bono Legal Services During my career I have spent many nights giving
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advice at pro bono clinics. Such volunteerism is widely needed and gives me great personal satisfaction. But if you are in a big firm (or even a small one), you may be hesitant to discuss any legal matter at all, thinking that providing such limited advice might conflict out other lawyers, or even your entire firm. Well, have no fear. This rule addresses that issue, and gives guidance and protocols to observe, so that your pro bono services can remain within the rules. You still retain the duty —if you know of a clear existing conflict of interest at the inception of service— to refrain from providing those services. But this is a very helpful rule to the future of Texas lawyers, and this is not a new idea. Similar rules are already in effect in 48 other states and Washington, D.C. So far, Texas is the outlier. Ballot Item E: Information About Legal Services (Lawyer Advertising and Solicitation) We spent at least 18 months working on these advertising and solicitation rules. During that time, we considered every contributor’s comments and did our best to provide the lawyers of Texas with solid understandable improvements. However, I want to suggest that everyone look at the comments of Professor Vince Johnson, who will be comprehensively outlining the context and reasons for these changes in the February 2021 issue of the Texas Bar Journal. In short, the proposed rules continue to focus on the prevention of false or misleading communications, as well as improper influence in direct solicitations, but do so in a simplified manner that is designed to make compliance easier for lawyers. Ballot Item F: Reporting Professional Misconduct and Reciprocal Discipline for Federal Court or Federal Agency Discipline Many lawyers are not aware that several wide areas of federal practice, such as Patent Law and Immigration Law, operate their own grievance systems. This rule requires that a Texas lawyer who has been disciplined in one of these nonstate systems owes the same duty to report that discipline as owed when disciplined by a state system. I know from handling many complaints at the EOIR (The Executive Office for Immigration Review at the U.S. Justice Department), that it handles disciplinary actions involving immigra-
LEGAL TRENDS
tion lawyers. Often minor infractions can be handled with warning letters or admonishments. The CDRR worked hard on this rule to ensure that the type of discipline which would trigger this reporting had to be related to professional misconduct, meaning public reprimand, suspension, or disbarment. Minor infractions, such as failure to timely pay annal fees or bar dues, or letters of admonishment or warning, or disqualification as counsel, are certainly NOT reportable acts. This rule was actually requested by and its development was discussed with the Chief Disciplinary Counsel’s office as an improvement to the existing rule. Ballot Item G: Assignment of Judges in Disciplinary Complaints and Related Provisions This, again, is a change to a Rule of Disciplinary Procedure, rather than disciplinary conduct. When the Chief Disciplinary Counsel finds “just cause” to proceed with a Disciplinary Action, the respondent lawyer must choose to have the matter heard by a panel or to have the matter filed in district court in the Respondent’s county of principal practice. In those few cases where the Respondent chooses to proceed in court, the existing Rule of Disciplinary Procedure has the Texas Supreme Court sending an order to a district judge assigning him or her to hear the case. It may not surprise you to know that, often, the district judge with a busy hometown docket is less than thrilled to be summoned hundreds of miles away to hear a disciplinary case. The purpose of this rule change is to make that process easier and more relevant. This allows the Presiding Judge of the Respondent’s Administrative Judicial District to carefully choose an appropriate judge for the case, and softens the geographical requirements so that a nearer judge who is appropriate for the case can be appointed. Also, the rules for objecting or recusal follow Texas law more consistently. The existing rule conflicts with established rules for such processes. Ballot Item H: Voluntary Appointment of Custodian Attorney for Cessation of Practice For many years, the Disciplinary Rules of Procedure have included (what I call) “emergency provisions” in Rules 13.01, 13.02, and 13.03 for a court to appoint one or more custodians (similar to what we’d call a “conservator”) to assume ju-
risdiction over an attorney’s practice when that attorney is unable (for a number of reasons outlined in Rule 13.02) to continue the practice. The benefit of that custodianship is that the appointee(s) are protected from claims except for “intentional misconduct or gross negligence.” The theory is that a custodian undertaking the often harried, messy, and thankless job of closing down a practice should not be worried about being sued for those efforts, short of gross negligence. It’s a very good and useful tool. So, why not give lawyers an additional voluntary option to create those custodianships and save on court time and costs? Under this new rule, an attorney can voluntarily create the same custodianship, and the custodian accepting that duty has the same protections as the court-appointed kind. Remember, the custodian’s purpose has to be to close down the practice, and if he/she assumes the representation of a client or clients going forward, those protections will not apply to such ongoing representations. But the rule gives great flexibility to the process of helping lawyers retire or cease practice, and is a great tool for the future. Please review all the rules, and I hope this article and all the information you read will give you some good perspectives, and... reasons to vote YES!. Claude Ducloux is a past president of the Austin Bar Association, and past chair of the Texas Bar Foundation, Board of Legal Specialization, and College of the State Bar. Endnotes
1. This is an abbreviated version of an article written by Mr. Ducloux that will be printed in the Austin Bar Journal and the San Antonio Bar Magazine in January 2021.
