Texas Lawyer Blog

Siegler resigns from Harris County DA’s Office

Kelly Siegler, the prosecutor who recently lost the primary election to be the Republican nominee for Harris County district attorney, resigned from the DA’s office May 9. Her resignation is effective today, says Scott Durfee, the office’s general counsel. Durfee says Siegler, who took a leave while she campaigned for office, returned to work as the chief of the Special Crimes Bureau at the DA’s office shortly after the April 8 primary election runoff. Siegler, a longtime prosecutor, lost the runoff to Pat Lykos, a former state district judge in Harris County. Lykos will face former Houston Police Chief C.O. “Brad” Bradford, the Democrats’ nominee, in the November election. The winner will fill the job that became vacant with the resignation last February of former DA Chuck Rosenthal. Siegler did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. In April, Gov. Rick Perry appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Magidson of the Southern District of Texas to serve as Harris County DA through December. In a written statement, Magidson writes, “Ms. Siegler has tirelessly served the citizens of Harris County during her long and distinguished prosecutorial career. She has been a steadfast advocate for crime victims, a pioneer in the art of cold case prosecution, and a charismatic role model for young prosecutors. Her leadership will be missed, but I am sure she will succeed in whatever she chooses as her next endeavor.”
-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

Baron & Budd, former associate victorious

On May 8, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s decision to dismiss a case in which a jury found that a former Baron & Budd associate had breached his fiduciary duty to three clients by deliberately lying to them about the status of their asbestos case. In February 2007, a federal jury in Dallas awarded Baron & Budd clients Karin Jacobs, Patria Jacobs and JoeAnn Frost $129,000 against former Baron & Budd associate Ken Tapscott. Specifically the jury found that Tapscott had breached his fiduciary duty when he “deliberately lied” to his clients by telling them that all of the asbestos defendants they sued in 1997 had agreed to settle the case when, in fact, defendant Pittsburgh Corning had not settled. The jury also found that Baron & Budd did not breach its fiduciary duty to the clients by abusing power-of-attorney agreements. In April 2007, U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater granted a defense motion for summary judgment as a matter of law in Jacobs, et al. v. William K. Tapscott Jr. and Baron & Budd, a motion the defendants had filed before the jury returned the verdict. In his opinion, Fitzwater wrote that the plaintiffs had not shown that Tapscott had breached his fiduciary duty by deliberately lying about the settlement. Rather, the judge wrote, the plaintiffs argued that concealment of the truth from them was part of Tapscott’s alleged breach of fiduciary duty, and that is not a claim that survived Fitzwater’s pretrial summary judgment ruling. “Plaintiffs’ counsel maintained that this is a concealment case,” Fitzwater wrote, referring to arguments they made opposing the summary judgment motion filed by the defendants. “Although plaintiffs’ claim has a concealment component — that Tapscott did not tell plaintiffs that Pittsburgh Corning had not settled — it functioned as the predicate for the assertion that he had deliberately lied by telling them the entire Jacobs litigation had settled," Fitzwater wrote. In a per curiam opinion released on May 8, the 5th Circuit agreed with Fitzwater. “We agree that the court correctly granted summary judgment as a matter of law,” according to the opinion. Tapscott left Baron & Budd after he was elected to Dallas County Court-at-Law No. 4 in 2006.

-- John Council

Credibility of eyewitnesses questioned

The floor of the Texas Senate chamber buzzed on May 8 with proposals to help stop wrongful convictions. What was billed by its sponsor -- state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston -- as a roundtable discussion about the prevention of wrongful convictions drew a big crowd of prosecutors and judges as well as nine of the 33 people in Texas who have been exonerated with DNA testing since 2001, according to the Justice Project, a Washington, D.C.-based group. The discussions, according to press accounts, led to a wide range of legislative and regulatory proposals being tossed around --with several focused on changing the way the criminal justice system deals with eyewitness accounts, which often are erroneous and can lead to wrongful convictions. The Associated Press reported that Ellis pledged “to sponsor a bill during next year's legislative session that would mandate police departments' use of specific procedures when presenting live lineups or photo arrays to eyewitnesses.”  The Grits for Breakfast blog noted that Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Barbara Hervey said she “is interested in pursuing either statutory or court-ordered changes in eyewitness ID methodologies.” But the Houston Chronicle reported that Jeff Blackburn, senior counsel of the Innocence Project of Texas, was not so sanguine. "For every exonerated up there [on the podium], there are probably 300 people in TDCJ [Texas Department of Criminal Justice] who are innocent and need to get out," he said.
-- Miriam Rozen

