Texas Supreme Court to State Bar board: try again

This sounds like déjà vu all over again. In June 2008, the State Bar of Texas board of directors decided not to make a recommendation to the state Supreme Court on whether the state should have a rule requiring lawyers to disclose whether they carry legal-malpractice insurance. The board took no action after a State Bar task force voted 6-5 against a disclosure rule. The issue did not go away, however. In a June 1 report to the Supreme Court, the Grievance Oversight Committee -- which is appointed by the high court -- recommended that the court adopt a rule that would require lawyers who do not have legal-malpractice coverage to notify clients in writing of that fact. Now, the Supreme Court wants the Bar board to take another look. Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson makes that request in a June 23 letter to Harper Estes, the State Bar’s immediate past president, and Roland Johnson, Bar president. In his letter, Jefferson asks the Bar board to review the Bar task force’s report and make a recommendation before February 2010. