Jury Homily: By the Honorable Keith P. Ellison
The Journey of a Federal Immigration Judge and Navy Reservist: A Story of Triumph Service to Country and the Law: An Interview With Veteran Matthew J. Hefti
Seeds of Hope: Shawn Raymond, Gregg Costa, and the Sunflower County Freedom Project
The Important Role of the Child Advocate Legal Resources for Veterans and Their Attorneys
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62 Number 3
Jury Homily: By the Honorable Keith P. Ellison
Introduction by Andrew PeArce
The Journey of a Federal Immigration Judge and Navy Reservist: A Story of Triumph By MAtthew J. AlArcon
Service to Country and the Law: An Interview With Veteran Matthew J. Hefti By Johnny dAy
Seeds of Hope: Shawn Raymond, Gregg Costa, and the Sunflower County Freedom Project By lAne MorrIson
The Important Role of the Child Advocate
Finding Fulfillment as a Child Advocate By chAstItI n horne
Why I Advocate for Children By BrIdgett MAtthes
The Rewards of Child Advocacy By eddy de los sAntos
Making a Positive Difference in the Lives of Children By the honorABle FrAnk rynd
Legal Resources for Veterans and Their Attorneys By erIc d’olIve
Support in the Harris County Veterans’ Treatment Court Program By cIArA PerrItAno And JulIsA rodrIguez
75th Annual Harvest Celebration: Celebrating Pro Bono and the Power of Houston’s Legal Community
Harvest Celebration Underwriters
For five consecutive years, Spencer Fane has been recognized as the fastest-growing law firm in the prestigious Am Law 200. Our commitment to client service, strategic expansion, and attracting top legal talent has fueled our success and distinguished us in a competitive market.
PresIdent’s MessAge Celebrating America By dAvId hArrell
FroM the edItor Making a Meaningful Difference By Andrew PeArce
oFF the record
Spreading Joy With the Thiessens: A Costume Collection Full of Creativity and Fun By AMAndA PIerson
A ProFIle In ProFessIonAlIsM
The Honorable Sofia Adrogué Judge, Eleventh Business Court Division
coMMIttee sPotlIght
Answering the Call: The HBA LegalLine Committee By ellyn hAIkIn JoseF and MAtthew reAsoner
sectIon sPotlIght
HBA Real Estate Law Section: Keeping Its Sights on the Landscape By roseMAry B. JAckson
legAl trends
Texas District Courts Question NLRB Constitutionality By corey e. devIne
MedIA revIews
10,000 Depositions Later: The Premier Litigation Guide for Superior Deposition Practice Reviewed by Johnny dAy
By Davi D Harrell locke lord
Over the last months, I’ve had several opportunities to celebrate American citizenship.
On Constitution Day in September, I volunteered to read to students at my children’s school, Trinity Klein Lutheran School, through the HBA Lawyers for Literacy Committee’s Constitution Day Reading Program. This year’s selection was If I Were President, told from the perspective of a young child musing about what it would like to be president of the United States of America. Throughout the morning, the students peppered me with questions that not only reflected their engagement, but also their genuine interest in our government, its leadership, and citizens’ role in shaping that government. I am pleased to report that the 2024 HBA Constitution Day Reading Program reached approximately 7,000 students in 15 districts and private schools.
In October, I had the opportunity to speak at a naturalization ceremony as thousands of people realized a decades-long dream of becoming an American citizen. Many of the new Americans, including several members of the United States Armed Forces, brought family members to share their joy and accomplishment. I was proud to speak on behalf of the HBA, which is comprised of more than 11,000 members who have dedicated themselves to upholding the rule of law.
and what can be achieved through tenacity, dedication, and hard work.
And, of course, November brought Election Day. Over 150 million votes were cast across the country. In Harris County alone, 1.5 million voters had the opportunity to select their executives, representatives, and judges for the coming years.
‘‘ In October, I had the opportunity to speak at a naturalization ceremony as thousands of people realized a decadeslong dream of becoming an American citizen.”
I recently had the privilege of giving remarks at the investiture ceremony for Judge Grant Dorfman and Judge Sofia Adrogué, who were appointed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott to serve as the inaugural judges of the Eleventh Business Court Division. Before his appointment to the Texas Business Court, Judge Dorfman dedicated himself to public service as a district court judge, clerk for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Deputy First Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Texas Attorney General. Judge Adrogué immigrated to the United States when she was 8 years old. Her dedication to public service has included a clerkship for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, serving on over 15 boards, and winning several accolades for her professional accomplishments. She is the personification of the American Dream
These experiences highlight various programs and committees available through the HBA. The HBA’s mission is to “serve the needs of Houston-area lawyers and enhance the legal profession,” and one way the HBA meets that mission is to promote “service to our community through law-related or high-impact and high-involvement projects.” In advance of the start of early voting in the November elections, the HBA released its Judicial Preference Poll as a service to the community. The poll provides HBA members with an opportunity to indicate their candidate choices in the various contested judicial races impacting Houstonians. The Lawyers for Literacy Committee, which organizes and sponsors the Constitution Day readings, also sponsors the Annual HBA Book Drive, where donated books support local literacy agencies and HBA Little Free Libraries.
Of course, the HBA has programming dedicated to serving the community year-round, both in terms of the legal profession and greater Houston. That includes our mentorship programs through the Professionalism; Communities In Schools (CIS); Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; Gender Fairness; and Military & Veterans committees. HBA members interested in providing a direct impact to their community can find volunteerism opportunities through a variety of committees, including each of these: Campaign to End Homelessness & Hunger, HAY Center, Lawyers for a Beautiful Houston (L4BH), Lawyers for Literacy, Special Olympics, and Teach Texas.
I invite you to join the HBA in its work serving the community. You can learn more about our 30+ committees and additional ways the HBA serves both the legal community and the larger community by visiting hba.org/committees
President David Harrell
President-Elect
Daniella Landers
First Vice President Jeff Oldham
Second Vice President Collin Cox
Secretary Kaylan Dunn
Treasurer Greg Ulmer
Immediate Past President Diana Gomez
DIRECTORS (2023-2025)
Carter Dugan Greg Moore Colin Pogge
DIRECTORS (2024-2025)
Todd Frankfort
DIRECTORS (2024-2026)
Keri Brown Robert Painter
Seepan V. Parseghian Samantha Torres
EDITORIAl STAFF
Editor in Chief
Andrew Pearce
Associate Editors
Anna M. Archer Sydney Huber Bateman
Nikki Morris Lane Morrison
Braden Riley Kyle Steingreaber
Editorial Board
Anietie Akpan Jaclyn Barbosa
Jessica Crutcher Jonathan Day
Corey Devine Traci Gibson
Felicia Harris Hoss Jeffrey Johnston
Denise Khoury David T. López
Dave Louie Emily Mott
Ciara Perritano Rinku Ray
Hon. Josefina M. Rendón Benjamin Roberts
Jennifer Smith Rachael Thompson
Carey Worrell Nicolette Zulli
Managing Editor Maggie Martin
HBA OFFICE STAFF
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Associate Executive Director Ashley G. Steininger
Executive Assistant and Director of Board Affairs Gina Pendleton
Controller Sarah Kole
Director, Marketing and Communications Maggie Martin
Communications Specialist Briana Ramirez
Education Coordinator Alli Hessel
Director, Projects and Events Bonnie Simmons
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Director, Membership and Technology Services Ron Riojas
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By a n D rew Pearce BoyarMiller
This issue is a bit of a full circle moment for me. In 2010, I was in my third year practicing law. A civil matter I was working on had morphed into a criminal matter in the Southern District of Texas. I had the opportunity to help coordinate witnesses and generally interact with an Assistant U.S. Attorney named Gregg Costa. I was beyond impressed. He was smart, talented, and accomplished, but equally kind, gracious, and unassuming.
When the criminal trial began, Judge Keith Ellison gave his opening remarks to the jury panel. He spoke of the inconveniences and hardships of serving on a jury, but then spoke to the history and purpose of jury service. Those remarks have stuck with me ever since, and we are privileged to publish an updated version provided by Judge Ellison in this issue. Almost 15 years later, his words are truer and more poignant than ever.
Then, in 2020, BoyarMiller rolled out its Legal Assistance for Black-owned Businesses program (the LABB). Inspired by a goal to create equitable access to quality legal services, the LABB was developed to provide legal services for black-owned businesses while contributing in a meaningful way to the community. I had the chance to write about it in the July/August 2023 issue of The Houston Lawyer. One of the program’s first clients was referred to us by Shawn Raymond with Susman Godfrey, a lawyer and law firm I knew well by reputation, but a person I had never met.
Fast forward to 2024. I watched Shawn receive the ADL’s 2024 Karen H. Susman Jurisprudence Award and he was introduced by his good friend, gregg Costa. I had no idea of their shared history, and I will not spoil it here. Rather, I hope you will read lane Morrison’s outstanding article, which tells the story of two young men who began as strangers but became the closest of friends after embarking on an adventure that changed both a community and each of them in profound ways.
The opportunity to highlight Judge Keith Ellison,
Gregg Costa, and Shawn Raymond—each of whom has been a role model for me—is a major privilege of being the current editor in chief. A different but equally valuable privilege of serving as editor is being introduced to new stories and role models, several of whom are included in this issue. My sincere thanks to Johnny Day for sharing his conversation with Matthew J. Hefti, to Matthew J. Alarcon for profiling the remarkable journey of Judge Christopher v. phan, and to Eric D’Olive for providing valuable guidance for anyone presented with an opportunity to support our Houston-area military veterans.
I also hope our readers will be as moved as I was when reading about Child Advocates, a program that mobilizes court-appointed volunteers to break the vicious cycle of child abuse, from the unique perspectives of four of its volunteers: Eddy De los Santos, Chastiti n. Horne, Bridgett Matthes, and the Honorable Frank Rynd. Each of their stories is truly inspiring. You can learn more about the program and how to get involved at childadvocates.org Sydney Huber Bateman suggested this idea and it was a terrific one.
In this issue, we continue highlighting Harris County’s six specialty courts; this time, Ciara perritano and Julisa Rodriguez introduce us to the Harris County Veterans’ Treatment Court Program, whose mission is to increase access to mental health and addictions treatment for those veterans with felony and misdemeanor offenses by diverting veterans directly into VA treatment, reducing jail time, costs, and criminal recidivism, while improving mental health recovery and successful re-entry into the community.
Finally, in an issue that seeks to tell stories of those who are making a meaningful difference in people’s lives, I want to thank Rinku Ray, who stepped up to perform an amazing job as guest editor, and Kyle Steingreaber, who stepped in on short notice to serve as articles editor for this issue. My sincere appreciation and thanks to both of them.
Introduction by Andrew PeArce
As a young lawyer, I had the opportunity to observe a criminal trial presided over by Judge Keith Ellison. Outside of his courtroom, Judge Ellison’s chambers were filled with interesting photos and note cards on display, including “thank you” notes from several folks who had served on his juries. I was struck by both the number of them and the sincere gratitude expressed in each. A short time later, I heard Judge Ellison’s opening remarks and I felt the same as those jurors surely had. When he finished, every person who first begrudged their bad luck in getting called to serve on a jury seemed to sit up a little straighter and hold their head a little higher at the honor.
We are privileged to publish an updated version provided by Judge Ellison. Almost 15 years later, his words are truer and more poignant than ever.
Good morning, and welcome.
In asking you to join us this morning, we realize that we represent an enormous intrusion. We know we have complicated your life and the lives of members of your family. We acknowledge that, and we apologize for it. We make this imposition because we have important work for you to do. This is work that cannot get done without you.
At the conclusion of this trial, you will be asked to pass judgment on the two men who are defendants in the case you will hear. It is a tremendous responsibility. It may very well be the gravest responsibility asked of any American citizen short of armed combat.
Whenever we convene a jury, I am tugged by strong personal and patriotic emotions. As for the personal, my parents lived long enough to see me become a judge. They had no familiarity with matters of the law. But, they were fascinated by all my jury trials. They wanted to know what was the balance of men versus women, what were some of the jobs and occupations represented, what about the home towns, what was the age range. They were fascinated by all of this because they well remembered the times when it was their turn to serve as jurors. And they well remembered a generation earlier when they watched their parents jolted out of their normal daily routine and take their turn as jurors.
For those of you who have young chil-
dren, you may have—without realizing it—created a lasting memory. In 15 or 20 years, when your offspring receive their first jury summons, they will think back on today and remember when their breakfast hour was rushed, and when mom and dad had to make special arrangements to take them to school and have them picked up. The day mom or dad had to go downtown where the traffic is bad and the parking is worse.
Beyond the personal, I am also uplifted by the sense of a constitutional mandate that attaches to jury trials. That mandate extends throughout the life of our country, a long and honored continuum. The right to a jury trial is the only one of our rights to receive explicit emphasis in the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, in the body of the Constitution, and in the Bill of Rights.
‘‘ Beyond the personal, I am also uplifted by the sense of a constitutional mandate that attaches to jury trials. That mandate extends throughout the life of our country.”
John Adams, our nation’s second president, referred to jury trials as “the hearts and lungs of liberty.” Much more recently, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who served three decades on the Supreme Court, said that when courts interpret the right to a jury trial, they touch “the spinal column of American democracy.”