Checking paychecks

Dallas solo Betsy Whitaker, the 2003-2004 State Bar of Texas president, will head the  Judicial Compensation Commission tasked with studying judges’ salaries and making recommendations to the Texas Legislature. Gov. Rick Perry announced today that he has appointed Whitaker and eight other members of the commission. “My intent is to work with the commission to provide the analysis the Legislature needs,” Whitaker says. Part of the mix they will consider includes information about judicial compensation in the federal court system and other state court systems, she says.  The Legislature passed H.B. 3199 to create the commission. The legislation requires the commission to make recommendations to the Legislature prior to each session on what the compensation level should be for justices and judges on the Texas Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals, courts of appeals and district courts.
-- Mary Alice Robbins

Time for pomp and circumstance

The traditional May hooding ceremonies have begun at Texas’ nine American Bar Association-accredited law schools. The keynote speaker line-up includes a faculty member, members of the judiciary, the president of the American Bar Association, politicians, a governor’s chief of staff, an ambassador and a chief executive officer. Baylor associate professor of law Jeremy Counseller delivered the May 3 graduation address at Baylor University School of Law in Waco. Judge Terry R. Means, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth, will address new graduates of Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in Fort Worth on May 9. Judge Diane P. Wood of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago will address graduates on May 17 at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin. William H. Neukom, American Bar Association president and partner in Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis in Seattle, will give the graduation speech at the University of Houston Law Center on May 9. U.S. Rep. Alexander N. Green, 9th Congressional District, will deliver the graduation speech at Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston on May 10. Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett will address graduates of St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio on May 17. Brian Newby, chief of staff for Gov. Rick Perry, will be the graduation speaker at Texas Tech University School of Law in Lubbock on May 10. Antonio O. Garza Jr., U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, will speak to graduates at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in Dallas on May 17. And Richard H. Anderson, chief executive officer of Atlanta-based Delta Airlines Inc., will be the speaker at the May 17 South Texas College of Law commencement in Houston.
-- Jeanne Graham

Violation, yes. Mandamus, no.

Victims of the March 2005 explosion at the BP refinery in Texas City should have had their say before the government negotiated a plea deal in October 2007 with BP Products North America for violating the Clean Air Act, a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled on May 7 in In Re: Alisa Dean, et al. Earlier this year, 12 victims of the deadly explosion asked U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal of Houston to reject the plea deal  -- which calls for BP to pay a $50 million fine and serve three years of probation for violating the Clean Air Act -- on the ground the government violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act by failing to consult with them during plea negotiations with BP. Rosenthal denied that request, so the victims sought a writ of mandamus from the 5th Circuit to reverse Rosenthal’s decision. In their motion before the 5th Circuit, the victims complained about an order U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas of Houston granted in October 2007, based on an ex parte motion, which allowed the U.S. Department of Justice to negotiate with BP without notifying the victims in advance. Atlas granted the government’s ex parte motion because of the large number of victims and because public notice could impair plea negotiations, then panel wrote. However, the 5th Circuit panel, comprised of Jerry Smith and Jennifer Elrod, both of Houston, and Rhesa Barksdale of Jackson, Miss., wrote in the May 7 order: “We conclude that although the district court, with the best of intentions, misapplied the law and failed to accord the victims the rights conferred by the CVRA, the mandamus standard is not  satisfied.” Because of the relatively small number of victims – fewer than 200 – they should have been notified of the ongoing plea negotiations and given opportunity to talk to the government before a deal was negotiated, the panel wrote. The panel found, however, that it is confident that U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal, who will decide whether to accept or reject the $50 million plea deal, “will take heed that the victims have not been accorded their full rights under the CVRA and will carefully consider their objections and briefs.” David Perry, a partner in Perry & Haas in Corpus Christi, who represents the victims who sought the mandamus, says he will ask seek “further appellate relief.” “While we are gratified that the Fifth Circuit acknowledged that the U.S. Attorney illegally violated the rights of the victims, we are shocked at the decision of the 5th Circuit panel that the government can illegally violate the rights of criminal victims as specified in an Act of Congress with impunity,” Perry wrote in a statement. In a written statement on May 7, Donald DeGabrielle Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said he is disappointment by the 5th Circuit’s “criticism of the government’s good faith approach to meet our CVRA obligations.” Neal Chapman, a spokesman for BP, declines comment. The explosion killed 15 and injured hundreds more, and BP has spent more than $1.6 billion in settlements in civil litigation stemming from the blast.
-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