The “Boeing Fix” – SB 943
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By Joseph R. Larsen
erhaps the most longed for of the open government bills passed this last legislative session was the “Boeing Fix,” so called in honor of the 2015 Texas Supreme
Court case of Boeing v. Paxton1 that allowed private parties and governmental bodies to withhold even the most basic information regarding how much governmental bodies were paying vendors. Boeing survived an attempted “fix” in the 2017 session that would have simply returned the law to its original intent. SB 943, rather, adds another layer over the original framework by setting out in some detail a new category of “contracting information” and specifically listing contracting information that should always be released. The Texas Public Information Act states that all information is public unless it falls within an exception. The exception at issue in Boeing, titled “Information Relating to Competition or Bidding,” was meant to block a bidder for government work from getting copies of competitors’ bids before the contract was awarded.2 Attorney general open records opinions following enactment held that this section could not be claimed to protect a governmental body’s competitive advantage because government cannot be regarded as being in competition with private enterprise, and the purpose of the exception was to ensure competitive bids. However, in 1991, the attorney general re-interpreted this provision to also create a de facto “governmental body trade secrets” exception that became ingrained over the years including a 2013 ruling that the governor could withhold information regarding his marketing meetings with businesses in other states on grounds his office was “competing against other states attempting to recruit businesses to relocate or expand.”3 The Boeing court quoted this ruling in support of its holding that the information Boeing sought to withhold about its lease with the Port Authority was at least as competitively valuable as that which the Attorney General’s Office had allowed the governor to withhold. Boeing further shaped this exception to undermine open government by (1) changing the burden from a “decisive” advantage to merely an “advantage”—which eliminated the need to show an ongoing competitive situation, and (2) allowing third parties contracting with the government to claim the bidding exception, even though there was already a separate trade secret exception for third parties. Rather than stripping out all these administra-
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Continued on page 44 November/December 2020
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Media Reviews
Bibliography of Books By and About Houston’s Legal Community Created by Lori-Ann Craig and Heather Holmes
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The Houston Lawyer
iterature by and about Houston lawyers is plentiful and varied. This bibliography is intended for all who want to explore the storied history of our city’s legal community as the Houston Bar Association celebrates its sesquicentennial. Titles range from memoirs and biographies to works of fiction, and the list includes a rich assortment of historical volumes that document the development of legal practice in Houston and the role the bar has played in shaping our city. The works listed below cannot be found in a single collection. Researchers who need assistance finding copies are invited to contact a law librarian at the Harris County Law Library. Visit www.harriscountylawlibrary.org for contact options. A Commitment to Public Service: The History of the Houston Bar Association In honor of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Houston Bar Association, the Harris County Law Library has partnered with the HBA to offer digital access to A Commitment to Public Service: The History of the Houston Bar Association. Eric L. Fredrickson’s 1992 seminal work provides an incomparable look at the history of our city’s legal community and the lawyers who guided Houston’s development toward becoming one of the nation’s leading cities. Until now, access to this treasure trove of information for researchers and historians was limited. Through our groundbreaking partnership, the book is now available as a searchable, digitized flipbook for free to all in an effort to support the work of attorneys and authors as they chronicle the history of the local legal community in local bar publications and beyond. 42