I often reflect on how our nation’s Founders might react if today they were magically returned to life and surveyed what had become of the constitutional protections they afforded us all. As to the First Amendment rights, the Founders would not know what to make of television and radio, much less the internet. As
to the Second Amendment, the Founders would be astonished at the variety and capability of 21st century weaponry. As to the Fourth Amendment, which regulates searches and seizures, the Founders would not understand telephones, so they wouldn’t understand wire taps. They wouldn’t understand automobiles, so they wouldn’t understand any of the voluminous issues concerning searches of motor vehicles. The Founders would not know anything about heat detection devices, or DNA, or face recognition technology. But when it comes to the protections of the Fifth, Sixth, or Seventh Amendments, which protect the right to a jury trial, any of the Founders could walk into a modern courtroom and would understand exactly where they were and exactly what was going on.
The Founders would see lawyers for each side doing their solemn best to discharge that immense responsibility of representing the totality of another person’s rights and obligations. They would
see the judge sitting in a raised bench in his or her ancient dress, and, most importantly, they would see the jury in the jury box—twelve citizens sworn and true upon whom the outcome of the trial would come to rest.
And, the Founders would not only understand what was happening, they would feel great pride in seeing that their core principles were not only intact but present in robust form: the right to the assistance of counsel, the right against self-incrimination, the right to an independent judiciary, and most importantly, the right to have legal disputes resolved by a jury of peers.
counts as more than one, and most assuredly no person counts as less than one. Thus, leaders of business, education, entertainment, and government are regularly called into court.
Some of you may think that the right to a jury trial was once useful but is now antiquated. I would suggest to you that there are thousands of people who are languishing in prisons all over the world without access to a jury. I am confident they could persuade you very quickly of the continuing need for the right to a jury trial.
Others of you may say that jury trials were important in the 18th century, and may be important to some people today, but not to me or anyone I care about. Here, again, you have reason to reconsider.
The Founders could have chosen a system of justice that applied differently to people with the “right” ancestry, or the “right” religion, or those with enough wealth. To their eternal credit and our eternal good fortune, the Founders chose exactly the opposite system. No matter what our relationship or status may be in the outside world, once we walk through those courtroom doors, each person counts as one, no person
I am sure some of you are wondering, “If the trial process is so sacred, why shouldn’t it be left to the judges?” That is the biggest misapprehension of all. There is no way a single judge can match the wisdom and experience of twelve jurors. For starters, there will be twelve of you. You can discuss your reactions to different witnesses, compare the meanings you derived from various exhibits, argue about how each jury question should be answered. I won’t have that opportunity. There is only one of me. Beyond that, I live an artificial life. I sit up here and people from below call me “Your Honor” and I get to thinking I am a lot smarter than I am. You, on the other hand, live in the real world, where you earn your living, raise your family, worship your god. You have experience from which my job cuts me off. On top of all that, the ultimate authority should be the jury and not the judge. And this wisdom has served us very well for a quarter of a millennium. As one old-time lawyer once told me, “Keith, it is awfully hard to sneak a lie past 12 pairs of eyes.”
I know, of course, no matter what I say, some of you are determined to feel very sorry for yourselves. Quite certain that no one in history has ever been inconvenienced as much as you are being inconvenienced. If you are going to feel sorry for yourselves, at least introduce some semblance of proportionality, think of the sacrifices that have been asked of others.
I hope you have had a chance to visit at some point the blog, Our Fallen Heroes. It lists the names of soldiers who have died in service to their country. Let’s remember three who recently lost their lives in Jordan near the Syrian border, far from home and family:
• Sergeant William J. Rivers, male, age 46, of Carrollton, Georgia;
• Specialist Kennedy L. Sanders, female, age 24, of Waycross, Georgia; and
• Specialist Breonna A. Moffett, female, age 23, of Savannah, Georgia.
The list goes on. And, there are other lists. Lists of those who have lost arms, legs.
Lists of those who have lost intellectual and other life functions.
Now, I am not going to debate whether any particular military operation was wise or necessary. These brave young men and women did not get to debate it either. They went where their country asked them to go when their country asked them to go there. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the same position you are in.
The soldiers responded with a sense of duty, honor, and sacrifice. They reminded us that, notwithstanding our country’s many challenges, the flag is still there. Now, in a very different context, but with the same sense of duty, honor, and sacrifice, it is our turn to do the same.
The Honorable Keith P. Ellison U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, October 29, 2024.
By MAtthew J. AlArcon
Judge Christopher V. Phan’s journey is a striking narrative of the noble pursuit of service. From fleeing a war-torn Vietnam as a child, to becoming a distinguished Navy Judge Advocate General, and then to being a federal judge, Phan embodies the spirit of service. Overcoming the odds of displacement, cultural barriers, and the realities of war, he has transformed these challenges into a powerful drive to protect the freedoms and rights of others. Phan pursued a legal career that has spanned military, civilian, and governmental roles, earning him recognition as a staunch advocate for justice. His story is one of dedication, sacrifice, and service.
for the law was driven by a sincere belief that through service and justice, he could repay the opportunities he had been given. For Phan, learning the law was never just an academic pursuit; it was a pathway to
and Coast Guard members facing criminal charges. He also provided legal advice to service members and their dependents on matters such as wills, family law, and other legal issues. After his initial tour as defense counsel, he was then assigned to be a Navy prosecutor. Phan explained, “We are assigned billets as we gain seniority.”
In July 2003, Phan reported to the Trial Service Office in Yokosuka, Japan, where he served as a Navy prosecutor. During this time, he had the opportunity to work alongside prominent figures, including his senior trial counsel, Lia Reynolds, who is now the second female Navy JAG Admiral. Phan also collaborated with Vice Admiral (Ret.) Nanette DeRenzi, the first woman to serve as a Navy JAG. Working closely with these distinguished women contributed to Phan’s growth as a legal professional.
Phan’s father escaped Vietnam when Saigon fell to communism, leaving Phan and his mother behind. They later immigrated to the United States when Phan’s father sponsored them. Phan was 8 years old. He arrived in Indiana in the winter of 1981 and started second grade after the Christmas holiday as the only minority student in the entire school. “It was sink or swim time,” Phan recalled, as he learned English within a year. Growing up in a war-torn country, military service was always on his mind, and he aspired to defend his second home.
When asked how Phan merged his military service with practicing law, he shared his desire to serve and protect our nation. His early experiences shaped his understanding of the critical role the law plays in safeguarding rights and freedoms. “Growing up in a communist country, we had no freedom. Our home and property were confiscated without due process, so I wanted to be a lawyer to protect those who could not protect themselves.” Phan’s determination
strengthening our nation.
Phan attended Indiana University at Indianapolis for his undergraduate studies in biology. Afterward, he received a scholarship to Southern Illinois Law School, where he planned to obtain a J.D./MD degree. He completed his J.D. but, needing to support his family, he decided to forgo the MD and used his J.D. to gain acceptance into the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Phan’s interest in becoming a Navy JAG was sparked by a college friend who worked for the Navy. Phan applied eagerly, believing that “the Navy was the best way to see the world, serve our nation, and get paid for having fun.” Phan found a platform to defend our nation’s values and advocate for justice in some of the most complex environments. Phan reported to Naval Legal Service Office, Branch Office Earle, New Jersey for his first tour of duty in April 2001. He served as defense counsel, legal assistance attorney, and branch head. At Naval Weapons Station Earle, he defended Marines, sailors,
Reflecting on his time as a defense counsel and Navy prosecutor, Phan highlighted a rewarding case. His earlier experience with a shaken baby case in Guam helped him improve his approach in a similar trial in Japan. That earlier acquittal taught him how to better question expert witnesses and simplify complex scientific concepts for the jury, contributing to a successful outcome.
From 2005 to 2007, Phan served as Staff Judge Advocate for Commander, Naval Special Warfare Group One acting as in-house counsel for the SEAL teams. In this role, he provided guidance on the rules of engagement and the law of armed conflict. During this time, he deployed to Iraq with a Navy SEAL squadron. These unique circumstances influenced his approach to law. He detailed that in operational environments with SEALs, JAG officers must be more flexible than in typical legal settings. Due to how fast and decisive SEALs operate, JAGs sometimes need to shift from strict legal adherence to finding solutions that align with the mission. He soon realized his ability to navigate high-stakes environments would be key in future high-level assignments.
Phan’s commitment to serve extended beyond the military. After returning from Iraq
in 2008, he transitioned to civilian life in California by opening his own law firm, specializing in immigration and criminal law. He chose Garden Grove, which is known for its high concentration of Vietnamese Americans, with the intention of serving his community. In 2010, Phan was recalled to active duty, serving as legal counsel for the Wounded Warrior program at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia.
After returning home, Phan decided to run for Garden Grove City Council in 2012, and he spent 10 months walking to meet voters. This role allowed him to further his goal of serving his local community and deepening his connections with the Vietnamese American community. At the same time, he worked as an Orange County deputy district attorney, further establishing himself as a public servant.
In addition to his civilian roles, Phan’s military service continued. He was recalled once again to active duty in 2016, serving at the Pentagon in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel & Readiness), Legal Policy. He later deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as litigation support section chief, where he “learned that stress can ease away with a swim in the Caribbean Ocean.”
When asked how a military background can influence the approach to civilian roles, Phan noted that military service instills “discipline to show up, perform consistently, and rely on faith in the process, even when outcomes are uncertain,” all of which are beneficial to civilian roles. He also gave a lot of credit for his success to his family, pointing out that his “wife became the bridge that got us through.” During Phan’s assignments in Cuba and the Pentagon, he and his wife had a daughter and son. Together, their strong family bond played an instrumental role in getting Phan to where he is now.
After his city council term in Garden
Grove ended, Phan and his wife wanted to grow their family and sought support from relatives. With his wife’s parents living in Houston, they decided to move closer to them. This relocation in 2017 led to Phan securing a position as an assistant district attorney for Harris County.
Two years later, in 2019, Phan was appointed by William Barr, the attorney general under President Trump, as a federal judge at the Sacramento, California immigration court, where he adjudicated asylum and removal cases. In 2021, he transferred to his current location—the Houston Greenspoint Park Immigration Court— when it opened during COVID. This move allowed him to return home and be closer to his family, who remained in Houston while he worked in Sacramento. In addition to
serving as an immigration judge, Phan also continues to serve in the Navy Reserves as a commander and is currently the executive officer of Navy Reserve Defense Service Office West.
Judge Phan strongly encourages young legal professionals interested in public service to engage not only in military service but also in any public sector roles. He believes that such involvement demonstrates a genuine commitment to improving the community and serving those around them.
Matthew J. Alarcon is a University of Houston graduate and former Marine. He is a second-year law student (2L) at South Texas College of Law Houston and serves as president of the Veteran Law Students Association. His experience includes working at mid-sized and boutique firms in real estate, construction, and business law, as well as working with the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
By Johnny dAy
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” - Micah 6:8
Johnny Day, a trial lawyer specializing in catastrophic personal injury and complex commercial litigation, had a chance to visit with his friend and colleague, Matthew J. Hefti, about Matthew’s service in the military and how those experiences shaped and informed his practice as a criminal defense attorney.
Johnny Day: Thanks for agreeing to do this interview. Tell us where you work and what type of law you practice. matthew J. Hefti: I work at Looney, Smith & Conrad, P.C. We practice criminal defense law in both state and federal courts, everything from misdemeanors to murders, from pretrial all the way through appeal and postconviction writs.
ment Program very soon after the attacks of September 11, 2001. I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself and to contribute to the world in a meaningful way.
Day: How did you come to be an explosive ordnance disposal technician?
Hefti: Essentially, I got bamboozled by the recruiter. I initially wanted to be a linguist, and I shared that with my local recruiter. “No problem,” he told me. So, I took a Greyhound to the Military Entrance Processing Station, where I did the full day of tests, the medical exams, etc.
recruiter who wanted me to be a submariner that I didn’t want to spend my life stuck in a metal tube. The third was explosive ordnance disposal, or EOD.
I had never heard of that. “They get all the cool toys,” the recruiter told me. EOD gets to travel, blow stuff up on the range, work with the Secret Service. It’s the good life. That sounded pretty good as a fallback plan. The next day my local recruiter called me and informed me the fallback plan was now the plan, and there was no going back.
Day: Is that how you met your wife?
Hefti: Exactly. Joining EOD was the best mistake I ever made because right after graduating boot camp, I started the Air Force’s preliminary course for EOD school, and who walks into my class but the most beautiful young lady I ever met, my future wife, Monica. We went through EOD school together, got married, served together, had three beautiful daughters together, and have been married for 21 years now.
Day: And you served four combat tours, two in Iraq and two in Afghanistan?
Hefti: Yes.
Day: Were you aware at the time you joined EOD that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would be fought with improvised explosive devices?
Day: Why did you choose the quote above?
Hefti: A few reasons. First, you asked me to choose a quote. Second, my faith animates what I do. This verse encapsulates a lot about how I view my role in the legal profession and in the criminal justice system, in particular.
Day: When did you join the military and why?
Hefti: I left for boot camp immediately after my freshman year of college in May of 2002, but I joined the Air Force’s Delayed Enlist-
At the end of the day, I sat down to pick a career field, and the recruiter there told me, “Congratulations, you scored well enough to do whatever job you want.” I told him I wanted to be a linguist. Then he said, “Well, you can’t do that because there’s a separate test for that job.” So, I told him to give me that test. He told me he couldn’t because they only give that test on Wednesdays. I told him I’d be back on Wednesday. He said I had to pick a job first before I could take the test to be a linguist because I had to have a fallback job in case I failed. They only had three “backup” jobs available. The first was security forces, or military police. Nope. I wasn’t going to be a cop. The second was in-flight refueler. Nope. I had already told the Navy
Hefti: No. When I joined, I had no idea what an improvised explosive device was. I had no idea what ordnance was. And, of course, Iraq hadn’t even started yet.