Wait and see

Robert Kepple, the executive director of the Texas District & County Attorneys Association (TDCAA) in Austin, a nonprofit representing prosecutors' interests with the Legislature, will not be attending the "Prevention of Wrongful Convictions" round-table discussions scheduled today. Instead, Kepple says, he has dispatched Shannon Edmonds, a TDCAA staff lawyer and director of government relations, to the meeting. State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) scheduled the gathering and invited Kepple, other prosecutors and members of the criminal justice system around the state. Kepple says it is premature for him to "endorse anything," as far as proposals to address the number of wrongful convictions recently exposed by Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins and Watkins' suggestion in the media that prosecutors should face potential criminal sanctions if they withhold crucial evidence from defendants. Kepple says State Bar of Texas rules currently regulate prosecutors in that regard. And Kepple's not ready to embrace potential state legislation to discipline prosecutors that don't play by the rules. He will be paying attention to what comes from Ellis' meeting, Kepple says. "I'm curious to see how it goes. You're asking for solutions, but I'm just saying, 'Let's see how it develops,' " says Kepple.
-- Miriam Rozen

UT’s longtime law library director dies

The man who took the University of Texas School of Law’s library from the days of traditional print sources into the digital age is dead at the age of 82. Roy Mersky, a UT law professor and the director of the Tarlton Law Library and Jamail Center for Legal Research died May 6 after a brief illness.  According to a UT press release, Merksy started his career at UT law school in 1965, when then-Dean Page Keeton hired him as a professor of law and director of the law library. In the release, Bill Powers, president of the University of Texas at Austin and a former dean of the law school, describes Mersky as “a giant figure” at the law school and in legal education. “He built one of the finest law libraries in the world and helped other law schools and institutions around the world build their own,” Powers writes. Mersky, a decorated World War II veteran, fought in the Battle of the Bulge when he was 17 years old, Powers writes. Mersky, also known as a civil rights advocate, participated in civil rights marches in Selma and Montgomery, Ala., during the 1960s, according to the release. “He left an enormous mark on this world and made it a far better place,” Powers writes. Jeanne Price, Tarlton Law Library's associate director for patron services, says the law school will host a public memorial service for Mersky in the fall.
-- Mary Alice Robbins

It’s still the Roger and Rusty show

On May 6, U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison of the Southern District of Texas denied a motion filed by former trainer Brian McNamee that sought to disqualify Houston lawyer Rusty Hardin and his firm from representing pitching ace Roger Clemens in a defamation suit, William Roger Clemens v. Brian McNamee. Ellison ruled that McNamee, who has alleged Clemens used performance-enhancing substances, lacks standing to object to Hardin’s representation of Clemens on the ground that Hardin and Rusty Hardin & Associates also briefly represented Clemens’ former teammate Andy Pettitte. Ellison wrote that the conflict is not “manifest and glaring,” and Pettitte has not chosen to raise or support the motion for disqualification. “The Court is certain that today’s decision will not shake the public’s confidence in the legal system, especially since Pettitte can come forward to object to Hardin’s and RH&A’s representation if he is truly aggrieved,” Ellison wrote. Clemens has denied McNamee’s allegations.

