April 3 marks the one-year anniversary of the biggest family law case in Texas history — In the Interest of 330 Children From the YFZ Ranch — in which Child Protective Services removed several hundred children from the Yearning for Zion Ranch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a polygamist compound in Eldorado. The case tested the Texas civil justice system in unprecedented ways, as more than 300 volunteer lawyers represented the children as ad litems in removal proceedings held in the 51st District Court. The case eventually was resolved in May 2008 after the Texas Supreme Court ruled in In Re: Texas Department of Family and Protective Services on Petition for Mandamus that the removals were not warranted. As a result of the opinion, all of the 416 removed children eventually were returned to their parents. The massive case had some big lessons, says Aubrey Connatser , a partner in Dallas' Koons Fuller Vanden Eykel & Robertson who volunteered to represent a child in the proceedings. "I think we learned some high hurdles that have to be overcome before children can be removed from their parents," she says. While Connatser is board certified in family law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization , she worked alongside oil and gas and civil-defense lawyers from across the state, all of whom pitched in to represent the children. "Lawyers in Texas are very generous, and they will certainly answer the call when it goes out," says Tom Vick , a partner in Weatherford's Vick Carney & Smith who helped recruit and organize the volunteer lawyers.
-- John Council
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