At the last Austin Bench Bar conference, I presented with U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman on the ethical issues of using ChatGPT. This article summarizes some of the ethical issues raised in that discussion, along with some potential solutions that legal service providers are trying to use. ChatGPT is a computer program operated by a company called OpenAI. It uses

The Austin lawyers below were honored for their 50 years of service to the profession at the State Bar of Texas’s annual meeting. Anita Ashton Karen Johnson Butler Thomas William George David Biggs Kultgen Hon. Jan P. Patterson Judge Bob Perkins Jimmy Altman John C. Augustine Ron Dale Betz Evelyn Hudson Biery William P. Boone Dick Terrell Brown J. Winston

On June 24, people from across the legal community gathered at the Chateau Bellevue to laugh, connect, and even do a little “gambling.” Fully equipped with poker, blackjack, and roulette, the Austin Bar/Austin Young Lawyers Association’s Leadership Academy hosted a Casino Night and Silent Auction that transformed the downtown Austin venue into a casino on the Vegas Strip. The Austin

AYLA’s inaugural Trial Institute proved to be a great success. The sold-out event took place on June 30, 2023, in the Ceremonial Courtroom of the new Travis County Civil & Family Courts Facility. AYLA partnered with the American College of Trial Lawyers to host a day of honing trial skills using materials and testimony from the real-life espionage trial of

Travis County District Clerk Velva Price was named the County & District Clerks Association of Texas Clerk of the Year for 2023! Price was awarded her plaque at CDCAT’s 128th annual conference in June 2023 in McAllen. CDCAT’s Clerk of the Year award is presented to both a district clerk and a county clerk, each of whom should have provided

The Maryland Supreme Court has issued an opinion limiting the testimony of firearms experts. In Kobina Ebo Abruquah v. State of Maryland[1], the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County allowed a firearms examiner to testify that bullets recovered at a murder scene were fired from a gun Abruquah acknowledged was his. In so doing, the circuit court abused its discretion,

Chief Justice of the Third Court of Appeals Darlene Byrne was awarded Jurist of the Year by the Texas Chapters of the American Board of Trial Advocates (TEX-ABOTA) at their annual awards dinner in Sante Fe, New Mexico, on June 17, 2023. ABOTA’s guiding principles are preservation of an independent judiciary and the right to a trial by jury, and

Loving It Lawyers Club hosted “An Insiders Tour of the New Travis County Civil and Family Law Court Facility” on June 30, 2023. The tour was presented by Travis County District Clerk Velva Price and featured Hon. Karin Crump, presiding judge of the 250th District Court. We had about 35 people in attendance, including five lawyers with more than 25

The Austin Bar Association recently won the 2023 Deborah G. Hankinson Access to Justice Award from the Texas Access to Justice Commission. The award is given to local bar associations that demonstrate a commitment to access to justice in their communities and to raising financial support for legal service providers on a local and statewide basis. The Austin Bar won

A delegation of US legal professionals, led by former Austin Bar and Texas State Bar President Richard Pena, visited the United Arab Emirates to meet and exchange knowledge with professional counterparts, academics, and government officials. Also among the Legal Structures and Rule of Law Delegation were Kenneth Owens, administrative law judge with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission; and