-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

Strip clubs seek emergency help at high court

Strip clubs have turned to the Texas Supreme Court in an attempt to stop the state from collecting the $5-a-head “pole tax” that the state Legislature passed in 2007. In a motion for emergency temporary relief and a petition for mandamus filed May 5, the clubs argue that the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that exotic nude or topless dancing is protected speech under the First Amendment. The clubs further argue in In Re: Texas Entertainment Association Inc., et al. that the nation’s highest court has held that a tax on protected speech suppresses it. “The State tax challenged in this case is expressly imposed on protected speech,” the clubs allege in their motion and petition. In March, Austin’s 53rd District Judge Scott Jenkins held in Texas Entertainment Association, et al. v. Combs, et al. that the $5 cover fee imposed by Subchapter B, Chapter 47 of the Texas Business & Commerce Code on sexually oriented businesses that feature live nude entertainment violates those businesses’ First Amendment rights. Jenkins enjoined the state from collecting the tax. The state appealed Jenkins’ judgment to Austin’s 3rd Court of Appeals, and the state began collecting the fee April 21. The club owners sought to enforce the injunction, but 345th District Judge Stephen Yelenosky ruled against them April 17. The 3rd Court denied the club owner’s emergency motion for temporary relief April 21. In their mandamus petition, the club owners are asking the state Supreme Court to order the trial court or the 3rd Court to enforce the injunction. The club owners argue in the petition that allowing the state to collect the tax while the case is on appeal sets a dangerous precedent. “Now, anytime any governmental entity wants to suppress unpopular speech, it can simply levy a tax directly on that speech, knowing that even if it  ultimately loses, it will have years of appellate review during which it can suppress and perhaps ultimately silence the speech,” the club owners argue in the petition. The Supreme Court has given the Texas Office of the Attorney General until May 15 to file a response, according OAG spokesman Tom Kelley. The OAG will have no comment on the case at this time, Kelley says. 
-- Mary Alice Robbins

Violate Brady, go to prison?

Here’s a proclamation that’s probably going to hurt Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins' chances of making friends within the membership of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association: He believes prosecutors who knowingly withhold evidence from the defense should face the possibility of criminal charges. Watkins told The Dallas Morning News: “If the harm is a great harm, yes, it should be criminalized.” Watkins certainly has the floor as of late, after he played a role in last week's release of the 17th inmate from prison based on a DNA test -- a story featured on "60 Minutes" on Sunday. And it seems Watkins is getting a little tired of what he has found after reviewing some of the prosecutions that happened before he was elected in 2006. According to a press release from the DA's office, Watkins’ Conviction Integrity Unit found that prosecutors allegedly did not disclose exculpatory evidence in the case of James Lee Woodard, who was freed from prison last week after spending 27 years there. It's not a criminal offense for prosecutors to violate the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brady v. Maryland, which requires them to release favorable and possibly exculpatory evidence to criminal-defense lawyers. The article says prosecutors are rarely punished through the State Bar of Texas disciplinary process for Brady violations.
--- John Council

Wrongful-convictions roundtable

On May 8, state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, will greet more than 30 individuals representing the criminal justice system in Texas, including DAs, judges and police chiefs, for a roundtable discussion he proposed on the topic “Prevention of Wrongful Convictions.” Among the participants will be Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, who recently pitched the idea that there should be punitive actions for prosecutors who intentionally hide evidence from defendants and their counsel, and whose office ushered in a new era in Texas last year by inviting the nonprofit Innocence Project to review case files, a move that has led to the exoneration of 17 wrongfully convicted individuals.  “[T]he goal of this initial roundtable discussion is to kick off an ongoing dialogue among the major decision-makers in the criminal justice system to address the disturbing number of wrongful convictions proven by post-conviction DNA testing in Texas, seek to reach a consensus on the underlying causes of those tragedies and identify solutions to prevent those tragedies from occurring in the future,” Ellis wrote in a May 1 letter to the individuals scheduled to attend the roundtable.