November/December 2020
Find the digitized history today at https://www. harriscountylawlibrary.org/hba-history. Books about Houston Law Firms/Organizations: 1. Craftsmanship and Character: A History of the Vinson & Elkins Law Firm of Houston, 1917-1997 by Harold Melvin Hyman (1998) 2. Baker Botts in World War II by Dillon Anderson and Baker, Botts, Andrews, and Walne (1947) 3. Fulbright & Jaworski: 75 Years, 1919-1994 by John H. Crooker and Gibson Gayle (1994) 4. The People of Baker Botts by JH Freeman (1992) 5. Baker Botts in the Development of Modern Houston by Kenneth J. Lipartito (1991) 6. V & E: A Story of Vinson & Elkins by Sidney S. McClendon III (2010) 7. Andrews & Kurth: The First 100 Years of Excellence by Eric L. Fredrickson (2002) 8. The History of Lidell, Sapp, Zivley, Hill, & LaBoon, L.L.P. by Charles Sapp (1996) 9. A Commitment to Public Service: The History of the Houston Bar Association by Eric L. Fredrickson (1992) 10. The Lawyers of Andrews Kurth: The Andrews Years, 1902-1936 by Clinton F. Morse (199-) 11. “Serving The Community – Serving the Profession:” The History of the Houston Young Lawyers Association and the Houston Junior Bar Association by Eric L. Fredrickson (1997) 12. Bless the Pure and Humble: Texas Lawyers and Oil Regulation, 1919-1936 by Nicholas George Malavis (1996) Lawyer Biographies/Autobiographies: 1. Captain James A. Baker of Houston, 1857-1941 by Kate Sayen Kirkland (2012) 2. J.S. Bracewell, Lawyer by Searcy Bracewell, Joseph Searcy Bracewell, Fentress Bracewell (2001) 3. Lawyer: My Trials and Jubilations by Joe Jamail and Mickey Herskowitz (2003) 4. Joseph D. Jamail: Stories and Career Highlights by Joseph D. Jamail (1998) 5. After Fifteen Years by Leon Jaworski (1961) 6. Barbara Jordan: Congresswoman, Lawyer, Educator by Laura S. Jeffrey (1997) 7. William Pitt Ballinger: Texas Lawyer, Southern Statesman, 1825-1888 by John Moretta (2004) 8. Tony Buzbee: Defining Moments by Michael Lee Lanning (2014) 9. Harry M. Reasoner: An Oral History Interview by Harry M. Reasoner and Sheree Scarborough (2012) 10. King of the Courtroom: Percy Foreman for the Defense by Michael Dorman (1969)
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11. Crossroads by Leon Jaworski and Dick Schneider (1981) 12. Confession and Avoidance: A Memoir by Leon Jaworkski and Mickey Herskowitz (1979) Books Written by Houston Lawyers (History) Perhaps the most prolific writer on this list, Clarence Wharton was a dedicated documentarian of Texas history. This educator, writer, and lawyer from Tarrant County, Texas joined the law firm of Baker, Botts, Baker, and Lovett in 1901, becoming full partner in just 5 years. Mr. Wharton was an active member of the Harris County Historical Society and served as its vice president in 1923. His clear interest in the military, legal, and historical roots of Texas, along with his love of writing, inspired the many works cited below. 1. Wharton’s History of Fort Bend County by Clarence Wharton (1973) 2. Gail Borden, Pioneer by Clarence Wharton (1941) 3. A Renegade Son of the De Sha’s by Clarence Wharton (1940) 4. The Republic of Texas by Clarence Wharton (1922) 5. What Became of Judge Baird by Clarence Wharton (1940) 6. L’Archeveque by Clarence Wharton (1941) 7. Texas by Clarence Wharton (1930) 8. The Phantom Dr. Harrison by Clarence Wharton (publication date not identified) 9. Early Municipal History of Texas by Clarence Wharton (1930) 10. The Lone Star State: A School History by Clarence Wharton (1932) 11. The Baron de Bastrop, God-Father of Texas by Clarence Wharton (publication with no date) 12. Ancient Gateways to Texas: Through Indio Chupadero Ranches, 1690-1760: Stories Told at the Annual Hunt at Chupadero, December, 1939 by Clarence Wharton (1939) 13. A DeSha of Old Kentucky by Clarence Wharton (1940) 14. Texas Under Many Flags by Clarence Wharton (1930) 15. Satanta, the Great Chief of the Kiowas and His People by Clarence Wharton (1935) 16. Remember Goliad by Clarence Wharton and JH Barnard (1968) 17. History of Texas by Clarence Wharton (1935) 18. San Jacinto: The Sixteenth Decisive Battle by Clarence Wharton (2019) 19. The Isle of Mal Hado, and Other Sketches; Three Hundred and Fifty Years of Texas History by
