THIRTY YEARS OF MENTORSHIP AND PROFESSIONALISM: Celebrating the Legacy of the Eldon B. Mahon Inn of Court in Tarrant County

By Thomas J. Williams, Haynes and Boone, LLP 2023-2024 Eldon B. Mahon Inn of Court President

In 1993, United States District Judge Eldon B. Mahon, retired 48th District Court Judge William L. Hughes, Jr., and Fort Worth attorneys Win Hooper, Mike McConnell, and Steve Tatum, applied to the American Inns of Court Foundation for a charter to organize a participating American Inn in Tarrant County. The charter was issued, and American Inn of Court CLXXXIV (that is 184 for those not current on their Roman numerals) was created. This year, that Inn, now known not by Roman numerals but by the name Eldon B. Mahon Inn of Court, celebrates its thirtieth anniversary. It remains the only Inn in Tarrant County and in September a new class of approximately 100 local attorneys and judges will begin the new Inn year.

The American Inns of Court are patterned after the English Inns of Court, an institution that dates to the 13th century. Founded in 1980 by a group of judges and lawyers led by thenChief Justice Warren E. Burger, American Inns of Court are designed to improve the skills, professionalism, and ethics of the bench and bar, primarily through continuing legal education and mentoring.

Because mentoring is a key objective of all American Inns, members are classified into groups based on years of experience, and membership terms are limited in duration in order to allow as many attorneys as possible an opportunity to participate in the Inn during one’s career. In addition, most Inns in the United States have a “pupil” category of membership consisting of students from a local law school, and the Mahon Inn is no exception: the Mahon Inn’s relationship with Texas A&M Law School is one of its great strengths, and last year twelve A&M students participated in the Mahon Inn as pupils.

The Mahon Inn’s current membership classifications are Associates, consisting of attorneys with one to four years of experience; Barristers, attorneys and judges with four to fifteen years of experience; and Masters, attorneys and judges with at least fifteen years of experience. Membership terms are two years for Associates, three years for Barristers, and five years for Masters. Those who have completed a five-year term as a Master may continue as an Emeritus member. Because the Mahon Inn is the only Inn in Tarrant County and is not a “specialized” Inn (as many Inns in Dallas are), its members reflect the full spectrum of practices—the Inn’s membership includes criminal court judges, civil court judges, prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, family law practitioners, civil litigators and corporate transaction lawyers.

It is fitting that an organization dedicated to profess- ionalism and ethics was founded by, and today is named for, Judge Eldon B. Mahon, a giant in the history of the Tarrant County legal community. For Judge Mahon, ethics, civility, and professionalism were second nature: he was proud to have been appointed to high federal office by Presidents of both major political parties, and he was one of the eleven active judges in the Northern District of Texas who signed the Dondi opinion in 1988, which set forth the proper standards of practice that still govern today. Judge Mahon was also truly a mentor, not only to his law clerks, many of whom today are judges and prominent attorneys themselves, but to the lawyers who practiced in his court. If, like me, you appeared before Judge Mahon to be admitted to practice in the Northern District of Texas, you undoubtedly remember his admonition as he signed your paperwork to “tell your client what the law is, even if it isn’t what they want to hear”—good advice no matter what your field of practice may be. g

LAWYER REFERRAL & INFORMATION SERVICE (LRIS) NEWS

By Carolina Ibarra, LRIS Director

Expand Your Clientele: Consider Joining LRIS Today!

Attorneys in Tarrant County reported over $1,000,000 in collected fees from cases they received from LRIS in July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023! Thank you to the following LRIS panel attorneys who have settled cases referred to them by the LRIS for this past year and have sent referral fees:

Christopher Albert, Jason Amon, John Barber, James Baudhuin, William Brotherton, Neal Callaway, Ola Campbell, Andrea Casanova, Bradley Clark, Breanne Clark, Allen Cox, Margaret Crosby, Anthony Cuesta, Anita Cutrer, Jane Fowler, Jonathan Fox, Stephen Geis, Douglas Hafer, Earl Hargrave, Kayla Harrington, Roger Hurlbut, Greg Jackson, Christian Jenkins, James Jinks, Bryce King, Stephen Kotara, Andrew Leibowitz, John Lively, Bruce Mansfield, Mark Mansfield, Michael Martinez, Zena McNulty, Edwardo Meza, George Muckleroy, Dustin Payne, Scott Prescher, Will Pruitt, Michael Remme, David Robinson, Karen Schroeder, Andrew Seibert, Sarah Seltzer, Jeffrey Shearer, Melissa Sircar, Carey Thompson, Whitney Vaughan, Laurie Weir, Jonathan Wharton, Bill White, Joel Whitney, and David Chris Wright

If you need clients and/or referrals, consider joining the TCBA Lawyer Referral & Information Service. We are State and ABA Certified and make an average of over 600 referrals per month. While some may not create big cases, they are