-- Miriam Rozen

A civil experience

Clients who come to see Randy Schaffer in his downtown Houston law office are usually there for two reasons: They’re in a mess of criminal trouble and they want Schaffer to get them out of it. So Schaffer was surprised when Robert Vela came to see him in 2006. Vela had been arrested and charged with aggravated robbery after a scuffle at a grocery store, but another criminal-defense attorney already had convinced the Harris County DA’s Office to dismiss the charge. Rather, Vela wanted Schaffer to help him sue the grocery store, whose clerks allegedly had falsely accused Vela of aggravated robbery and had him arrested. Schaffer was referred the case by another Houston lawyer, David Bires, who knew that Schaffer had handled a few malicious prosecution cases before. So Schaffer took Vela’s case on a contingent-fee basis and filed Vela v. Saniff Inc. d/b/a Parkway Supermarket in the 164th District Court in Harris County. After a three-day trial, Schaffer won a $1.2 million verdict for Vela on April 30. The jury agreed with Schaffer’s arguments that Vela had been assaulted by the defendant's employees and had been maliciously prosecuted. Defense lawyer William Harmeyer of Houston’s Harmeyer & Associates says he argued that the clerks and the store had a right to self-defense and protection of property. The rare civil-suit experience was a welcome change for Schaffer, he says. “It was like being on vacation in Hawaii, being in civil court where nobody goes to prison and nobody gets executed,” Schaffer says. “It was a nice little case. I make a little money and nobody goes to jail.’’ Harmeyer plans to appeal the verdict. He adds that Schaffer, aside from pushing the jury’s emotional buttons, did a good job. “Randy is an excellent lawyer,’’ Harmeyer says.
-- John Council

Cruz cruising to Morgan Lewis

Ted Cruz, Texas' solicitor general for more than five years, will join Morgan Lewis & Bockius as a partner in the firm’s litigation practice in Houston on May 12, the firm announced today.  “Ted is a phenomenal talent,” James D. Pagliaro, firmwide leader of Morgan Lewis’ litigation practice, says of Cruz.  When necessitated by his caseload, Cruz also will work in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office, Pagliaro says.  Cruz will help lead the effort to build Morgan Lewis’ U.S. Supreme Court and national appellate practice, according to the news release announcing that Cruz will join the firm. Brady Edwards, managing partner of Morgan Lewis’ Houston office, says in the release that Cruz’s “reputation – not just as the person who has argued more cases before the U.S. Supreme Court than any other lawyer in Texas, but as a lawyer’s lawyer – will be a tremendous addition to our growing team.” While serving as Texas’ first Hispanic solicitor general, Cruz successfully defended the state in Medellin v. Texas. On March 25, the nation’s highest court affirmed the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ ruling in Medellin that neither a decision by the International Court of Justice or a directive from President George W. Bush is binding on Texas courts in the case of a Mexican national on death row. In 2006’s League of United Latin American Citizens, et al. v. Perry, et al., Cruz successfully defended 31 of the 32 new congressional districts that the Texas Legislature drew in 2003.  Cruz also successfully defended the Ten Commandments monument on the Texas Capitol grounds in 2005’s Van Orden v. Perry. As noted in the Morgan Lewis release, Cruz has presented 31 oral arguments, including eight in the U.S. Supreme Court. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Cruz served as a law clerk in 1995 to then-4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Michael Luttig and in 1996 to then-U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.  Cruz did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
-- Mary Alice Robbins

Same building, new horizons

Kathleen Campbell Walker didn't move her office very far -- only three floors in the same building. But the immigration lawyer and former partner in El Paso’s Kemp Smith, who announced on April 29 that she had moved to the El Paso office of Brown McCarroll, believes that, with the move, she, the other partner and two associates who moved with her will be opening doors to represent statewide clients. With offices in Dallas, Houston, Austin, and El Paso, Brown McCarroll offers “a bigger operation when trying to get on the stage with clients throughout the state,” says Walker.  She notes that partner Edward Rios and associates Lisa Rios and Micaela Guthrie — the entire former Kemp Smith immigration practice — made the move to Brown McCarroll with her. Guthrie confirms she moved with Walker, but neither Edward nor Lisa Rios immediately returned a call seeking comment.
-- Miriam Rozen

