Steve Schulwolf is the new chair of the Austin Bar’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section. For those unacquainted, his career path might sound familiar: He started off working for Big Law in Chicago. Then, when he moved to Austin in 2019 because his wife got a job here, he decided to transition to ADR. “I’ve always thought about doing it, and

Legal writers should always aim for grammatically correct prose. Why? To me, the key reason is to establish and maintain your credibility: When readers see that you know how to write correctly, they are also likely to believe that you stated the facts and law correctly and presented accurate, valid arguments, explanations, or advice. But occasionally, grammar itself becomes an

The following are summaries of selected civil opinions issued by the Third Court of Appeals during June and July 2023. The summaries are an overview; please review the entire opinion. Subsequent histories are current as of August 9, 2023. Administrative law – Emails with agency staff insufficient to constitute request for hearing. Udenze v. Johnston, No. 03-22-00084-CV (Tex. App.—Austin June

FEDERAL PREEMPTION: Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) does not preempt Texas law charging out-of-state citizens higher tuition than Texas residents, including noncitizens not lawfully present in the country. Young Conservatives of Tex. Found. v. Smatresk, 2023 WL 4419365 (5th Cir. July 10, 2023) The IIRIRA’s express preemption provision directs that “an alien who is not lawfully present

Competency to stand trial – Trial court did not err by failing to sua sponte convene an informal inquiry into whether defendant was competent to stand trial. Vaughan v. State, No. 03-22-00038-CR (Tex. App.—Austin Mar. 30, 2023, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication). Vaughan spit on a detention officer while in jail and was charged with the offense

Some people are terrified of heights. Others are scared of public speaking. What should keep attorneys up at night is a little-known law called the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA)[1]. The CTA is a new, groundbreaking federal reporting law for business entities that may leave your office inundated with calls from disgruntled clients blaming you for failing to warn them about

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Austin Bar Association membership or the Austin Bar Association board of directors. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Austin Bar Association membership or the Austin Bar

This is the second in a series of eight articles about the Travis County Forensic Mental Health Project. The Travis County Forensic Mental Health Project delivered its recommendations to the Travis County Commissioners in March 2023. The goal of these recommendations is to provide solutions other than jail to address mental health and substance abuse disorders in the county. Recommendation

House Bill 4628 was passed by the 88th Texas Legislature and establishes clear communication requirements between law enforcement and forensics labs. The bill went into effect Sept. 1, and requires crime labs to notify a law enforcement agency within 30 days when they obtain a match from DNA or other forensic evidence. Within five business days of this first notification,

Far too many American adults have no will and have granted no powers of attorney. Surveys say the number is as high as 60%. One of the big barriers is the cost of preparing an estate plan as compared to what people have to leave behind. Costs range from free for DIY solutions for very simple distributions; to hundreds of