Media Reviews
Clarence Wharton (1968) 20. El Presidente: A Sketch of General Santa Anna by Clarence Wharton (1926) 21. Pictorial History of Texas by Clarence Wharton (1938?) 22. Texas Centennial in 1936 on the San Jacinto Battlefield by Clarence Wharton (1924?) 23. Republic of Texas: A Brief History of Texas From the First American Colonies in 1821 to Annexation in 1846 by Clarence Wharton (2015) Books Written by Houston Lawyers (Fiction) 1. The Billingsley Papers by Dillon Anderson (1961) 2. I and Claudie by Dillon Anderson (2000) 3. A Quilt for Claudie by Dillon Anderson (1952) 4. Claudie’s Kinfolk by Dillon Anderson (1954) 5. The Trial by Larry D. Thompson (2011) 6. So Help Me God by Larry D. Thompson (2008) 7. Dark Money: A Jack Bryant Thriller by Larry D. Thompson (2015) 8. The Insanity Plea by Larry D. Thompson (2014) 9. Dead Peasants: A Thriller by Larry D. Thompson (2013) 10. The Best People: A Tale of Trials and Errors, A Novel by Marc Grossberg (2019) 11. Crosstown Park by Melanie Bragg (2013) Books by Houston Lawyers (Other): 1. The Lawyer in Society by Leon Jaworski (2007) 2. A Citizen’s Guide to Impeachment, by Barbara Radnofsky (2017) 3. School Law’s Evolution – Reflections of a Texas School Lawyer by Kelly Frels (2019). Lori-Ann Craig is associate law librarian and Heather Holmes is assistant law librarian at the Harris County Law Library.
Legal Technology Must-Haves in the Virtual Home-Office
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By Ruby L. Powers
s a law firm owner for 11 years, and having run my law firm remotely from Dubai nine years ago, I’ve come to understand the importance of good and reliable technology to ensure proper work output, not only for myself, but also my staff. With many of us working 100% remote, this article will cover key ways to make your firm more efficient and
profitable through some key technology musthave suggestions. Laptop: Any laptop will work just fine, as long as you make sure to update your laptop regularly. Usually it’s best to get a laptop that’s less than 5 years old. I own a Windows Surface laptop, and I would highly recommend this to anyone in need of a fast yet slim laptop with great camera quality and microphone clarity. It is easy to have on the go and has a detachable screen that works as a tablet. USB Port: Many laptops have only 2-3 USB ports and I find having a 3-4 USB Port in stock allows you to connect headsets, extra devices, a mouse and more when the ones provided don’t suffice. Wifi Boosters: These are highly needed especially if you work around your house and/or have various others online during the business day. Large Monitor: To avoid the use of paper, better multitasking, and help your eyes, it is best to have a large monitor you can connect to on a regular basis. For a good portable screen, I have found that the HP EliteDisplay S14 14-inch Portable Display monitor works the best for me. It is slim and connects via USB. Printer: I found that my all in one printer/scanner gadget is too slow for me, so I usually print on my Brother HL-L2300D Personal Monochrome Laser Printer that I took from my office. If you have to print, make sure you have something reliable, and that you have the paper, drum and toner on hand when you are running low. Headset: I have found that the quality of use between various headsets changed between the video conference programs, Google Hangouts and Zoom. But my favorite headset is the Jabra Evolve 65 MS On Ear Headset. I love how I can connect the bluetooth on my phone and make Vonage calls for work, and flip over to using them for Zoom calls for consults, as well. Plus, I can usually walk and talk around my house as long as I keep the headset charged and in range. You might also want to buy some noise canceling headphones for when your partner, kids, etc. are making too much noise to concentrate.
