One of the great honors that I have had over the past 13 years is to work as the Director of the State Bar’s Advanced Trial Strategies (ATS) course. This elite course, given in New Orleans each February, is designed for lawyers with 20+ years’ experience. Our committee’s aim is to get the best speakers, to bring important information to

Austin Bar Member Paul Matula, Assistant City Attorney’s Office, for Respondents Borgelt v. Austin Firefighters Assoc. IAFF Local 975, No. 22-1149 The main issue in this case is whether a provision in a collective bargaining agreement that allocates a pool of paid leave to further a union’s interests violates any “Gift Clause” in the Texas Constitution (Art. III, Secs. 50, 51, 52(a) and

The Austin chapters of the American Inns of Court are accepting applications for the 2024-25 terms. The American Inns of Court are designed to improve the skills, professionalism, and ethics of the bench and bar. Information about the American Inns of Court can be found at www.innsofcourt.org. Each inn meets monthly. The deadline to apply is May 31, 2024. Interested applicants should

On behalf of the Austin Bar Association’s DEI Committee, I am excited to invite members of the Austin legal community to our annual Equity Summit.  This year’s CLE program will be held on Thursday, May 23, 2024, from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Austin Community College Rio Grande Campus, 1212 Rio Grande St, Austin, TX 78701. The theme for

By Eleanor Klibanoff, The Texas Tribune Republished with permission from The Texas Tribune. Michael Simington wasn’t one to see a doctor. But when the 67-year-old retired welder started having trouble urinating, he knew something was wrong. He saw Dr. Ruben Garcia, a urologist in Corsicana in October 2019. A biopsy showed he had prostate cancer. But Garcia didn’t share those

It is with immense gratitude that I write to announce that I will retire from service as associate judge for the District Courts of Travis County on May 31, 2024. I have enjoyed my service on the bench as an associate judge in Travis County and, before that, as the first associate judge for the Child Protection Court of Central

At the American Bar Association’s 39th National Institute on White Collar Crime, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced the formation of a Department of Justice (DOJ)-run rewards program for whistleblowers.  “The premise is simple,” Monaco said during her remarks in San Francisco on March 7, 2024. “If an individual helps DOJ discover significant corporate or financial misconduct—otherwise unknown to

The following are summaries of selected criminal opinions issued by the Third Court of Appeals in October 2023.  The summaries are overviews of particular aspects of the opinions; please review the entire opinions. Subsequent histories are current as of April 1, 2024. BURDEN OF PROOF – DUE DILIGENCE: Trial court did not abuse its discretion by prohibiting defense counsel from

The following are summaries of selected civil opinions issued by the Third Court of Appeals in March 2024. The summaries are overviews of particular aspects of the opinions; please review the entire opinions. Subsequent histories are current as of April 9, 2024. GOVERNMENTAL IMMUNITY:  Court holds agency is immune from takings claim. Texas State Library & Archives Comm’n v. Westmoreland,

The Austin Bar Association has announced the 2024 winners of the Joseph C. Parker Jr. Diversity Award, the Regina Rogoff Award, the Professionalism Award, and the Larry F. York Mentoring Award. The winner of the Joseph C. Parker Jr. Diversity Award is Manuel Escobar, partner at McGinnis Lochridge. The winner of the Professionalism Award is V. Blayre Pena. The winner