Paternity-Leave Stigma at Law Firms Lifting, Ever So Slowly

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When Chicago lawyer Lee Muench was planning his paternity leave for his first baby, an offhanded comment by an old-school partner got under his skin.

Muench had asked around about how long other partners and associates took off for paternity leave. The firm as a whole was receptive to leave, but one partner told Muench that he wouldn’t know what to do with himself after a couple of days, and his wife would want him out of the house.

The meaning was clear to Muench: Come back to work soon. Although the firm’s policy allowed 10 weeks, he decided to take four weeks off, feeling he was pushing the boundaries.

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(This story published on law.com on May 30, 2017. You can read it online with a subscription or download a PDF.)

Client Sues Divorce Lawyer Alleging Job Negotiations With Firm Representing Wife Was Conflict

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A client alleges that he accepted his divorce lawyer’s self-serving advice and took a low-ball settlement in his divorce, not knowing that the lawyer was secretly negotiating a lucrative job offer with the law firm that represented the wife. But the lawyer, James “Jake” Gilbreath, and other defendants have denied everything.

Dennis Wayne Brand alleged he accepted a $100,000 settlement, leaving his ex-wife with the couple’s $2 million community estate that included a company and two homes. Later, Gilbreath revealed to Brand that he began working for PiperBurnett, which represented Brand’s ex-wife. Gilbreath was negotiating for the job before Brand’s trial, alleged the petition in Brand v. Burnett Turner Gilbreath.

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Published on TexasLawyer.com on April 27, 2017.

PDF: Client Sues Divorce Lawyer Alleging Job Negotiations With Firm Representing Wife Was Conflict _ Texas Lawyer

Shot of Bourbon? This Big Law Partner’s Got You Covered

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Lawyers are used to filing paperwork in a pinch. But Mayer Brown partner Russell Nance was motivated like never before when armed state police raided his bourbon business, alleging he and his partners were running an illegal moonshine operation and committing a felony. Police gave them until the end of the week to secure a permit.

They completed the papers to make their new still legal in a couple of hours, recalled Nance, who said the group had just received the still and were beginning to assemble it when the police showed up.

With that initial drama behind them, Nance and his partners—Alex Toomy and Chris Sarpy—earlier this month celebrated the grand opening of their company, Ragged Branch Bourbon, a craft distillery located near Charlottesville, Virginia.

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Published on The American Lawyer’s website on April 24, 2017.

PDF: Shot of Bourbon This Big Law Partner s Got You Covered _ The American Lawyer

First Participants in the State Bar Legal Incubator Program Help to Close the Justice Gap

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It’s the first day of the rest of the lives of 10 lucky lawyers who are the first group of participants in the State Bar of Texas’s new legal incubator.

The participants in the Texas Opportunity and Justice Incubator, which opened this month, have emerged from an intense three-week boot camp that turbocharged the launches of their solo practices, which will at least in part serve poor and middle-income Texans.

“They have an entrepreneurial spirit and the desire to build something for themselves while giving back to the community,” TOJI Director Anne-Marie Rabago said. “A big piece of what these incubator programs work toward is making legal services available to those who don’t qualify for legal aid because of income or other reasons, yet can’t afford attorneys at market rates.”

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Published on TexasLawyer.com on April 21, 2017.

PDF: First Participants in the State Bar Legal Incubator Program Help to Close the Justice Gap _ Texas Lawyer

South Texas Law Prof Becomes Go-To Guy for National Media

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As a rock star among the legal media, Houston law professor Josh Blackman is on a roll.

He’s long been media savvy, but it reached a fever pitch this year as reporters from some of the biggest news organizations called on him to comment about President Donald Trump’s orders and actions dealing with the law and the courts.

Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law Houston, tracked 116 news shows and articles that quoted or cited him in just the first two months of 2017. They came all the way from local newspapers and radio stations to such national media as The New York Times, NPR and CNN, to international media such as The Globe and Mail of Canada and the BBC World Service.

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Published on TexasLawyer.com on April 10, 2017.

PDF: South Texas Law Prof Becomes Go To Guy for National Media _ Texas Lawyer

Chief Justice on Proposed Legal Aid Cuts: ‘You Can’t Just Be for the Rich Folks’

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SMU Law Professor, Students Volunteer to Help Detained Immigrants

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How Did Texas A&M Law Crack US News’ Top 100?

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Round 2 in Sanctions Fight Against Penny-Paying Lawyer

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Next week, if Austin lawyer Jeff Taylor wins sanctions again from his client’s former attorney, he’ll make a point—spelled out in a proposed order—that the sanctions must be paid by check.

The method of payment is important because of what happened last time defendant Jeffrey Kelly, owner of The Kelly Legal Group in Austin, lost a sanctions fight.

In April 2016, Kelly delivered the $706.50 he was ordered to pay Taylor’s client—all in pennies. Twenty-eight boxes of them, to be exact.

“Those things were heavy,” Taylor said.

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Published on TexasLawyer.com on March 2, 2017.

PDF: Round 2 in Sanctions Fight Against Penny Paying Lawyer _ Texas Lawyer

 

At Baylor Law, CLE Comes Before the JD

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Tough love. That’s how young lawyer Brenna Buchanan saw a new program at Baylor University School of Law that put an extra hurdle between her and the law degree she earned last year. Buchanan was among the first crop of students who made it through Baylor Law’s professional development program.

The innovative program follows a nationwide trend of law schools focusing on developing students’ professional identities as lawyers. Baylor Law’s program has surpassed those at other Texas law schools and drawn national accolades.

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Published in Texas Lawyer magazine’s March 2017 issue.

PDF: At Baylor Law CLE Comes Before the JD _ Texas Lawyer