Scanner: I generally love anything Fujitsu ScanSnap (I have owned too many to count), and if you don’t need the normal size scanner, consider the portable version or in a pinch, the app CamScanner, but watch for the privacy and confidentiality provisions depending on the version. Desktop Selfie Ring Light: During COVID, all my speeches are online, and my firm is creating a lot of content online, as well. Early in COVID, I bought the LED 10.2” Desktop Selfie Ring Light with Tripod Stand & Remote Control &10 Brightness Level & 3 Light Modes and 120 Bulbs 6500k. The 360° rotation angle of the ring light allows you to find the ideal angle to illuminate your face or whole body , and has three lighting modes and 10 adjustable brightness levels for you to choose. You have to keep it plugged into an outlet even though it has a USB connection, but that hasn’t been an issue. Virtual Background: Make a few professional virtual backgrounds using Canva.com or similar programs that are neutral for a professional setting and have your firm’s logo or contact information. This can be used for consultations, presentations, and other marketing purposes. Make sure you and your staff have the tools you need to be as efficient as possible. Don’t skimp on the hardware or software for optimal results because time is everything in the professional services of the law practice. Regularly audit your firm’s technology; assess the programs, automations and integrations you use; and make sure to regularly check with each staff member to ensure they have what they need. Above all, know that technology is constantly changing, so never set it and forget it. Ruby L. Powers is founder of Powers Law Group, P.C., a full-service immigration law firm, and she is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law. She authored AILA’s “Build and Manage Your Successful Immigration Law Practice (Without Losing Your Mind)” and provides law practice management consulting services to attorneys. She is a former candidate for public office and an advocate for immigrants and her community at large.
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November/December 2020
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LITIGATION MARKETPLACE
available January/February 2021: 2 large window offices and/or 3 spacious furnished secretarial spaces. Houston Heights Virtual office space also available. Office Space Available Individual, multiple, executive Call Lawrence at 713-650-1222 or email: legal@texas.net. suite, or an entire building with one to six offices plus support staff HOUSTON GALLERIA AREA areas available in historic Houston Heights Buildings! Historic charm NEW NORMAL OFFICE SPACE with modern amenities. One prop- One approx. 14’ x 15’ office and one erty on Yale and one on Heights cubicle with high partitions. 5,000 Blvd, both easily accessible and with sq ft suite for easy social distancample visibility. Available space in- ing. File space; 2 conference rooms; cludes a conference room wired for kitchen; telephone system; fiber inflat screen and data ports in each ternet; copier; ground floor (no eloffice, full kitchen, ample parking. evator rides). Not an executive suite. Contact kurt@kurtarbuckle.com. Price flexible on needs. Call: 504-237-6535 for more information. Fantastic large Office Space KIRBY – 3730 Kirby, 7th Floor. Window office available. Part downtown in Renovated mansion near Mon& med center view. Suite shared trose. Exceptional charm on 3rd w/ 4 attorneys. Includes networked floor with sloped ceiling and lots of copier/fax/scanner, phone, internet, windows. $950/month includes all conference room & reception area, utilities, janitorial, internet, reception area, shared kitchen. kitchen, fileroom, staff space available. Covered free parking. Call Contact: judy.borrell@gmail.com or 713-459-3900 Sam Bernstein at 713-526-4968. Office Space