Day: Maybe the best way to start talking about what your life looked like on the ground in Iraq would be to discuss the word “improvised.” What kind of improvisations did you encounter?
Hefti: All kinds. I had buddies in Iraq who built an outside movie theater using the concrete blast walls. My friends, Nick and Nate, made the tastiest dishes out of the nastiest shelf-stable ingredients. We designed and built sound systems in our Humvees. On my first tour to Iraq, we still had a shortage of fully armored vehicles, so guys had to improvise armor for the trucks. In environments like that, everyone learns to be a
MacGyver.
And, of course, there were all the improvised explosive devices, limited only by the bomber’s imagination.
Day: In your present-day life you like to take improv comedy classes, right? A different kind of improvisation?
Hefti: That’s right. Some mentors of mine in the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association encouraged me to do improv. It helps with the soft skills of trial—connecting to an audience, thinking on your feet, getting out of your own head, and being authentic. And of course, it’s great fun.
Day: Is it true there is a “red” wire and a “blue” wire?
Hefti: Sure. And every other color coating you can think of. But it’s the wire inside the coating that does the work.
Day: Did you ever encounter a ticking time bomb or one that had James Bond LED numbers counting down to zero?
Hefti: I’ve encountered bombs rigged up with washing machine timers and other kinds of timers. And I’ve dealt with remotecontrolled devices with a little Motorola radio as the triggering mechanism, and you could see the LED screen traversing all 99 channels waiting to receive a signal on any of them.
Day: Other than your improv jokes, do you still work with bombs?
Hefti: Good one. No, I don’t do hands-on work with bombs anymore. But I provide confidential consulting services for lawyers all over the country working on cases involving destructive devices or bombings. I also testify as an expert witness on destructive devices and post-blast investigations in state and federal courts.
Day: You wrote a novel about the war that was published and well received?
Hefti: Yes, it’s called A Hard and Heavy Thing It’s still in print with the publisher, Gallery/ Simon and Schuster, and available for anyone who wants to check it out. I wrote it mostly while still enlisted. I went straight from the Air Force into law school. My agent sold the
rights to my publisher my 1L year, and it was published during my 2L year.
Day: I have heard it is a whirlwind getting published. How did you feel when you found out your book was going to be printed and distributed all over the world?
Hefti: It was great. A dream come true at the time. I call it the “George McFly” moment. That moment like in Back to the Future when you open the box of advance copies and hold the physical thing in your hands, the result of all that work. It’s pretty cool.
Day: You also worked with the Secret Service?
Hefti: Yes, military EOD teams provide support to, and work with, the Secret Service and Department of State all over the world to help protect the president, vice president, secretary of state, and other U.S. and foreign dignitaries.
Day: You were on the White House patrol for a time, right? Tell us what it was like walking around in the White House night after night. Hefti: It was much smaller than I expected. But it was surreal walking around all that
history, often at night when there was no hustle and bustle.
Day: When during the wars did you start taking higher education classes?
Hefti: I never stopped, in a way. I “dropped out” of college after my freshman year at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse to enlist, but I immediately went into EOD school, one of the most academically challenging schools in the Department of Defense in which the fail rate is near 80%. Once my training was finished, I took online classes to keep working toward that English degree that I had started.
When I was deployed, I’d be setting up the satellite computer on the side of some remote Afghanistan mountain to turn in my homework, or I’d be emailing my professors with excuses like, “Oh, sorry my assignment is late. We got blown up today and then in a gunfight that kind of went longer than expected.”
Day: Hard to argue with that excuse!
Hefti: When I was stateside, I’d get home from work and do homework with the babies and toddlers on my lap. My wife finished
her bachelor’s the same way. Homework in one hand, kid in the other. After I finished the English degree that I started before I joined the military, I kept going and finished my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in the same way.
Day: After the military, you enrolled at the University of Wisconsin Law School on the GI Bill?
Hefti: Yes. It wasn’t easy going back to school full time with a family of 5, but between the GI Bill, a scholarship, some student loans, some side hustles, and some writing income, we made it work.
Day: You were fortunate to find mentors?
Hefti: Absolutely. Mentorship is the quiet kind of service that goes too often unacknowledged or unsung, but it can change lives and careers. Great mentors have helped me every step of the way, and I try to emulate their example and pay that forward.
Day: Did you always want to be the next Clarence Darrow? By that I mean: was criminal defense a focus in law school?
Hefti: I don’t think I knew who Clarence Darrow was before I went to law school, but I wanted to be the next Toni QuinnO’Neill, a criminal defense JAG attorney I had gotten to know in the Air Force. She was one of the people who inspired and encouraged me to go to law school. Criminal defense was very much a focus in law school and one of the reasons I chose the University of Wisconsin. They have one of the best criminal defense clinical programs in the country with a focus on law-in-action education. I served two years with the Wisconsin Innocence Project. I also served with the Public Defender Project, the Criminal Appeals Project, and the Juvenile Life Without Parole project.
Day: Please tell us about how your life changed as a 1st year at UW when Brian Stevenson visited on his book tour.
Hefti: Bryan Stevenson is a civil rights giant. He was on tour after publishing his
book, Just Mercy, and he gave a lecture at the school early in my 1L year. The way he spoke—with such heart and compassion—about capital punishment, indigent defense, and basic human rights really moved me.
Day: After learning about the Equal Justice Initiative from Brian Stevenson’s visit, who did you next meet on what Johnny Cochran calls our “Journey to Justice”?
Hefti: My civ pro professor was this great guy named Ion Meyn. He did fascinating scholarship geared toward advocating for criminal discovery rules to move toward those of the civil discovery rules. It’s crazy that people fighting over money have more power for discovery in many ways than the criminal defendants fighting for their lives.
Day: As a civil trial lawyer, I cannot imagine trying a case without depositions. Hefti: Yet it happens every day down at the Justice Center. Anyway, Ion and I got along well, and I told him that after hearing Bryan Stevenson talk and after reading his book, capital defense really intrigued me. I hadn’t given much thought to capital punishment before then because Wisconsin isn’t a death penalty state.
Ion told me I needed to apply to the Wisconsin Innocence Project because they had some excellent capital defense attorneys and even some capital cases.
Day: And that led you to the Gulf Region Advocacy Center (GRACE)?
Hefti: Yes, Ion pointed me to Cristina Borde and her husband, Greg Wiercioch, both professors in the Wisconsin Innocence Project. They became two particularly important mentors to me. Cristina had long done capital habeas work in California, and Greg helped co-found Texas Defender Service, a capital defense nonprofit.
Greg brought me on to one of his Texas capital cases. Under the student practice rules, I got to travel to Texas and argue post-conviction DNA motions on behalf of our client. Greg introduced me to Da-
nalynn Recer, a brilliant lawyer, and the founder of GRACE. One thing led to another, and I moved to Houston to work for GRACE as research and writing counsel as my first job out of law school.
Day: Are there many capital cases in Houston?
Hefti: Yes. Harris County is historically the capital of capital punishment. More people have been sentenced to die out of Harris County than any other state in the Union besides Texas.
Day: What are lessons that you learned in the military that you still carry and apply to the practice of law?
Hefti: There are so many. I think the most practical lesson is to “read the manual.” Every single operation as an EOD tech, we opened the manual for that specific kind of ordnance or operation, no matter how well we thought we knew it.
People forget things. Law changes. I use that same lesson all the time in my law practice. No matter how many times I do something, I go to the statutes, the rules, and relevant cases. It’s amazing how many problems can be solved in the law by simply reading the law first.
Day: Makes perfect sense. So, whether it’s an ordinance or ordnance, read the manual. Any final words?
Hefti: A final word. Integrity. The first thing I learned in boot camp was the Air Force core values: Integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do. As lawyers, our integrity, credibility, and reputation are our most valuable assets. Service is what we do. Our clients, the courts, our colleagues, the public, and the entire adversarial system all depend on each one of us striving for excellence and doing our jobs well.
Johnny Day is a trial lawyer with a practice focused on catastrophic personal injury and complex commercial litigation.
By lAne MorrIson
In the summer of 1994, 21-year old Gregg Costa stepped off a plane in Memphis, not knowing what to expect. Fresh out of Dartmouth College, he was starting his first summer with Teach for America (“TFA”)—the then-chaotic-startup-butnow-stalwart nonprofit that recruits college graduates for two-year teaching stints in underserved public schools. A TFA representative told Gregg that someone would be waiting for him at the gate. So, when he saw a shaggy-headed young man wearing a torn t-shirt, shorts, and Tevas, he thought it was nice that TFA had sent one of his soon-to-be students to retrieve him. That “disheveled” (according to Gregg) youth was 22-yearold Shawn Raymond, who was not one of Gregg’s students, but rather one of his fellow TFA colleagues. Shawn had just graduated from George Washington University, and TFA had sent him—like Gregg—to Helena, Arkansas, for what they thought would be an introduction to their teaching assignment before orientation. Though they had no way to know then, that summer day in Memphis would be the start of their lifelong friendship and commitment to public service, which would grow from teaching in two Mississippi public schools to creating a lasting legacy helping students across the state with the Sunflower County Freedom Project. Along the way would be quite the ride.
After a short time in Arkansas, Shawn and Gregg met the third major player in this story—Chris Myers Asch. They all went to Houston for a six-week orientation before heading to the Mississippi Delta for their permanent teaching assignments. That assignment sent the trio, along with a fourth corps member, Linda Liang, to Ruleville, in Sunflower County, where they met with principals in a tiny, un-air-conditioned high school conference room. During the meeting, Bessie Gardner, then the principal of East Sunflower Elementary School, burst through the door and asked if any of them wanted to teach elementary school. Gregg and Chris spoke up first, and she immediately claimed them, ushered them into her pickup, and headed for Sunflower—a town of a few hundred about 14 miles south of Ruleville. Linda was scooped up by Ruleville’s elementary school principal, leaving Shawn alone with the high school principal. Stunned by the quickness of it all and not sure if he would ever see the others again, Shawn was given two high school options: (1) replace the choir teacher, who had just died; or (2) special education. Shawn joked that he had a terrible singing voice, so the principal at Ruleville Central High School
stood up, smiled, shook Shawn’s hand, and announced “then special ed it is.” Gregg often jokes that Shawn’s experience—not speaking up and receiving a tougher, high school assignment—must have taught Shawn quite a lesson because that was the last time Shawn stayed quiet. In any event, they would all teach in Sunflower County— a place that Principal Gardner described as Mayberry on weekdays and Gunsmoke on weekends, and a place they would all soon come to love.
Sunflower County sits in Mississippi’s northwest quadrant. It is part of the Delta, an area rich in soil and music but poor in power and wealth for Black people, who have long been the majority. The vestiges of slavery—and its kin, Jim Crow— have long shadows there. By the midnineties, its population had declined to below 40,000, including thousands of inmates of Mississippi’s oldest and most notorious prison: Parchman. And, like other places that played a role in the Civil Rights Movement, Sunflower County was once home to those staunchly opposed to equal rights—like U.S. Senator James Eastland— and those made famous for their tireless efforts in pursuit of equal rights—like Fannie Lou Hamer. As Chris later wrote, these paradoxes continued long after the 1960s: “It stood at the epicenter of the civil rights movement, yet still suffers from racial inequality.”1
Walking into this atmosphere, the trio did not receive the warmest welcome. They found a rental near East Sunflower Elementary. The house was across the abandoned railroad tracks on the so-called “White side” of Sunflower; the school was across the tracks on the so-called “Black side.” A few weeks after school started, several students from the school came by to play baseball in their front yard. Soon, though, a pickup truck appeared, with an older white man and his grandson in the cab. The old man
screamed threats: “You have two minutes to get these [N-word]s out of here, or I will do it for you.” After the kids took off back across the tracks, the older man said the kids did not belong on that side of town, though he acknowledged that the trio obviously did not yet know “the rules.” The man calmly explained, “I send my kids to Indianola Academy”—one of the many “segregationist academies” that popped up after school integration began—“to get away from those [N-word]s.” He drove away. The guys would later find out the man had been the county’s deputy sheriff in the 1960s and had a long history of enforcing the racial “rules” in the county—his wife was the mayor of Sunflower.
end of their 2L year, when Gregg was editor in chief and Shawn was managing editor of The Texas Law Review, that they and Chris devised the Sunflower County Freedom Project (“SCFP”).
At first, the SCFP was meant to be a summer program that supplemented the public school curriculum in reading and math but also added instruction that the three had seen that their schools lacked—like music, art, physical education, and field trips (despite being just 50 miles from the Mississippi River, many of their students had never seen it).
school and summer program and built the LEAD (Love, Education, Action, Discipline) Center to serve as the hub of the SCFP and various programs and affiliates throughout the state.
That was not the last pushback. A few days later, Gregg, Shawn, and Chris found broken glass bottles underneath their vehicle tires, which were parked on the street. A few weeks later, they learned of a petition going around the “White” part of town that was seeking to run them out of Sunflower— it was not successful.
After their jarring introduction, Gregg and Shawn had two life-changing years teaching. Gregg taught third and fourth grade. Shawn taught high school special education. He also coached special teams for the high school football team (legend is that he led the team in personal fouls). While teaching, they saw both the promise of many of the kids and the toll that some of the lingering issues in Sunflower County were already taking on them. Despite the struggles they sometimes saw, Gregg and Shawn found teaching extraordinarily rewarding.