February bar results

There are 762 more lawyers now eligible to practice in the Lone Star State. The Texas Board of Law Examiners has released the results of the February bar exam. Those 762 people represent 71.08 percent of the 1,072 people who took the February exam for the first time or as a repeat exam, according to the Texas BLE. That's a little better than those who sweated through the test last February, with a 64.86 percent pass rate (705 of 1,087 test takers).
-- Jeanne Graham

Deal breaker: Beaumont

John L. Ratcliffe expects to leave his post as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas on May 9, when Becky Gregory, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate April 29, steps into the job. He plans to move into the private sector and consult on anti-terrorism products with venture capitalists and defense contractors. As interim U.S. attorney, he never moved to Beaumont, where the district headquarters are located. He says his unwillingness to relocate to Beaumont was a deal breaker when he discussed the possibility of his nomination for U.S. attorney with Texas' two U.S. senators, who are responsible for submitting a candidate to the White House. Ratcliffe says he didn’t want to make the move, since he didn’t expect any appointment to last beyond the Bush administration’s tenure, but that the senators wanted the U.S. attorney to reside in Beaumont. Gregory did not immediately return a call seeking comment.  Matt Mackowiak, a spokesman from U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, referred all questions to U.S. Senator John Cornyn’s office, since he is on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Cornyn did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.
-- Miriam Rozen

Going the distance

Kay Lyn Schwartz completed the April 21 Boston Marathon in just more than four hours. Lyn, an intellectual property partner in Gardere Wynne Sewell in Dallas, finished the 26.2-mile run with a time of 4:06:55. “It was great fun,” says Schwartz. Her average pace for the event was 9.25 minutes per mile, despite suffering from a leg muscle injury that forced her to slow down during the last 1.5 miles. “I did have to walk at the end of the race,” she says. Schwartz decided to enjoy the event instead of getting angry or disappointed about the injury. “I elected to enjoy the people,” she says. “I had the best time coming in. I ran when I could and kind of hobbled. It’s what you make of it. I smiled at people, and they cheered me on.” Schwartz says she started running again four days after the marathon. “Since I’ve been back, I’ve done a 10-miler,” she says. “In the scheme of things, that is nothing.”
-- Jeanne Graham

Francisca Medina turns herself in

Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina accompanied his wife, Francisca, to the Harris County Jail late yesterday, where she turned herself in to sheriff’s deputies and was released shortly after posting $42,000 bail for three felony arson counts, according to one of her attorneys.  “She’s doing well,” says John Parras, an associate with Houston’s Deguerin & Dickson. “She’s confident in her innocence and upset that this has come back.” Francisca Medina will be arraigned before 176th District Court Judge Brian Rains on May 20. Medina and his wife, Francisca, were previously both indicted on Jan. 17 in connection with the June 28, 2007, fire that damaged the Medinas’ home and neighboring homes in Spring. But Rains dismissed those indictments on Jan. 18 at the request of the Harris County District Attorney’s office on the ground that there was insufficient evidence. On Jan. 22, 263rd District Judge Jim Wallace ruled that the original grand jury was not properly impaneled. But on April 30, the DA’s office took the case before a second grand jury, which indicted Francisca Medina but declined to indict her husband. “I think that it’s a shame that’s she’s been indicted,” Parras says. “This case has been going backwards.”
--- John Council

Burnt orange lights up

The tower at The University of Texas at Austin usually blazes with orange lights when one of the school’s sports teams scores a win. But for the seventh time since 1999, UT held a tower lighting April 29 in recognition of a UT School of Law team’s win of a national championship. UT law team members Jared Hoggan and Alexis Steinberg defeated a Loyola Law School Los Angeles team to claim the 2008 national championship in the Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Intellectual Property Moot Court Competition. Hosted by the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the national rounds of the competition took place April 17-18 in Washington, D.C. In recognition of the win chalked up by Hoggan and Steinberg, the orange-lit UT tower featured the number 1 on it. Austin solo Jennifer Kuhn and her husband, Pierre Hubert, a principal in the Austin office of McKool Smith, coached the UT law teams that participated in the competition. 
-- Mary Alice Robbins