The Austin Bar Association and Austin Bar Foundation are proud to announce the winners of the 2024 Distinguished Lawyer and David H. Walter Community Excellence awards! Edna Ramón Butts, Marcy Hogan Greer, and Randy Howry have won Distinguished Lawyer awards, and Jeff Edwards has won the David H. Walter Community Excellence Award. The Distinguished Lawyer Award  recognizes the dedication and

The Austin Bar Foundation Gala is just around the corner, and it will be bigger and better than ever! On Jan. 27, 2024, we will be returning to our longtime home at the Four Seasons for a storybook experience. Our “Once Upon a Time” theme will include many of the experiences from years past that you have come to know

Congratulations to Austin Bar member and former Austin Mayor Steve Adler, who has joined Fritz Byrne PLLC as partner. Adler will handle eminent-domain cases for the firm while also maintaining his teaching positions at St. Edward’s University, UT’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, and Huston-Tillotson University. Congratulations to Austin Bar member Rep. Lulu Flores, who won the Texas

Editor’s Note This is Wayne Schiess’ final column for Austin Lawyer. His first “Opening Statement” column appeared in the July/August 2007 issue. Since then, he has consistently contributed to our magazine. His dedication to the improvement of legal writing has been invaluable to Austin Lawyer and its readers. From everyone at the Austin Bar, we sincerely thank you, Wayne, for

In the early 1990s, the realm of child protection was a disjointed labyrinth of communication that left both children and the community vulnerable to the horrors of child abuse. The system comprised a convoluted web of agencies, marked by a lack of comprehensive training and woeful communication. This patchwork approach posed a dire threat to the safety of children within

The Austin Young Lawyers Association won four 2023 American Bar Association (ABA) awards – the most of any organization this year. AYLA won Most Outstanding Single Project – Service to the Bar for the 2022 Family Fall Festival. For Texas District 25, AYLA also won Service to the Public – Local Level – Division C for the 2022 Crawfish Boil

Floyd Real Estate, LLC has been awarded AYLA’s 2023 Sponsor Award!  Floyd Real Estate is owned by AYLA sustaining members Dave Floyd and Sara Foskitt. In addition to being attorneys, they are both also real estate brokers.  Floyd and Foskitt have both served on many different AYLA committees, taken part in the inaugural class of the AYLA/Austin Bar Leadership Academy,

Jason LaFond is an Austin-based appellate litigator with significant experience before the Fifth Circuit. He is a Senior Counsel at Yetter Coleman, LLP. The following are summaries of opinions issued by the Fifth Circuit in October 2023. The summaries are overviews of particular aspects of the opinions; please review the entire opinions. TAX INJUNCTION ACT: Act did not preclude residents

The following are summaries of selected civil opinions issued by the Third Court of Appeals during October 2023. The summaries are an overview; please review the entire opinion. Subsequent histories are current as of Nov. 7, 2023. FAMILY LAW: Court affirms fraud-on-the-community judgment. Rue v. Rue, No. 03-22-00758-CV (Tex. App.—Austin Oct. 6, 2023, no pet. h.) (mem. op.). The trial

The following are summaries of selected criminal opinions issued by the Third Court of Appeals from June 2023. The summaries are overviews; please review the entire opinions. Subsequent histories are current as of Nov. 1, 2023. POLICE INTERROGATIONS – TRANSLATION ISSUES: Trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting police-interrogation video over defense objections regarding the accuracy and constitutional