They left Sunflower County in 1996 as different men than when they arrived. And though they bid farewell to Chris, Gregg and Shawn went straight to Austin, starting law school (and rooming together again) in the fall. Both adjusted quickly to the rigors of law school but never forgot the impact that TFA and Sunflower County had made on them. They were constantly trying to think of ways they would give back to the place that had made such an impact. It was at the
But they also wanted it to be a place where children could understand and appreciate the gravity of the place they were in, where Fannie Lou Hamer and others had worked so hard for equality. In 1998, to make sure they could truly meet the community’s needs with their new project, they held town halls in Ruleville and Sunflower churches. It was during this “roadshow” that a local Black farmer casually observed that “education is the seed of freedom.” This turned into the project’s mantra and reflected Gregg’s, Shawn’s, and Chris’ belief that if you give children opportunities to learn by planting a seed of knowledge and curiosity, they will grow on their own and have the freedom to choose the kind of life they want to lead.
With all this growth, though, they needed a permanent building. In downtown Sunflower, there was an empty strip of dilapidated buildings that had been that way for many years and were filled with weeds and trees. Gregg, Shawn, and Chris called it the “Arboretum.” Their owner? The same racist former deputy sheriff who had years before schooled Gregg, Shawn, and Chris about the racial “rules” in the county. The SCFP bought the buildings at a steal and wrote off the gap between the sales price and market price as a donation, which made the former deputy sheriff—for some time—the largest single donor to the SCFP.
The SCFP started in 1999 as a summer program in a small classroom at a community college building in the middle of a Moorhead, Mississippi, field—mostly with kids that the three had taught with TFA. The program had math and reading, but also taught website design, organized a play, and had the kids complete an oral history project where they interviewed their grandparents about their early lives and involvement with the Civil Rights Movement. In the years to come, the SCFP continued to grow, changing to meet the children and their parents where they were and expanding to reach more students. It eventually added a year-round after-
Today, the SCFP is part of the Freedom Project Network, an umbrella nonprofit that Gregg, Shawn, and Chris created, which serves more than 100 students a year and has two other locations across the state. It has expanded to serve elementary through high school students, and even students beyond. One of its programs, the Freedom Fellowship, is a 10-year commitment between students and the SCFP. In the seventh grade, fellows begin to participate in school-year arts workshops, study sessions, and trips. During high school, fellows then participate in the SCFP’s school-year workshops and begin to think about their post-graduation future. They also participate in the Freedom Summer Collegiate Program, where they take collegelevel courses with PhD candidates and have the opportunity to receive college credit. Then, during college, the fellows can join the Alumni College Success Program, where they are supported through weekly check-in calls with peers and mentors and with academic tutoring, mental health resources, and a monthly stipend.2 It has helped hundreds of students since its founding.
The monumental impact of the SCFP is, of course, hard to quantify, but its successes are plain. Many of its former students have gone
on to highly successful careers and some have even grown into its current leaders—two of the SCFP’s current board members were part of its earliest classes, and the executive director is a former Freedom Fellow, too.
Desiree Norwood is a striking example. Gregg taught her in third and fourth grade. When SCFP got off the ground, she was one of its first Freedom Fellows. During her fellowship, Gregg was clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist and arranged a summer internship for Desiree and another SCFP student at the U.S. Supreme Court’s library and print shop—housing them with local families for the several-week stint. Today, Desiree is the mayor of Sunflower and has a particular passion for providing quality primary and reproductive care throughout the Delta using mobile medical units.3 Desiree is perhaps the epitome of the SCFP’s purpose: to provide education and opportunities for Sunflower County students to flourish in today’s world but also instill a sense of pride and giving back to the place where so many others worked so hard to advance the cause for equality.
The impact of TFA and SCFP on Gregg and Shawn, too, has been huge. After law school, Gregg clerked on the D.C. Circuit and for Chief Justice Rehnquist. Though he first joined Weil, Gotshal & Manges, he soon became an Assistant U.S. Attorney where, among other high-profile cases, he successfully prosecuted Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford. He was appointed as a federal district judge in Galveston in 2012 and then elevated to the Fifth Circuit in 2014. He left the court in 2022 to join Gibson Dunn, where he chairs the firm’s Trial Practice Group. He is still involved with SCFP and remains a fervent supporter of educational initiatives of all types. Gregg believes his experience in Sunflower County was the best training he ever received for becoming a lawyer—it taught him how to educate. “The best trial lawyers don’t argue, they educate,” he said. Given that the key is always simplifying the issues, teaching third and fourth grade taught him much more than law school. The teaching mindset he learned through TFA and SCFP has infused everything, from his legal arguments in complex fraud cases as a practitioner to his Fifth Circuit opinions.
As for Shawn, after law school and a federal district court clerkship in Galveston, he joined Susman Godfrey in 2000. Susman successfully recruited him there because, in part, it made what was then the second-largest single donation to the SCFP (behind only that of the former deputy sheriff). At Susman, he has litigated and tried cases worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But he continues supporting the community—here and in Sunflower. His service has included the Houston board for TFA, the Houston Area Women’s Center, and KIPP Texas. Shawn is also still involved with SCFP and has taken his four sons to Sunflower to witness for themselves its amazing work. He knows that TFA and the SCFP matured him greatly and believes that the biggest lesson for him was to always be authentic. This lesson has been a “huge gift,” Shawn says, to his legal practice, where juries can be just as unforgiving as high schoolers—juries, too, can identify disingenuousness and can impose quite the hurt in their own right.
Both Gregg and Shawn remain convinced
that TFA and the SCFP helped make them into the lawyers they are today. They hope to continue giving back—something they feel is their duty to society as people who have had the types of opportunities and accomplishments that they have had—both here and in Sunflower County, the place that so shaped them into who they are today.
Lane Morrison is a senior litigation associate at BSP Law. He concentrates on product liability and class action defense, focusing on critical trial motions and appeals. He is the Legal Trends editor for The Houston Lawyer
Endnotes
1. The Chris Myers Asch, The Senator & the Sharecropper (cover) (2008),
2. The Freedom Fellowship, Sunflower County Freedom Project, https://www.sunflowerfreedom.org/the-freedom-fellowship.
3. Camilla Potts, Meet Desiree Norwood —A Young Woman with a Heart for Youth and Community, The Enterprise-Tocsin (July 4, 2024), https://www.enterprise-tocsin.com/localcontent/meet-desiree-norwood-young-woman-heart-youthand-community?e_term_id=All.
Child Advocates, Inc. is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. In its four decades, the organization has changed the lives of thousands of abused and neglected children throughout Houston. Many Houston lawyers dedicate their valuable free time to serve the organization, donating their legal skills as court-appointed special advocates, as well as serving on the Child Advocates board. We asked a few of those Houston lawyers to share their experiences. If you are interested in giving back to this incredible organization, visit childadvocates.org.
By chAstItI n. horne
There is nothing more important in the world than protecting children. As a first-year law student at South Texas College of Law Houston, I read an article about Child Advocates, Inc. and decided to attend their orientation. I cried all the way home. The training started several months later, I became a volunteer Guardian Ad Litem in the fall of 1996, and I have never looked back.
I was assigned my first case that same year, where I met then-four-year-old Brandy, two-year-old Mandy, and six-month-old Matthew. I have since advocated for more than 40 children in the CPS system and each child has left an indelible mark on my heart. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that 28 years later I would still be a Child Advocates, Inc. court-appointed special advocate volunteer.
see that someone is there cheering for them. Child Advocates, Inc. encourages volunteers to fill the void for those things that seem little to us but are monumental to the children we serve. Every single day, children in Houston (and beyond) suffer horrific neglect and abuse at the hands of those who are supposed to cherish them. Advocating for abused children is not just about immediate intervention; it is about fostering long-term change and creating a safer, more supportive environment for all children, thereby eradicating the cycle of abuse.
Our volunteers represent children who have been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect. We make recommendations to the court to ensure that the children receive proper medical and psychological care, that their educational needs are being met, and that they are in a safe home/placement. Many of these children have never been told that they are smart, that they are beautiful, or that they are loved. Child Advocates, Inc. makes correcting this lack of validation and attention a priority. As a child advocate, I have gone to school programs, graduations, birthday celebrations, dance recitals, sporting events, and even a Future Farmers of America pig showing! I attend these events because I want the children to look up in the stands and
I have a very busy civil litigation practice that fills me up and keeps me on my toes. But people still ask me about my volunteer work and tell me that they could not handle something so heartbreaking. My response is, “How could you not?” Children are still the only group of citizens that are beaten/neglected daily with impunity all over this country. We have to use our voices to stop the inequitable treatment they face. So, for those who claim, “I don’t have time to volunteer,” I say that nobody has the time; you make the time!.
Chastiti N. Horne is the managing partner of Horne Rota Moos, LLP. She has been involved in various roles with Child Advocates, Inc., including as guardian ad litem since 1996, serves on the executive board of directors, and has been involved in various multimedia campaign efforts to raise awareness, money, and volunteers for the organization.
By BrIdgett MAtthes
volunteer for Child Advocates because children in foster care can become victims without a voice, powerless to the circumstances that brought them into care. As a guardian ad litem, I serve as a constant, reliable adult during what can be a scary and unstable time. And for some kids, foster care placement can include temporary arrangements that can amplify their fears, pain, and trauma. While the main job of a guardian ad litem is to provide a recommendation to the court as to the best permanent home for a child, equally important is the support for recovery, health, and heart.
shared with them.
I volunteer with Child Advocates because I love helping children who need help the most.
I have comforted a teenage girl after a very difficult first night in a group home. I have replaced the trash bags a sibling trio were using as luggage with backpacks and sports duffel bags adorned with cartoon characters and superhero symbols. I have celebrated numerous birthdays and delivered tons of holiday presents. And I have witnessed joyful adoption hearings and family reunifications. I will never forget the faces of the children I have served, and how they looked at both the saddest and happiest moments I
I volunteer because no child is ever responsible for the abuse or neglect that an adult casts upon them.
I volunteer because supporting an abused or neglected child’s healthy recovery is vital to a successful and happy forever-home placement.
I volunteer because I have a strong voice with no limit to the number of children I can advocate for.
And I volunteer because I deeply believe in the mission of Child Advocates.
Bridgett Matthes is chief litigation counsel for Corebridge Financial. She began her service as a guardian ad litem with Child Advocates in 2001, has hosted volunteer and birthday present gift drives with Corebridge Financial, has raised Run for a Reason funds, and currently serves on the board of directors of Child Advocates.
By eddy de los sAntos
Since 2001, I have known about the needs of abused and neglected children in the Harris County child protective services system. These children come into the system’s care through no fault of their own, and they often need someone’s voice to advocate on their behalf. Child Advocates, Inc. is the Harris County organization responsible for training and providing volunteer advocates/guardians ad litem to guide the children through the system to a safe, loving environment where they can thrive.
I began my role as a child advocate because I recognized that someone needed to help these children and asked myself why it shouldn’t be me to step up. I learned that on any given day in Harris County, over 4,000 children were in the system and in need of assistance. I was determined to make a difference in their lives and to be a small part of breaking the cycle of child abuse. Even before having my own children, I could not imagine the events that would cause a child to come into the system, and felt a calling to the mission of Child Advocates. Experiencing first-hand the impact a volunteer can have on a child’s life is beyond rewarding. Being a father of four provides all the perspective I need to continue my drive in working with this wonderful organization.
paign efforts to raise awareness, money, and volunteers for the organization. Over the years, I have been involved in the Childspree, Santa’s Wish List, Volunteer Appreciation Event, Pull For Kids Classic, Superhero Run, and various advisory board luncheons.
‘‘ The role of a child advocate is such a critical one because I and other volunteers serve as the eyes and ears of the family courts.”
During my time as an advocate, I have served 21 children in six bilingual cases that—fortunately—all concluded in family reunification. I have been a member of the Child Advocates Board of Directors since 2007, where I have served on various committees, did a two-year term as board chair, and serve as legal counsel. In my role as legal counsel, I assist the organization with its legal contracts, personnel matters, litigation, discovery disputes involving Child Advocates, and specific case issues. In addition, I have been involved in various multimedia cam-
The role of a child advocate is such a critical one because I and other volunteers serve as the eyes and ears of the family courts. We often appear as the one constant in the children’s chaotic lives, and ultimately guarantee they do not fall through the cracks of the system. We are tasked with gathering as much information as possible related to the children and ensure that recommendations are made to the family courts to help guide decisions that are in the children’s best interests. These recommendations can include educational assistance, medical care, therapy, family visitation, placement, entertainment, home safety, and family searches. Additionally, advocates regularly secure and provide financial assistance and/or in-kind donations for various life events for these kids, including birthdays, camps, sporting events, and prom. In advocating for decisions that are in the child’s best interests, we strive to create some sense of normalcy in the scary and often confusing world of the system.
It is truly amazing to see so many courageous kids successfully navigate their difficult circumstances. These children just want to be loved and have a safe, permanent home. Child Advocates is the only organization that I have ever been a part of where you can tangibly see the difference you are making in the life of a child. There is nothing more important than helping protect these children, ensuring placement in a loving home, and working with their parents and caregivers to break the cycle of child abuse and neglect. A profound difference can be made by saving one child at a time.
Eddy De Los Santos is a shareholder at Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C. He has been involved in various roles with Child Advocates, including as a guardian ad litem since 2001, board member since 2007, and currently serves as the organization’s legal counsel.
