The Commission for Lawyer Discipline is seeking to take the law license of an Austin solo practitioner who was indicted in a murder-for-hire plot, but instead received deferred adjudication for possessing and intending to deal heroin. In a petition for compulsory discipline, the commission noted that James N. Walker was indicted in Travis County on …
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Some Law Schools Take the Lead in Students’ Well-Being, Report Finds
Published in The National Law Journal on Aug. 17, 2017. Many law schools across the country run programs to help stressed out or depressed students, some of whom struggle with alcohol or drug problems. There’s more work to do. The National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being said in a report released earlier this week that law schools …
How Law Firms Can Help Their Lawyers’ Well-Being
Law firms in Texas need to change to address a crisis in the legal profession. As a follow-up to a shocking 2016 report showing that one in three lawyers are problem drinkers and one in four have depression, a national task force has made recommendations for law firms, judges, bar associations and law schools to …
Federal Judge’s Incentive Gives Women Lawyers More Speaking Roles in Court
In light of a recent study showing female lawyers aren’t getting many speaking roles in the courtroom, one federal judge in Texas noted that she’s indirectly increased opportunities for women attorneys by encouraging firms to send young lawyers to argue at hearings. While trying to provide courtroom experience to young lawyers in the age of …
Disciplinary Suit Filed Against Lawyer for Filing Frivolous Legal Mal Case
Mark Womack, a Houston solo practitioner who beat back a legal malpractice case after eight years of litigation, said he’s gratified that the State Bar of Texas filed a disciplinary lawsuit against the lawyer who represented the plaintiff who sued him. The Commission for Lawyer Discipline sued Houston solo practitioner Armando Lopez in Harris County …
Don’t Know What Blockchain Is? You Should. This Law Prof Can Help.
Bitcoin. Ethereum. Blockchain. It sounds like a foreign language, clouded in mystery. But with billions of dollars flowing through cryptocurrency systems, and governments and major companies looking to blockchain technology to reform a wide variety of critical record-keeping systems, law students and lawyers need to get up to speed. Even with great change brewing, only …
$30M in Bitcoin Ordered Returned in Cryptocurrency Class Action
A federal judge has ordered the return of 11,000 bitcoins worth about $30 million in a decision considered the first of its kind. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida stems from a class action in which plaintiffs alleged that the defendant had …
Surviving Law School: Advice From Those Who Know
As summer winds to an end, a new crop of law students is preparing for the grueling first year of law school, and veteran students are gearing up to return to studying. Before Texas law schools open their doors for a new school year in late August, Texas Lawyer reached out to members of law …
GC Impact Player: Toyota Motor North America GC Sandra Phillips Rogers
As general counsel of one of the country’s largest automakers, Sandra Phillips Rogers oversees very busy legal happenings every day, yet she always sets aside time for her passion: making the legal profession more diverse. At Toyota Motor North America Inc., Rogers has already built a diverse team of lawyers in her legal department. Her …
ABA Fines, Publicly Censures Law School
Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law was publicly censured and must pay $15,000 for not complying with an American Bar Association standard that prohibits schools from discriminating against faculty members. In the public censure, the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar also found Thurgood Marshall Law violated an ABA …