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HOUSTON/ENERGY CORRIDOR I-10 & 1155 Dairy Ashford Established law firm with estate/ trust planning, probate/trust administration, elder law and business practice seeks to lease large 12x15 window office in friendly, beautiful office suite, with reception area. Office easily accommodates credenza, full size desk, two client chairs, two 5-drawer lateral files. Telephone, WiFi, high speed Internet, copiers/ scanners, fax. Kitchen with microwave and coffee. Notary available. Access to conference rooms on scheduled basis. Free covered parking for attorney and clients. Possible overflow work subject to attorney availability, skill and experience. $895/month, quarterly term. Steve 713-553-0732 (cell) steve@mendellawfirm.com. HOUSTON—ONE GREENWAY PLAZA, SUITE 100—Class A space available for sublease. Great MultiLawyer/Corporate/Professional Suite—1st floor (no elevator needed), 15 ft+ ceilings, security, garage/ covered parking, digital phone/ voicemail-emailed/fax/high-speedinternet/cable system, 2 conference rooms, file room, front full-time bilingual receptionist, kitchen area; walk to new food court; fine dining/ restaurants; new Lifetime Fitness gym; Starbucks, etc. Recently refurbished office; various combinations 44
November/December 2020
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LEGAL TRENDS From page 41
tive and judicial errors and returning the law to the straightforward requirement that government contracts be fully released after awarded to a third party unless the third party met a high burden, SB 943 approaches the issue from the top down, declaring a broad range of governmental economic activity to fall within the definition of “contracting information,” which is, however, itself subject to a new exception that allows withholding based on specific factual evidence that disclosure of the information would “reveal an individual approach” to aspects of the business that would “give advantage to a competitor” —the same burden as Boeing. But SB 943 also specifically lists contracting information that can never fall within this exception that, notably, includes “the overall or total price the governmental body will or could potentially pay,” “a description of the items or services to be delivered with the total price for each if a total price is identified for the item or service in the contract,” “information indicating whether a vendor performed its duties under a contract,” and other basic contract information that has been withheld from the public since the Boeing decision.4 While an extensive list of information, it also doesn’t clearly shine a light into dark corners of some governmental contracts which are often complex. SB 943 also incorporates AGcreated “government trade secrets” interpretation into law, essentially setting the burden at the pre-Boeing standard where the governmental body establishes the “situation at issue is set to reoccur or there is a specific and demonstrable intent to enter into the competitive situation again in the future.”5 There has been a lawsuit regarding proper application of SB 943 already since its January 2, 2020 ef-
LEGAL TRENDS
fective date. The Austin-American Statesman requested a copy of a Teachers Retirement System (“TRS”) lease for downtown Austin office space.6 TRS requested an attorney general ruling and the “third party” property owner (in which TRS apparently owns a significant stake) to submit arguments why the lease information should not be released. The attorney general however ruled no exception applied, and the property owner then filed suit against the attorney general to contest the ruling. The Statesman intervened and also sued TRS directly. TRS promptly disclosed the unredacted lease so there will be no opinion and any claim for attorney’s fees by the Statesman would likely be found moot. Joe Larsen is a partner with Gregor Wynne Arney PLLC in Houston with a broad practice including media representation. He is a board member and chair of the review committee for the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and recipient of FOIFT’s 2010 James Madison Award. Endnotes
1. Boeing v. Paxton, 466 S.W.3d 831 (Tex.2015). 2. TEX. GOV. CODE ANN. § 552.104(a). 3. Boeing, supra note 1 at 841 (quoting Tex. Att’y Gen. Op. OR2013-08386 (2013)). 4. Supra note 2 at § 552.0222(b)(3)(A)–(B), (4). 5. Supra note 2. 6. See Bob Sechler, TRS Rent Starts at $326,000 Per Month, AUSTIN-AMER. STATESMAN, Jan. 24, 2020, https://www.statesman.com/business/20200124/ trs-rent-starts-at-326000-per-month.