By the honorABle FrAnk rynd
My introduction to Child Advocates occurred in the 1980s. A good friend of my mother was a volunteer advocate. She invited me to a Child Advocate lunch, during which outstanding volunteers were recognized. The work of Child Advocates left a very strong, positive impression on me. Interestingly, my mother’s friend had two children who were lawyers and is the grandmother of two attorneys who practice in Houston. I will always be grateful to her for introducing me to Child Advocates.
In 1998, I began serving as the associate judge of the 257th Family District Court. Later, I became the presiding judge of the 309th Family District Court. Both courts handle numerous cases where children were the subjects of suits brought by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (CPS). Fortunately, many of these children have advocates appointed by the court to work in their best interests. I appreciate the fresh approach that the child advocates provide to families and to the court. These volunteers are, for the most part, not professional social workers; they are members of our community who care genuinely about children’s welfare. The advocates are not jaded; they are enthusiastic and truly hope to make a difference for the children. They often communicate well with the parents. Sometimes, the parents regard CPS as the “enemy,” and while the parents’ hostility to CPS can be understandable, it does not help the situation. Advocates frequently try to engage parents in working the parenting plans ordered by the court. When appropriate, advocates promote more contact between parents and their children. They often locate appropriate family members with whom the children can be placed while the case is pending, as a relative placement is usually less traumatic for the children. As a district judge, I began appointing a child advocate to almost every CPS case on the court’s docket. I knew they could make a positive difference in the lives of the children with whom they
worked. At the request of her advocate, I met with a teenage girl. I asked the teenager whether she was happy to have an advocate involved in her case. The teenager responded that, other than relatives, she had never had an adult involved in her life who was not being paid. Her advocate was not one of her many paid case workers, not the paid counselor, not the paid teacher. Her advocate was not doing this for money. That distinction signified something important to this teenager who deeply appreciated her advocate, and I know that advocate made a significant difference in this child’s life. When I left the bench, I was pleased to be asked to serve on the board of directors of Child Advocates. It is a wonderful organization, and the volunteers are frequently a lifeline for the children with whom they work.
The Honorable Frank Rynd has been a board member of Child Advocates, Inc. for over 10 years. Prior to serving on the board, he was the judge of the 309th Family District Court in Harris County, Texas.
SiTuaTion: A veteran approaches you for legal advice about matters that are outside your area of practice and may not have the economic means to secure representation elsewhere.
miSSion: Conduct decisive operations to provide access to justice for the veteran and service to our community.
ExECuTion: Through direct action and the action of friendly forces, achieve an end state where the veteran’s matters are resolved on favorable terms.
SuSTainmEnT: Support and services are available for a wide range of scenarios through many government and non-government organizations.
CommanD : You decide how much to be personally involved in assisting the veteran. Though the above operations order is obviously fictional and extremely abbreviated, the scenario is often very real. The mission of this article is to provide you with the support to, in turn, support our Houston-area U.S. military veterans.
veterans are more numerous, and somewhat younger, than common perceptions. Veterans make up about 6% of the United States population.1 Around 43% of all living veterans served since 1990, often called Gulf War-Era veterans, and another 30% served during the Vietnam War. About 78% of U.S. veterans served during wartime. The Houston metropolitan area is home to over 280,000 veterans. By some estimates, there are more than 300,000. Harris County has the largest county-level veteran population in the U.S., at about 177,000 veterans, and Houston has the second-largest veteran population of any U.S. city. 2, 3, 4
By age, nationally, 28% of veterans are un-
der 50 years old, 36% are 50-69 years old, and 37% are at least 70 years old. Houston-area veterans are 12% female and 88% male.5, 6 More than 25% of Houston’s homeless population are veterans, according to many expert estimates.7
Veterans’ legal needs are partly a product of veteran demographics. A common request is assistance with a will, not only among older veterans but also among younger veterans with families. The newest veterans may need help with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to obtain a discharge upgrade or disability compensation. Veterans with housing insecurity, on the other hand, have a very different set of common needs, from landlord-tenant disputes to inpatient treatment programs.
Select legal resources available to veterans (and their attorneys) in the greater Houston area.
The Houston Bar Association veterans legal Initiative (vlI) provides free legal advice and representation to veterans and the spouses of deceased veterans through clinics at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and other community locations. Legal issues may include family law, wills and probate, consumer law, real estate and property, tax law, disability and veterans benefits, and more. The veterans meet one-on-one with an attorney volunteer for legal advice. The attorney volunteers serving at the clinics are supported by staff attorneys. For many matters that require further representation, the clinic can refer low-income veterans to the Houston Volunteer Lawyers, the pro bono legal arm of the Houston Bar Association. The DeBakey clinics are held on Fridays 1:00 to 3:30 p.m. No appointments necessary. Visit hba.org to learn more.
lone Star legal Aid’s Military and veterans unit (Mvu) offers free civil legal services to low-income veterans, their dependents, and surviving spouses. Lone Star Legal Aid
has an office at the DeBakey VA Medical Center and conducts in-person outreach on Tuesdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Lone Star Legal Aid assists veterans with a wide range of matters, including health and employment, with a comprehensive list of its veterans services on its website at lonestar legal.org
The Texas veterans legal Assistance project (vlAp) provides free legal assistance by phone to eligible veterans statewide, including Houston-area veterans. The VLAP offers help in a very broad range of legal matters with over 12 areas of practice. Additionally, the VLAP has resources to assist veterans in pro se matters, and in some instances, may be able to refer the veteran to an attorney who has agreed to accept a reduced fee. The VLAP’s website is tlsc.org
The national Organization of veterans’ Advocates, Inc. (nOvA) is an association of attorneys and other qualified advocates who practice veterans law, with a focus on veterans claims. NOVA members are required to be accredited with the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and meet continuing legal education requirements. NOVA members are fee practitioners, however, NOVA has a pro bono track with discounted membership and CLE rates for attorneys who represent VA benefit claimants without compensation, which does not require CAVC accreditation. For veterans who do not qualify for low-income legal aid, and attorney volunteers who would like to expand their pro bono efforts to VA claims, further details about NOVA are on its website at vetadvocates.org.
Texas lawyers for Texas veterans is a State Bar of Texas program that helps connect veterans with free legal clinics and resources. You can learn more about the program at txltxv.org
Military OneSource is a U.S. Department of Defense program that provides great resources for veterans, including items relating to discharges and VA benefits. Visit military onesource.mil to learn more.
The Harris County veterans’ Court program (vC) provides veterans charged with misdemeanor or felony crimes with options that take into consideration the invisible wounds of war and the substance abuse issues that often accompany them. The Veterans’ Court Program works with veterans who have certain qualifying injuries, illnesses,
disorders, and trauma resulting from military service, and with veterans where the totality of the circumstances indicates that the program would rehabilitate the veteran.8
legal resources available to unhoused veterans, and related legal matters.
Houston, together with local, state, and federal partners, has made great progress in reducing the historical prevalence of veteran homelessness. However, the continuing overrepresentation of veterans in the unhoused population remains a deeply concerning situation here and in many other large cities of the U.S. The higher prevalence of traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder that puts veterans at greater risk of homelessness often also results in substance abuse and mental health crises.9
The VA administers the 24/7 national Call Center for Homeless veterans at 877-4AIDVET (877-424-3838), which places callers, including attorneys, in touch with a staff member who can coordinate the VA resources that best fit the veteran’s needs. The VA coordinates various programs for emergency, temporary, and permanent housing. The hotline has the option to route the caller directly to a staff member, and the staff answers immediately and helpfully. For Houston-area veterans, the appropriate personnel at the Michael DeBakey VA Hospital will contact the veteran one business day after they’ve contacted the hotline.
The pTSD Foundation of America has numerous resources dedicated to helping veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and commonly-related conditions. Here in Houston, the PTSD Foundation of America operates Camp Hope, an interim housing program with mentoring, peer support, and visiting licensed healthcare professionals. There is no charge to the veteran. Camp Hope’s goal is to relieve combat trauma so that veterans can return to their lives in six to nine months. The PTSD Foundation of America operates non-resident peer support chapters, as well. More information is available on its website: ptsdusa.org/camp-hope
The City of Houston Mayor’s Office of veterans and Military Affairs (MOvMA) provides links to numerous resources, including City of Houston benefits available to veterans. MOVMA has a very useful crisis intervention guide that succinctly provides the contact information for organizations that as-
sist veterans suffering from a mental health crisis, including contacts relating to involuntary commitments.10 The MOVMA website is at houstontx.gov/vetaffairs.
The opportunity to serve veterans is available, whether directly or through allied forces. With the support and services available to us, Houston-area attorneys can help veterans by representing veterans at clinics, through pro bono placements, or by making a well-informed referral to organizations that can provide specialized legal assistance and more. The few hours of extra effort you put into helping a veteran resolve his or her legal issue will show more gratitude for the veteran’s military service than handshakes and social media posts ever could.
Eric D’Olive is a member of the HBA Military and Veterans Committee and is the general counsel of Emmanor Group Inc.
Endnotes
1. Katherine Schaeffer, The Changing Face of America’s Veteran Population, PEW RESEARCH CTR. (Nov. 8, 2023), https:// www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/11/08/the-changingface-of-americas-veteran-population/.
2. CITY OF HOUSTON, OFFICE OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, CITY OF HOUSTON, TEXAS (2017), available at https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww. houstontx.gov%2Fcouncil%2Fcommittees%2Fhousing%2F20 190319%2FVA-Presentation.pptx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.
3. TEXAS VETERAN POPULATION BY COUNTY, STATE BAR OF TEXAS, (2024), available at https://www.texasbar.com/Content/NavigationMenu/AboutUs/StateBarPresident/TexasLawyersforTexasVeterans/TexasVeteranPopulationbyCounty.pdf
4. John Egan, Houston Rises in the Ranks of Best Cities for Veteran Entrepreneurs, INNOVATION MAP (Oct. 28, 2022, 1:57 PM), https://houston.innovationmap.com/veteran-entrepreneurshouston-texas-report-2022-2658566204.html.
5. Houston City, Texas, UNITED STATES CENSUS BUREAU, https://data.census.gov/profile/Houston_city,_Texas?g= 160XX00US4835000 (last viewed October 16, 2024).
6. Cheryl Mercedes, How Many Veterans Live in Houston, KHOU 11 NEWS (Nov. 11, 2024, 6:28 PM), https://www. khou.com/article/news/local/how-many-veterans-live-inhouston/285-8d242975-d15c-47ee-8df0-d2d32cbdb7f6.
7. Id.
8. TEX. GOV’T CODE § 124.001, et seq.; see also Specialty Courts, HARRIS COUNTY COMMUNITY SUPERVISION & CORRECTIONS DEPARTMENT, https://cscd.harriscountytx.gov/ Programs/Specialty-Courts (last visited October 16, 2024) (outlining the objectives of Harris County’s five (5) specialty courts).
9. Allison Erickson, Homelessness Among Veterans has been Cut in Half Since 2010, VA Says, TEX. TRIB. (Jan. 26, 2023, 5:00 AM), at https://www.texastribune.org/2023/01/26/texas-homelessveterans-affairs-va/.
10. CRISIS INTERVENTION RESOURCES, CITY OF HOUSTON MAYOR’S OFFICE OF VETERANS AND MILITARY AFFAIRS (2024), available at https://www.houstontx.gov/vetaffairs/Crisis-Intervention-Guide-English.pdf.
By Johnny dAy
By cIArA PerrItAno and JulIsA rodrIguez
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), there are an estimated 17.9 million veterans in the United States.1 About 1.5 million of those veterans reside in Texas.2
In response to veterans’ heightened risk of mental health needs, correlated substance use, and interaction with the criminal justice system, state and federal courts nationwide have launched specialty courts to assist veterans navigating the judicial process and recovery. The first official specialty veterans court in the country began in 2008 in Buffalo, New York.3 Texas soon followed with passage of Texas Senate Bill 1940,
which took effect on September 1, 2009, authorizing funding for pre-trial veterans’ court programs in Texas. Senate Bill 1940 and other subsequent Acts are codified in Texas Government Code Section 124 Veterans Treatment Court Program.4 Harris County became home to the first Veterans’ Treatment Court program (the “VTC”) in Texas under the supervision of Judge Marc Carter. Harris County’s VTC garnered national recognition and was featured on CBS 60 Minutes and PBS Need to Know. Similar veterans’ court programs are now available in more than 400 communities nationwide.5
Studies show that some military veterans have challenges returning to post-employment civilian life due to being more likely to struggle with mental health disorders—such as mental illness, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury (“TBI”), depression, anxiety, substance abuse disorders, homelessness, and unemployment— than non-veterans.6 This often positions these servicemen and women to be uniquely at risk for arrest and criminal justice system involvement, exhibiting criminal behavior, which can be attributed to service-related illness or trauma. Although the VTC is by no means a “get out of jail free” program, the program aims to utilize familiar military experiences and intensive structure to better comport with veterans’ shared experiences and backgrounds, ensuring that VTC participants receive the appropriate support and guidance necessary for recovery and success within the criminal justice system.
