The whistleblowers who have accused Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of crimes in office have raised serious allegations, but any prosecution based on their complaint is likely to face an uphill battle, according to criminal law experts. Pages and pages of details of the criminal allegations became public last week when four of the seven …
Can She Say That? Texas Judge Sanctioned Over ‘Pussyhat’, Comment About Governor
A pink beanie with cat ears that she called her “pussyhat” while talking about reproductive health care has brought a public admonition for former Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt. But a prominent First Amendment attorney said he thinks the sanction is unconstitutional. Eckhardt, who resigned this year to run—and win—a race for the Texas Senate, was …
‘Political Theater’: Ethics Experts Expect Cruz, Hawley Disbarment Petitions to Fall Flat
Experts say it’s unlikely that a petition seeking disbarment of Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, for allegedly lying about election fraud and inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection would spur bar prosecutors to launch discipline cases. But one of the seven Yale Law School students who organized the petition, which has garnered nearly 11,000 signatures in …
Seeking to Squelch ‘Litigation Maker,’ Texas Tort Reformers Eye COVID-19 Liability Bill
When it comes to laws making it harder to sue over COVID-19 exposure, Texas lawmakers during this year’s legislative session will get the chance to join other states and the federal government. Behind the scenes of the legislative session, a coalition of tort reform lobbyists and business associations are putting the final touches on a bill …
I Now Pronounce You Sued: Wedding Industry Becomes Target for Growing COVID-19 Refund Litigation
Brides and grooms whose festivities were sidelined by the coronavirus are mad about not getting refunds from their wedding venues, and they’re not going to take it. Across Texas and other states, the unhappy couples or their parents have been filing lawsuits against wedding venues, seeking refunds of their deposits. This wedding litigation is a …
‘A Nightmare Out Here’: Another Texas Lawyer Dies of COVID-19
Lawrence Barber, who practiced in Odessa for 58 years and developed a fierce reputation for battling hard for his clients in court, died Dec. 12 of COVID-19. Barber likely contracted COVID-19 in early November from one of his criminal-defense clients, who was brought from the local jail to the Ector County Courthouse for a pretrial …
COVID-19 has hit lawyers in the pocketbook
Using Google Forms, I designed a survey that asked questions about how the pandemic had impacted attorneys’ ability to attract clients, file new cases, and earn money. We sent the survey out nationally and received over 300 responses. I used a spreadsheet, pivot tables and pie chart graphics to analyze the results. Here is the …
Judicial election coverage in 2020
I created a system using Google Forms to email out an online questionnaire to all of the candidates who were running in contested races in the Texas primary in March, primary runoffs in July and in November’s general election. Texas Lawyer published hundreds of Q&A articles with the candidates, organized them into voter guides, and …
Racism and discrimination in the Texas legal profession
During the summer of 2020, Texas attorneys became enraged over comments that State Bar of Texas President Larry McDougal made on Facebook about Black Lives Matter and other topics. The fiasco launched a wide discussion about ongoing issues of racism, sexism and discrimination in the legal profession. Lawyers pushed for reform, and the Texas Bar …
Investigation into the Wood County justice system
Buried within a 26-page lawsuit, which I covered as a daily story, was one sentence about a Texas district attorney resigning because he was being investigated for official oppression. Curious, I asked the plaintiff’s lawyer if she knew why the prosecutor was under investigation. The investigation report that she emailed me prompted me to start …