The Rise of AirBnB
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By Mia Lorick
irBnB rentals have risen in popularity over the last few years due to the ease of renting one’s home through the AirBnB app.1 Because renting one’s home is so easy, many owners are opting to rent their homes out for periods as short as one night. The money that homeowners make can easily add up to tens of thousands per year—making it an attractive investment. But, how do these rentals affect the community? Consider this scenario: A homeowner in Houston is leaving for a twoweek vacation. To earn some extra cash, he decides to advertise and rent his home on AirBnB. He ultimately rents his home for five days to a young woman. The rental is confirmed through
AirBnB and the owner leaves town. When the young woman arrives at the home, she posts the home’s location and the community’s gate code on Facebook because she is hosting her friend’s bachelorette party. By 9:00 p.m., 27 people arrive. The weekend is filled with increased noise and traffic due to the many cars coming and going from the house. The owner returns home, slightly annoyed by the trash, but decides it is worth it because he made $1,500 while he vacationed. A week later, he again decides to rent out his home when he is on a work trip and then again the following month when he is out of town for a wedding. Unsurprisingly, the neighbors notice. The above-scenario is becoming more and more common. And, with close to 20,000 communities in Texas being deed restricted communities, many property owners’ associations are faced with determining whether such activity violates their applicable restrictive covenants. The Texas Supreme Court recently considered short-term rentals and restrictive covenants in Tarr v. Timberwood Park.2 In 2012, Mr. Tarr purchased a home in the Timberwood Park subdivision in San Antonio. But after his job transferred him to Houston, he began advertising his San Antonio home for lease.3 Between June and October of 2014, Tarr entered into 31 leases ranging from one to seven nights.4 After his neighbors began to complain, the Timberwood Park Owners’ Association sent Tarr a violation letter relying on the following restrictive covenant: “All tracts shall be used solely for residential purposes, except tracts designated . . . for business purposes.”5 Based on the above provision, the association concluded that Tarr’s rentals violated the residential use restriction.6 But the Texas Supreme Court disagreed. On May 25, 2018, The Texas Supreme Court issued an opinion and held that to determine intent behind a restrictive covenant, courts must consider the precise language chosen by the drafters and that courts cannot enlarge, extend, or stretch words to fit a desired construction.7 Meaning that unless the activity is expressly prohibited, then it is permitted. The Court noted that Tarr’s desired use—short-term rentals—was not expressly pro-
hibited in the restrictive covenants and therefore, “no construction, no matter how liberal, can construe a property restriction into existence when the covenant is silent as to that limitation.”8 The implications of the Court’s Opinion are far reaching for communities that previously relied on the “residential-use” restriction to bar these types of rentals. Because of this strict construction approach, many cities in Texas have turned to their Legislature. For example, in 2016, Austin passed an ordinance that attempted to regulate short-term rentals by limiting the occupancy of a house to no more than two adults per bedroom. The ordinance further attempted to completely ban short-term rentals in which the owner was not present in the home during the stay. While the ordinance carved out an exception for an owner who only leases out her home for a limited period of time each year, on November 27, 2019, the Third Court of Appeals issued an opinion that declared the above-referenced sections of the ordinance unconstitutional.9 The Court held that the ordinance infringed on constitutional rights because it limited the fundamental right to peacefully assemble on private property. It is yet to be determined if the Texas Supreme Court will hear the case.10 But we now see a trend in Texas that favors short-term rentals no matter how much evidence there is that these rentals disturb the peacefulness of communities. Mia Lorick is shareholder and director of diversity and inclusion for Roberts Markel Weinberg Butler Hailey PC. Endnotes
1. COVID-19 has created concerns among some travelers about the safety of renting an AirBnB. Hosts who list through the AirBnB app must agree to its COVID-19 Safety Practices by November 20, 2020, or risk having all their bookings suspended. See What Is AirBnB’s 5-Step Enhanced Cleaning Process, AIRBNB, https:// www.airbnb.com/help/article/2809/what-is-airbnbs5step-enhanced-cleaning-process (last visited Oct. 27, 2020). 2. Tarr v. Timberwood Park Owners Ass’n, NO. 16-1005, 2018 Tex. LEXIS 442, *1, 2019 WL 6336186 (May 25, 2018). 3. Id. 4. Id. 5. Id. at 4. 6. Id. at 5. 7. Id. at 12–13. 8. Id.. at 20–21. 9. Zaatari v. City of Austin, NO. 03-17-00812-CV, 2019 WL 6336186 (Tex. App.—Austin Nov. 27, 2019, no pet. h.). 10. A petition for review was filed by the City of Austin on September 14, 2020, and the case was forwarded to the Texas Supreme Court on October 13, 2020.
thehoustonlawyer.com
November/December 2020
45
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