The primary goals of the VTC include:
1. Improving access to needed mental health and addiction treatment for veterans;
2. Reducing criminal recidivism through successful treatment outcomes and community reintegration;
3. Improving long-term mental health recovery and community reintegration through involvement in structured, comprehensive treatment;
4. Reducing jail time and resolving felony charges related primarily to mental health, TBI, and addiction issues; and
5. Reducing costs associated with unnecessary incarceration.
Judge Christopher Morton and Judge Andrea Beall of the 230th Criminal District Court and 185th District Court, respectively, currently serve as the two supervising judges of the VTC specialty program. Ms. Ariel Sanchez serves as the VTC’s coordinator. Judge Morton and Ms. Sanchez spoke with The Houston Lawyer about the meaningful work of the VTC. Having served in the Army National Guard from 1991 to 1999, Judge Morton understands the unique circumstances veterans face. In addition to his military service, Judge Morton participated in Harris County’s earliest VTC program as a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. He emphasized that the goal of the VTC is to provide an intensive and supportive program for those who have sacrificed for our country. The end goal for all participants is recovery and the complete reduction of recidivism. As a nation, state, city, and community, we have a responsibility to support those who have taken on the burden of serving and protecting our nation. The military does an excellent job preparing soldiers for life in the military, but many individuals are left completely unprepared for the transition to civilian post-military life. The VTC provides a second chance at success in the civilian world for those who have slipped through the cracks.
• Eligible offense; and consent of prosecutor and court in which the criminal case is pending;
• Legal resident of or citizen of the United States of America;
• Resident of Harris and/or surrounding counties;
• Have mental health, traumatic brain injury, and/or substance use diagnoses that is related to the criminal offense;
• Eligible for services from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (the “VA); and,
• First offender status and/or served in combat and/or hazardous duty.
The VTC imposes requirements and is not a carte blanche option for all veterans. Harris County’s VTC adheres to the following eligibility criteria:
• Honorable discharge or general discharge from active duty, reserves or guard;
Veterans hoping to utilize the VTC must complete an application and be accepted into the program. Applications are available upon request to the VTC. Once accepted into the VTC, participants must complete a four-phase intensive program wherein each participant is required to meet with their assigned case manager to design and complete a personalized treatment and program plan. Each plan is personalized to ensure every participant is equipped with the tools and individualization necessary to achieve success. The program begins with biweekly visits before the partici-
pant’s assigned judge—currently, Judge Morton or Judge Beall—and biweekly office visits with probation officers and outside service providers, including the VA. Each subsequent phase is tailored to ensure ongoing success. One of the pillars of the program’s success is consistent and constant contact between the VTC, the participant, and those assigned outside specialty support persons.
Although the program is not an option for all veterans, it has a history of success for its participants. Some of the additional benefits of the VTC include: access to free vocational services, community service reduction programs, financial assistance for alcohol monitoring devices, and reward and incentive programs.
‘‘
One important lesson of working with veterans is the consequences convictions and judgments can have on important VA benefits.”
It is important for attorneys working with veterans to understand the unique circumstances veterans face. Judge Morton wants attorneys to understand the importance of getting to know their clients. In addition to the routine intake and legal questions attorneys often work through with their clients, it is equally important to understand a client’s personal life and background, including whether they have served in the military, and whether that service has adversely affected their life.
Attorneys should be aware of, and utilize, the resources available to veterans. Continuing legal education and self-study related to the specific needs of veterans are critical to the successful representation of military members and veterans.
One important lesson of working with veterans is the consequences convictions and judgments can have on important VA
‘‘ A spouse, children, and dependent parents of an incarcerated veteran may be eligible to receive the amount of VA compensation not paid to the incarcerated veteran.”
benefits. For example, an incarcerated veteran receiving VA benefits is subject to a reduction in payment depending on the type of benefit and reason for incarceration. Veterans who receive a VA pension will have the pension terminated on day 61 of incarceration.7 A veteran who is convicted of a felony, imprisoned for more than 60 days, and rated at 20% or more for disability compensation will have their payment reduced to the 10% disability rate on day 61 of incarceration. A veteran with a 10% disability rate will see the payment reduced by one-half.8
A spouse, children, and dependent parents of an incarcerated veteran may be eligible to receive the amount of VA compensation not paid to the incarcerated veteran. This is based on individual need, taking into consideration their income, living expenses, and special needs. Dependents must apply for apportionment of an incarcerated veteran’s VA benefits by submitting a VA Form 21—788 to the VA. Apportionment is not automatic. Contact the Micheal E. DeBakey VA Medical Center Veteran Justice Outreach Center at vhastxswsvjo@ va.gov. for more information.9
As is the case in every court, the VTC would not be successful without its passionate staff. Ms. Sanchez has served as the VTC’s coordinator for the past five years. Her journey at the VTC began when she felt the call to give back to the community, help save lives, and assist in a leadership role. The VTC provided Ms. Sanchez the perfect opportunity to fulfill the call and change the lives of veterans in need of a second chance. Ms. Sanchez
attributes her success as the court’s coordinator to her mentor Ms. Mary Covington, who assisted in the creation of the VTC and the Harris County STAR Drug Court over a decade ago.
Both Judge Morton and Ms. Sanchez emphasized the joy and passion they have for helping the program. Ms. Sanchez stated that although some attorneys and hopeful participants hesitate regarding their qualifications, her best advice is for everyone to apply. She is available and eager to answer any questions related to the VTC. Her information can be found on the Harris County Specialty Courts website at justex.net/specialty.
Ciara Perritano is a litigation associate at Winstead PC and a member of The Houston Lawyer editorial board. She is the proud daughter, granddaughter, and spouse of USAF and USMC veterans.
Julisa Rodriguez is a Texas A&M University alumna and a 2L at South Texas College of Law Houston, where she serves as a board member for the Veterans Law Student Association. She is proud to be part of a large military family.
1. National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, U.S. DEP’T OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, https://www.va.gov/vetdata/veteran_population.asp (last visited Oct. 18, 2024).
2. Id
3. Federal Sentencing Reporter, Vol. 27, No. 3, Military Sentencing: Another Federal Sentencing System (Part II) (February 2015), p. 178.
4. TEX. GOV’T CODE § 124.001.
5. Todd Goodman, Veterans Court changes lives by offering second chance, VA NEWS (Dec. 9, 2019), https://news.va.gov/69241/ veterans-court-changes-lives-offering-second-chance/.
6. Veterans Treatment Court, MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA OF GREATER HOUSTON, https://mhahouston.org/programs/ veterans-behavioral/veteran-court/ (last visited Oct. 18, 2024).
7. Incarcerated Veterans, U.S. DEP’T OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, https://www.benefits.va.gov/persona/veteran-incarcerated.asp (last visited Oct. 21, 2024).
8. VA Homeless Programs, U.S. DEP’T OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, https://www.va.gov/homeless/vjo.asp (last visited Oct. 21, 2024).
9. JUSTICE INVOLVED VETERANS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS (2020) available at https://benefits. va.gov/BENEFITS/factsheets/misc/JusticeInvolved.pdf.
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 Volunteers Lawyers.
abraham, Watkins, nichols, agosto, aziz & stogner
akin gump strauss hauer & feld LLp
angela solice, attorney at Law
archie Law pLLC
Baker Botts L.L.p.
Bakerhostetler LLp
Baker hughes
Beck redden LLp
Blank rome LLp
Bracewell LLp
Centerpoint energy, inc.
Chamberlain hrdlicka
Chevron Usa
Coane & associates
dentons Us LLp
elizabeth s. pagel, pLLC
eversheds sutherland Us LLp
exxon mobil Corporation
fleurinord Law pLLC
foley & Lardner LLp
fuqua & associates, p.C.
gibbs & Bruns LLp
gibson, dunn & Crutcher LLp
gray reed
greenberg traurig, LLp
halliburton
hasley scarano, L.L.p.
haynes and Boone, LLp
hunton andrews Kurth LLp
Jackson Walker LLp
Jenkins & Kamin, LLp
King & spalding LLp
Kirkland & ellis LLp
Law Office of Cindi L. Rickman
Law Office of Norma Levine Trusch
Law Offices of Omonzusi Imobioh
Limbaga Law
Locke Lord LLp
LyondellBasell industries
Martin R.G. Marasigan Law Offices
mcdowell & hetherington LLp
mcgarvey pLLC
morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLp
northum Law
norton rose fulbright o’melveny & myers LLp
painter Law firm pLLC
reed smith LLp
royston, rayzor, Vickery & Williams, LLp
sanchez Law firm
shell Usa, inc.
shipley snell montgomery LLp
shortt & nguyen, p.C.
sidley austin LLp
sorrels Law
squire patton Boggs
the ericksen Law firm
the Jurek Law group, pLLC
Vasquez Waite
Vinson & elkins LLp
Weycer, Kaplan, pulaski & Zuber, p.C.
Wilson, Cribbs, & goren, p.C.
Winstead pC
Winston & strawn LLp
Yetter Coleman LLp
a nnual Harv EST C El EBraT
Thank you to the generosity of the Houston legal community for your support of the 75th Annual Harvest Celebration. 100% of net proceeds benefit Houston Volunteer Lawyers. Below are a few photos from the event, held on November 11 at the River Oaks Country Club.
Baker Botts L.L.P.
Bracewell LLP
100% of net proceeds benefiting Houston Volunteer Lawyers
Thank you, Houston legal community, for generously supporting pro bono legal services provided by Houston Volunteer Lawyers.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan;
Karl Stern
Ryan & Dawson
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
Locke Lord LLP
Norton Rose Fulbright
Vinson & Elkins LLP
Williams Hart & Boundas, LLP
Ruby Sponsors
Benny Agosto, Jr. & Nikki Agosto
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP AZA
Chevron Corporation
HBA Litigation Section
Sapphire Sponsors
BakerHostetler LLP
Blank Rome LLP
CenterPoint Energy, Inc.
Chamberlain Hrdlicka
Harris County District Attorney’s Office
LyondellBasell Industries
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Winston & Strawn LLP
Gold Sponsors
Arnold & Porter LLP
Beck Redden LLP
HBA Labor & Employment Section
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Hicks Thomas LLP
Johnson DeLuca Kurisky & Gould, P.C.
King & Spalding LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
W. Michael & Laurie D. Moreland
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Spencer Fane
Silver Sponsors
Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner
Barry & Sue Abrams
Jane & Doug Bland
ConocoPhillips
Diggs & Sadler
Foley & Lardner LLP
Gibbs & Bruns LLP
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Penny L. & Craig B. Glidden
Tom & Debbie Godbold
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Halliburton
Haynes and Boone, LLP
HBA Alternative Dispute Resolution Section
HBA Family Law Section
HBA Real Estate Section
Linda & Tracy Hester
Hicks Davis Wynn, P.C.
JAMS
Jones Day
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Liskow
McGuireWoods LLP
O’Melveny
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Quanta Services
Shipley Snell Montgomery LLP
Shook Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.
Sidley Austin LLP
SLB
Steptoe
Susman Godfrey LLP
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Wright Close & Barger, LLP
Yetter Coleman LLP
Katie & Stephen Baehl
Baker Wotring LLP
Bissinger, Oshman, Williams & Strasburger LLP
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP
Burford Perry, LLP
Christian Attar
Clark Hill
Cokinos | Young
Coné PLLC
Collin & Jacquelyn Cox
Crowe LLP
Jeanne & Tom Cunningham
Dentons US LLP
Dobrowski Stafford & Pierce LLP
Duane Morris LLP
Energy Transfer
Fisher & Phillips LLP
Fogler, Brar, O’Neil & Gray LLP
Frost Brown Todd LLC
Kerry Galvin
Gerger Hennessy Martin & Peterson LLP
Germer PLLC
Gray Reed
Hagans
David & Tammie Harrell
Harris County Attorney’s Office
Hon. Kristen Hawkins
HBA Energy Law Section
HBA Federal Practice Section
Hispanic Bar Association of Houston
HKA
Hogan Thompson Schuelke LLP
Houston Lawyer Referral Service, Inc.
Houston Young Lawyers Association
Husch Blackwell LLP
Jackson Walker LLP
Jenkins & Kamin, LLP
Jim Adler & Associates
Jordan Lynch & Cancienne PLLC
Kane Russell Coleman Logan
Kean Miller
Mahendru, PC
McDowell Hetherington LLP
Miles Mediation & Arbitration
Audrey Momanaee
Munck Wilson Mandala
Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C.
Okin Adams Bartlett Curry LLP
O’Neil Wysocki, PC
Jeff Paine & Brandon Holcomb
(Goldman Sachs)
Nicole Perdue & Jim Perdue, Jr.
Phillips 66 Company
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P.
Porter Hedges LLP
Rapp & Krock PC
Reed Smith LLP
Reynolds Frizzell LLP
Rusty Hardin & Associates, LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
South Texas College of Law Houston
Stone Hilton PLLC
Texas Lawyers’ Insurance Exchange
University of Houston Law Center
Vasquez Waite PLLC
Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP
Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP
Crystal Sponsors
Anna Archer
Hon. Patrice Barron
Bartholet Mediation, P.C.
Sharon M. Beausoleil
Kathleen & Martin Beirne
Brent & Christy Benoit
Susan L. Bickley & Bob Scott
Bragg Law PC
Sejal Brahmbhatt
Hon. Harvey Brown
Keri Brown & Ben Womack
The Buck Family Fund
Hon. Brett & Erin Busby
Bush Seyferth PLLC
BWA Video, Inc.
