BY BONNIE NEEL, CANOPY MORTGAGE LLC Bonnie Neel is a licensed Residential Mortgage Loan Officer in California, Colorado, Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas. NMLS# 1613742. I tell all my first-time homebuyers that a mortgage is essentially made up of four categories. If you play video games, it’s helpful to think of these categories as your player stats: How you …
The Austin Young Lawyers Association held its 24th annual Evening with the Judiciary at the Austin Club on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. Each year, this reception provides AYLA members with an opportunity to share an evening of great food and even better conversation with local, state, and federal judges. AYLA members who took advantage of this opportunity were treated to …
The Austin Bar/AYLA Law-Related Education Committee invites you to volunteer your time and voice to make a difference with middle-school students! In partnership with Austin-area middle-school districts, the committee is seeking judges and attorneys to present one-hour lessons based on the book series Taming Texas. The lessons teach seventh-grade students how the state’s court system fits into the larger picture …
The following are summaries of opinions issued by the Fifth Circuit in September 2023. The summaries are overviews of particular aspects of the opinions; please review the entire opinions. MAGISTRATE JUDGE REFERRALS: Undisclosed relationship between magistrate judge and plaintiff’s lead counsel may vitiate defendant’s consent to trial before the magistrate. IFG Port Holdings, LLC v. Lake Charles Harbor & Terminal …
The following are summaries of selected civil opinions issued by the Third Court of Appeals during September 2023. The summaries are overviews; please review the entire opinions. Subsequent histories are current as of Oct. 9, 2023. FAMILY LAW: Court holds fit-parent presumption did not apply in challenged modification proceeding. Johnson v. Kimbrough, No. 03-22-00100-CV (Tex. App.—Austin Sept. 20, 2023, no …
The following is a summary of a selected criminal opinion issued by the Third Court of Appeals from May 2023. The summary is an overview; please review the entire opinion. The subsequent history is current as of Oct. 1, 2023. PUNISHMENT ENHANCEMENTS – OUT-OF-STATE CONVICTIONS: Enhancement of defendant’s sentence using out-of-state conviction was legal. Smith v. State, No. 03-21-00368-CR (Tex. App.—Austin May …
Inspiring dismay in litigators nationwide, in the now-infamous case of Mata v. Avianca, two New York lawyers submitted “non-existent judicial opinions with fake quotes and citations created by the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT” to the federal district court and continued to “to stand by the fake opinions after judicial orders called their existence into question.”1 The public release of ChatGPT …
This is the fourth 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 …
At the Oct. 5 annual conference of the National Association of Women Judges, 299th District Court Judge and Austin Bar member Karen Sage was sworn in as president. Sage was sworn in by retired Third Court of Appeals Justice Bea Ann Smith. According to the NAWJ announcement, Sage is the first Texan president of the organization in 20 years. NAWJ’s …
Judge Elisabeth Earle, who presides over Travis County Court at Law #7, has been elected to the Board of Trustees of the Texas Bar Foundation. Earle has served as presiding judge since January 2003. Earle also founded the county’s DWI Court in 2008 and continues to also serve as its presiding judge. The court’s mission is to enhance public safety …