Byman & Associates, PLLC
Cozen O’Connor
David Toy Law Firm
Mindy & Joshua Davidson
Wendy & Alistair Dawson
Digital Insurance, LLC dba One Digital
Amy Catherine Dinn
DLA Piper LLP (US)
Emma Doineau
Eric & Kami D’Olive
Carter Dugan
Kaylan & John Dunn
Duvera Consulting, LLC
Andrew Edelman
Scott Ellis
Ali Foyt
Todd Frankfort
Jackie & John Furlow
Lynn & Stewart W. Gagnon
Roland Garcia
Gregory Law, PLLC
Hon. Michael Gomez & Diana Gomez
Hon. Joseph “Tad” Halbach
Harris Hoss Mediations & Arbitrations
David T. Harvin
Gregory & Jennifer A. Hasley
HBA Appellate Practice Section
HBA Bankruptcy Section
HBA Commercial & Consumer Law Section
HBA Construction Law Section
HBA Criminal Law Section
HBA Juvenile Law Section
HBA Mergers & Acquisitions Section
HBA Taxation Section
HBAA Charitable Fund, Inc.
Hirsch and Westheimer P.C.
Humphrey Law PLLC
Jim & Cisselon Nichols Hurd
IMS Legal Strategies | Juris Medicus
Monica Karuturi & Kumaran Sathyamoorthy
Shae Keefe & Mark Jacobs
Sara & Jason Keith
Neil & Dana Kelly
Elizabeth & Bill Kroger
Daniella D. Landers
James Leader
Elizabeth & Russell Lewis
Peter Lowy & Gabriela Boersner
Hon. Erin Lunceford & Mike Lunceford
Hon. Sylvia Matthews
Tim & Ginnie McConn
McGarvey PLLC
Hon. David M. Medina (Ret.) & Hon. Pamela Medina
MehaffyWeber PC
Hon. Margaret Mirabal
Carol Jean & Mike Moehlman
Monty & Ramirez LLP
Hon. Daryl L. Moore
Greg & Jennifer Moore
Naimeh Salem & Associates
Nathan Sommers Gibson Dillon PC
Holly Nini
Stephanie Noble
Christopher Northcutt
Dudley & Judy Oldham
Jeff & Melissa Oldham
Olson & Olson, LLP
Robert & Taunya Painter
Dr. & Mr. Christine & Seepan Parseghian
Connie H. Pfeiffer
Colin & Sangita Pogge
Hon. Margaret Poissant
Chris Popov
Kelly & Mike Prather
Quadros Migl & Crosby PLLC
Aaron M. Reimer & Amanda
Heidemann Reimer
Hon. Frank Rynd
Travis & Sandy Sales
John & Denise Scofield
Shell USA, Inc.
Kay Sim
Tramaine Singleton
Quentin & Aerin Smith
Hon. Susan S. Soussan
Sponsel Miller Greenberg PLLC
Steven C. Howard P.C.
Terry G. Fry, P.C. & Gina Lucero
The Law Office of Daniel D. Horowitz, III, PC
The Springer Law Firm, PLLC
Brooks & Jacquelyn Tobin
Samantha Torres & Jimmy Hollowell
Hilary Tyson
Sandy & Greg Ulmer
Varghese Summersett PLLC
Roy & Dominique Varner
Ware, Jackson, Lee, O’Neill, Smith & Barrow, LLP
West Mermis, PLLC
Richard & Laura Whiteley
Andrew Yeh & Ann Elise DeBelina
Ytterberg Deery Knull LLP
Krisina Zuñiga & Rick Houghton
Hon. Terry Adams
Association of Women Attorneys
Hon. Julie Countiss
Patrick Flynn
Polly & Stephen Fohn
HBA Corporate Counsel Section
HBA Probate, Trusts & Estate Section
Law Office of Frederick J. Wagner
Sylvia Mayer with S. Mayer Law
Hon. Fredericka Phillips
Hon. Veronica Rivas-Molloy & David Molloy
Jane Langdell Robinson
Hon. Robert Schaffer
Hon. Jerry Simoneaux
Hon. Charles Spain & John Adcock
Hon. Cheryl Elliott Thornton
Jennifer Tomsen
TONER Home Performance
Travis Torrence
Chris Tritico
Wendy Buskop
In honor of Collin Cox
Anthony & Antoinette Franklyn
Claudia Wilson Frost
Hon. Tanya Garrison
HBA Environmental Law Section
Hon. Richard Hightower
In honor of Vinh Ho
Jeremy Jackson
The Kruckemeyer Law Firm
Lori Ann LaConta
Alli Patterson
Kevin Pennell, Pennell Law Firm, PLLC
Nick Perez
Angela Peterson
Brannon Robertson
Waddell Law Firm, P.C.
Eugene Zilberman
Invitations generously printed by: Innovative Legal Solutions
Photography by: Deborah Wallace, Barfield
Photography
Flowers by: In Bloom Inc.
By AMAndA PIerson
In the legal world, the names Mark and Taly Thiessen resonate with professionalism and expertise, particularly in the fields of DWI, criminal defense, and family law. Outside the courtroom, however, the couple shares a unique passion that adds a vibrant flair to their lives: an extensive collection of creative and whimsical costumes. Their love for dressing up goes beyond mere hobby. It reflects their personalities and the joy they find in embracing the extraordinary.
Mark and Taly’s journey into the world of costumes began as a playful escape from the rigors of their legal careers. They discovered that dressing up not only allowed them to express their creativity, but also served as a fantastic way to bond with each other and their friends. From elaborate ensembles to spontaneous costume parties, their collection has grown to include an impressive array of outfits, ranging from classic Halloween themes to more eccentric and original designs. Even their dog joins in on the costume fun, although a bit more reluctantly than his parents.
What makes their costume collection particularly special is the story behind their wedding. Tying the knot on Halloween, the couple opted for a themed celebration that perfectly encapsulated their playful spirit. The couple’s choice to embrace costumes on their wedding day set the tone for a relationship built on fun, creativity, and the willingness to step outside the norm.
The Thiessen family is treated to the majority of their costumes by Taly, who makes as many as she can by hand. For this year’s Halloween celebrations, Taly decided to create cereal-themed costumes, complete with a meticulously crafted paper mâché bowl. This DIY project showcased not only her creativity but also the couple’s shared commitment to fun
and whimsy in all aspects of their lives. Mark can’t wait to don his costume and join Taly in spreading joy.
Mark and Taly’s costume collection is not limited to Halloween; it spans various themes and occasions throughout the year. Whether it is a holiday party, a themed event, or even a court hearing, Mark and Taly have a costume ready to make a statement. Not only are the costumes fun, they are engaging. When presenting at CLEs, Mark has found that dressing up helps keep his audience’s attention. This dedication to creativity not only showcases their personalities; it encourages those around them to embrace the fun of dressing up.
In a world where lawyers are often seen as stern figures, Mark and Taly Thiessen’s whimsical costume collection serves as a delightful reminder that creativity and joy can flourish even in the most serious of professions. Their playful spirit and commitment to community engagement inspire not only their peers but also those around them to embrace the lighter side of life, one costume at a time. Whether in the courtroom or dressed as a quirky character, the Thiessens exemplify the beauty of spreading joy and living life to the fullest.
Amanda Pierson is an estate planning attorney and the founder of the Heights Law Group, where she helps clients leave clear roadmaps for their loved ones in the event of death or incapacity.
As a lawyer, I have served as an advocate, a facilitator, and a conciliator, resolving a litany of issues, from the simplest to the most complex. From taking the oath of U.S. citizenship 35 years ago to the oath of an officer of the court as a member of the Texas Bar 32 years ago, my American Dream is now realized with the opportunity to serve, with privilege and commensurate responsibility, as a judge. Although over 5,000 miles away from my place of birth, there is no doubt that as a Houstonian I am inordinately proud of the endless possibilities of our city, our state, our country, and, always, our esteemed profession.
My goal has been to “walk the talk,” from my commitment to our highest standards through hard work, to connecting with all people for the greater good. My triad of passions has been my profession, my community leadership, and, of course, my family. As I commence my next phase, my gratitude for my colleagues, friends, mentors, and, most of all, my family, is without measure.
The formidable traits we may emulate from our Texas trailblazers on the importance of integrity, ethical courage, and public service/social responsibility that define these Texans’ contributions to the legal profession are palpable and merit articulation.
“Justice is not partial, unequal, or unfair. It is even-handed. It applies the same way to all, across the board.”
The Hon. Nathan L. Hecht
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“The imperative is to define what is right and do it.”
The Hon. Barbara Jordan
The Hon. James A. Baker, III serves as the paradigm of the art and value of compromise. It, like the trial, has become a hallmark that legal giants like Stephen D. Susman pioneered and dedicated his life and talents to preserving. Steve’s approach to litigation, including his trial by agreement, was principled, pragmatic, and fair as the life of the law should be.
Feliz Cumpleaños (35) to our Texas Lawyer’s Creed! “[C]ommonly regarded as one of the best standards of professionalism in the country,” its poignancy is evident and adherence is outcome-determinative. Requiring “humility, selfreflection and self-examination,” it begins with its inordinately “powerful” preamble.
–The Hon. George C. Hanks, Jr.
I am a lawyer. I am entrusted by the People of Texas to preserve and improve our legal system. I am licensed by the Supreme Court of Texas. I must therefore abide by the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, but I know that Professionalism requires more than merely avoiding the violation of laws and rules. I am committed to this Creed for no other reason than it is right.
Let us all practice our profession in a manner exemplified by the HBA’s Justice Ruby Kless Sondock Award and the UHLC Justice Ruby Kless Sondock Jurist-in-Residence Lectureship in Legal Ethics, reflecting on Justice Sondock’s enduring legacy in our Texas legal community, always doing it and getting it right.
By Ellyn Haikin JosEf and MattHEw REasonER
Providing pro bono legal services to the Houston community is part of the fabric of the Houston Bar Association. Those legal services come in all shapes and sizes—taking cases from Houston Volunteer Lawyers, representing local arts organizations, helping veterans and servicemen at the VA Hospital, and providing wills for our first responders, along with countless other examples.
One of the mainstays in this space has always been LegalLine—a hotline program where lawyers answer legal questions from the community during specified time slots. In the olden days, there would be set dates and times where lawyers would take shifts at the HBA office, eating pizza and answering calls. This continued for years, with lawyers providing valuable legal advice all throughout our Houston community.
Just as with everything else, 2020 gave us an opportunity to rethink how LegalLine plays into our pro bono landscape. We were no longer able to meet in-person or take calls as a group, but those legal questions still existed. Our community still needed our help.
While the HBA LegalLine Committee was originally tasked with overseeing the LegalLine program and making sure all of the volunteer slots were filled and the calls were answered, the pandemic brought some challenges the committee needed to address. With a steadfast eye towards making sure the services we provide to the community continued without interruption, the committee helped the HBA transition LegalLine to a fully remote opportunity. This initiative included making valuable resources available online to volunteers and citizens at all hours. The calls were then able to be made from home, from offices, or from hotel rooms. While this took some adjustment, and we were conscious of the loss of some of a community feel without the pizza dinners, we felt that continuing to provide this service was our first priority and we would press forward.
The LegalLine Committee was incredibly proud to see that the volunteer sign-ups continued apace, the calls continued
to be made, and access to justice continued to be provided to our fellow Houstonians. In addition to the changes that 2020 brought us, the LegalLine Committee’s work was not done. In an effort to streamline volunteer opportunities and standardize how we conducted LegalLine, the committee worked with Houston Volunteer Lawyers to merge their weekly call-in clinic with HBA LegalLine to create one, robust legal question-answering program. This transition has been seamless, and the volunteers have been thrilled to have a place to sign up to help. The HBA’s LegalLine Powered by HVL allows for more citizens to be served with not just simple legal information, but robust legal advice and counsel, possibly the only guidance they will receive. Resources are tailored to assist volunteers in their advice and mentors are available during consultations.
Not only do the services provided by LegalLine benefit the community, but the volunteers that contribute find the experience very rewarding. Volunteers can hone their legal skills while tackling the issues that members of the Houston community face. Newer attorneys are able to gain invaluable, client-facing experience where they need to think on their feet responding to legal questions. The committee encourages all attorneys in Houston to volunteer for LegalLine to gain experience and confidence as an attorney, while also giving back to the community.
We are so incredibly proud of both the service that LegalLine provides to the community and the work that the LegalLine Committee did to flex and grow as our community needs shifted and changed. We will continue to put Houstonian’s legal needs as our first priority and make sure we are meeting those needs in the most nimble and accessible way possible.
If you have not yet, please consider signing up for a shift by visiting hba.org/LegalLine
Ellyn Haikin Josef is pro bono counsel at Vinson & Elkins LLP. and Matthew Reasoner is an associate at Bracewell. They are the cochairs of the HBA LegalLine Committee.
By RosEMaRy B. Jackson
Founded in 1977, the Real Estate Law Section is one of the oldest sections of the HBA, and with a current membership of more than 570 attorneys, is one of the largest. In parallel with the diverse Houston real estate market, the section is made up of members specializing in niche practice areas, such as real estate lending, commercial leases, and property owners’ associations, as well as a sizable number who are engaged in the general fields of real estate transactions and litigation. Notwithstanding the diversity of the real property practice areas, the section members’ notable common characteristic is their devotion to nurturing excellence in real estate law practice.
Each month, the section hosts a speaker luncheon held in-person at Gray Reed with live streaming and on-demand recording available to view the presentation remotely. Speakers hail from statewide locations and the most eminent reaches of real estate law practice who present educative and apposite real property topics. The luncheons are unequaled opportunities for members of the Houston real estate law community to forge professional relationships and benefit from the professional knowledge imparted by skilled colleagues.
The upcoming featured programs of the 2025 luncheons are: marital property (February), real estate finance trends (March), easement disputes (April), and an update on the Corporate Transparency Act (May). At the June 18, 2025 meeting, David Weatherbie will round off the year’s speaker luncheon series with his esteemed annual case law update, providing the latest developments in real estate jurisprudence.
The Real Estate Law Section is a proud supporter of local fundraising organizations and programs, routinely making meaningful financial and volunteer resource contributions to Habitat for Humanity, the Harvest Celebration, and the HBA Eikenburg Fun Run.
Because of its unfailing commitment to the promotion of excellence in the practice of real property law, a signature community enhancement activity of the section is the award of annual scholarships to deserving law students at each of the three Houston law schools. A committee of the Real Estate Law Section Council chooses the recipients based on demonstrated interest in practicing real estate law, outstanding grades, and need of financial assistance. Further, new licensees, third-year law students, and LL.M. candidates are eligible for free section membership for one year to introduce the outstanding CLE programs and valuable contacts provided by the section to new arrivals to the profession.
The luncheons take place on either the second or third Wednesday of each month. The dates, annual subscription details, and online registration are available at hba.org/sections. Subscribers receive a discounted price. You can also find information on upcoming events and other Real Estate Law Section notices and resources on our social media pages on LinkedIn and Facebook.
The 2024-2025 section officers are Lindsey Jandal Postula (chair), Lindsey Valenta (chair-elect), Megan Schmid (secretary-treasurer), and Yigal Saghian (immediate past chair). This year’s council members, including myself, are Madison Bennett, Lauren Hunsaker, Joseph Holloway, and Stephen Uzick.
The officers and council members are all dedicated volunteers, pledged to sustain the traditions, high standards, and culture of the Real Estate Law Section, and to make their own contributions to advance the section’s objectives for the betterment of the field of real estate law.
Rosemary B. Jackson is a member of the HBA Real Estate Law Section Council. She is the principal attorney of Rosemary B. Jackson, PC, focusing on real estate development and property owners associations, and is a frequent author and presenter for CLE courses for the State Bar of Texas.
By corey e. devIne
Three Texas federal district judges recently issued extraordinary rulings that could torpedo the power of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) to enforce the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). In the cases, the judges preliminarily enjoined the NLRB from prosecuting unfair labor practice charges in its administrative courts. According to the judges, the NLRB’s structure violates the U.S. Constitution because it does not properly allow for removal of NLRB administrative law judges by the president.
The Texas District Court injunctions
Each case— Space Exploration Tech. Corp. v. NLRB 1; Energy Transfer, LP v. NLRB 2; Aunt Bertha v. NLRB 3; and Ascension Seton Med. Ctr. Austin v. NLRB 4 —involved the NLRB’s pursuit of unfair labor practice charges against employers for allegedly retaliating against employees who engaged in NLRA-protected concerted activity. After NLRB investigations found the charges to have merit, it issued complaints and notices of evidentiary hearings to be held before NLRB Administrative Law Judges (“ALJs”). The employers responded by filing federal lawsuits seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions restraining the NLRB from further prosecution in its administrative courts.
In granting preliminary injunctions, Judges Albright (SpaceX, Ascension), Brown (Energy Transfer), and Pittman (Aunt Bertha) relied heavily on Jarkesy v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Comm., a 2022 Fifth Circuit decision finding
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) administrative court structure to be unconstitutional.5 The preliminary injunction orders analogize NLRB ALJs to SEC ALJs in terms of their impermissible insulation from presidential removal. Judge Albright further concluded that NLRB members are principal executive officers who are similarly unconstitutionally insulated from removal.
In each case, the NLRB argued that the injunctive relief sought was improper because the court could simply sever from the NLRA the allegedly unconstitutional ALJ removal protections. But the judges found severance to be premature at the preliminary injunction stage, allowing only that it might be a means of curing the constitutional defect on consideration of the merits. The injunction orders do not attempt to explain how severance would work in practice, and Judge Albright expressed some doubt about the practicality of this relief.
The NLRB has challenged the SpaceX, Energy Transfer, and Aunt Bertha preliminary injunctions. Those pending appeals have been consolidated and briefing is underway.6 The NLRB has indicated that it will also challenge the Ascension preliminary injunction.
It is possible that the consolidated appeal will be rendered moot by an earlierfiled appeal involving SpaceX, which is currently pending in the Fifth Circuit. The earlier appeal arises from unfair labor practice allegations that SpaceX illegally fired workers in California who criticized company founder Elon Musk. The earlier-filed SpaceX appeal does not arise from a district court preliminary injunction order, but the case includes SpaceX’s argument that NLRB ALJs are unconstitutionally insulated from presidential removal. SpaceX also argues that
the NLRB’s administrative legal process unconstitutionally denies employers their right to trial by jury and violates employers’ due process rights by improperly commingling prosecutorial, adjudicative, and policymaking powers.7
The Fifth Circuit heard oral argument in both the earlier SpaceX appeal and a nearly identical appeal involving e-commerce giant Amazon on November 18, 2024.8 There is no guarantee that it will reach the merits of SpaceX’s and Amazon’s constitutional claims in either case.
Until the Fifth Circuit weighs in on the constitutionality of the NLRB, it is likely that additional challenges seeking to preliminarily enjoin NLRA enforcement actions will continue to be filed in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. And if the Fifth Circuit ultimately rules that the NLRB’s structure is unconstitutional, it will in doing so not only encourage the filing of further challenges, but also possibly tee up a circuit split paving a path for the U.S. Supreme Court to finally resolve the issue.
Corey E. Devine is board certified in labor and employment law. He is a partner in Muskat Devine LLP, a boutique firm representing management in labor and employment matters.
1. No. 24-CV-00203, 2024 WL 3512082 (W.D. Tex. July 23, 2024).
2. No. 3:24-CV-198, 2024 WL 3571494 (S.D. Tex. July 29, 2024).
3. No. 4:24-cv-798 (N.D. Tex. Sept. 16, 2024).
4. No. 1-24-CV-01176, 2024 WL 4678057 (W.D. Tex. Oct. 18, 2024).
5. See Jarkesy v. SEC, 34 F.4th 446 (5th Cir. 2022). In 2024, the Supreme Court affirmed the Fifth Circuit, finding that structure of the SEC’s administrative courts is unconstitutional, but on the alternative Seventh Amendment grounds raised there. See SEC v. Jarkesy, 144 S. Ct. 2117 (2024).
6. See Nos. 24-50627, 24-40533, & 24-10855 (5th Cir.).
7. See Space Exploration Tech. Corp. v. NLRB, No. 2450627 (5th Cir.).
8. See Amazon.com Servs. LLC v. NLRB, No. 24-50761 (5th Cir.).
By Jim Garrity
Published by Ross & Rubin, Publishers LLC
Reviewed by Johnny dAy
This is a book of strategy and tactics. Jim Garrity describes himself as an “Employee Rights Lawyer” who has not, and will not, “help any employer in a dispute with an employee.” He passionately believes deposition skills “make or break you as a litigator.” This is because “depositions are the new trials, the only place any witness will ever testify.” And depositions are the only chance to get evidence “unfiltered” by opposing counsel. Mr. Garrity’s intended audience is thus “hardcore front-line litigators.”
Mr. Garrity uses that experience to focus on nitty gritty deposition tactics (i.e., “micro-advantages”), with key notes about strategy. Mr. Garrity wants to help, and he makes it easy to identify specific tactics: he painstakingly created a 14-page table of contents beginning with Chief Functions of the Deposition and ending with Taxation of Deposition Costs
There is a feast of information for any lawyer hungry to learn the dark arts of deposition dominance. Here are a few of the headings I read first: Who Goes First?; Cross Noticing Depositions; Dealing with Non-Party Objections; and Don’t Let Reporters Snap at Your Witness Keep in mind, there are more than 300 headings like this!
How did Mr. Garrity determine that he took 10,000 depositions? He researched every online CM/ECF case in which he has appeared as lead counsel. He found more than 1,000. His practice is roughly divided equally between state and federal courts; therefore, he multiplied this federal case count by two for more than 2,000 cases as lead lawyer. Then, Mr. Garrity estimated that in a typical case he takes between 10 and 25 depositions. Hence, 10,000 depositions taken (at least—the book could really be called 20,000 Depositions Later).
Most of these headings relate to a paragraph or a single page in the book, but some, like Apex Depositions, receive more detailed attention. Mr. Garrity provides the background of this judicially created doctrine designed to prevent “harassment” of top corporate and governmental officials (i.e., “Chiefs”) unless the deposing party shows first-hand knowledge and no reasonable alternative witnesses. Mr. Garrity cites a 1941 U.S. Supreme Court case and a host of other legal authorities determining “Who is High Ranking, and Who Isn’t?” His presentation of legal authorities in the Apex Depositions section is not a prevalent feature given the book’s anecdotal style. Apex depositions are something Mr. Garrity highly prizes.
At times, you can understand what it must be like to see Mr. Garrity hound a witness. Under Remote Live-Depositions, Mr. Garrity focuses on the problem of a witness using the computer screen as a testimonial aid during a Zoom deposi-
tion. It was news to me, but he is right. Witnesses can minimize the Zoom window and have anything they want on the computer screen, ready to use “cheat sheets” to assist their testimony.
Mr. Garrity provides detailed questions to stamp out this kind of “cheating” on Zoom. You can almost hear him intensely asking, “Are there notes, memos, or documents of any kind relating to this case (or the parties) on the monitor, table, walls, floor, clothing, body, furniture, or any other surface that you can see or that is within 25 feet of you? ”
Different in style from the headings just discussed, Mr. Garrity devotes great care to Part 1 and Part 2 of Creating Invincible Deponents. He takes you through witness preparation one step at a time, so you could theoretically walk a witness through Mr. Garrity’s table of contents and the witness would be prepared.
For example, here are five witness preparation tips: Your Deposition is not a Practice Run; A Deposition is not a Social Conversation; If You Don’t Remember Something, Say So; Never Change Answers Under Pressure; and The Lawyer Will Try to Put Words in Your Mouth If I had to highlight one area that could be expanded in the 5th Edition, it would be the section on experts. Expert depositions are essential to achieving great results, but Mr. Garrity uncharacteristically does not dig deep into expert deposition tactics.
Setting that aside as something easily improved, if you are a frontline trial lawyer, you should have this book on your shelf. It sells for a reasonable legal publication price (approximately $70), and you will get your money’s worth if you take just one of Jim Garrity’s lessons to heart.
Johnny Day is trial lawyer at Sorrels Law. He represents catastrophically injured and financially defrauded clients.
EXCluSIv E SuITE, gAllERIA InnER lOOp
Private attorney-only office space conveniently located inside Houston’s 610 Loop at San Felipe. Staffed with a receptionist/office manager, with access to amenities, including high-speed internet, telephones, kitchen, two conference rooms, and covered parking. Several offices are available with window views. Call Jerry at 713-237-0222.
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, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner
Ajamie LLP
Alvarez Stauffer Bremer PLLC
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC
Buck Keenan LLP
Christian Levine Law Group, LLC
Coats | Rose
Crady, Jewett, McCulley & Houren, LLP
De Lange Hudspeth McConnell & Tibbets LLP
Dentons US LLP
Dobrowski Stafford LLP
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, Slaughter & Turet, L.L.P.
Funderburk Funderburk Courtois, LLP
Germer PLLC
Gordon Rees Scully & Mansukhani, LLP
Hagans
Henke, Williams & Boll, LLP
Hirsch & Westheimer, P.C.
Holm | Bambace LLP
Horne Rota Moos LLP
Hughes, Watters & Askanase, L.L.P.
Husch Blackwell LLP
Jackson Lewis P.C.
Jenkins & Kamin, LLP
Johnson DeLuca Kurisky & Gould, P.C.
Jordan, Lynch & Cancienne
Kean Miller
Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
Law Feehan Adams LLP
Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP
Liskow
McGinnis Lochridge
McGuireWoods LLP
McKool Smith
MehaffyWeber PC
Morris Lendais Hollrah & Snowden
Murrah & Killough, PLLC
Nathan Sommers Jacobs
Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart, P.C.
Paranjpe Mahadass Ruemke LLP
Peckar & Abramson, P.C.
Phelps Dunbar LLP
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
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, LLP
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
Shellist | Lazarz | Slobin LLP
Shipley Snell Montgomery LLP
Smith Murdaugh Little & Bonham LLP
Sorrels Law
Spencer Fane
Sponsel Miller Greenberg PLLC
Stuart PC
Taunton Snyder & Parish
Thompson & Horton LLP
Tindall England PC
Tracey & Fox Law Firm
Ware, Jackson, Lee, O’Neill, Smith & Barrow, LLP
West Mermis
Weycer, Kaplan, Pulaski & Zuber, PC
Williams Hart & Boundas, LLP
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
Andrews Myers, P.C.
Beck Redden LLP
BoyarMiller
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP
Bush & Ramirez, PLLC
Cokinos | Young
Gibbs & Bruns LLP
Hogan Lovells US LLP
Kane Russell Coleman & Logan PC
Littler Mendelson P.C.
Martin, Disiere, Jefferson & Wisdom LLP
McDowell & Hetherington LLP
Wilson Cribbs & Goren PC
Yetter Coleman LLP
firms of 50-99 attorneys
AZA Law
BakerHostetler LLP
Brown Sims, P.C.
Chamberlain Hrdlicka
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Haynes and Boone, LLP
Jackson Walker
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Susman Godfrey L.L.P.
Winstead PC
firms of 100+ attorneys
Baker Botts L.L.P.
Bracewell LLP
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
Locke Lord LLP
Norton Rose Fulbright
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
Lone Star Legal Aid
Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas
Port of Houston Authority of Harris County, Texas
1st Court of Appeals
14th Court of Appeals
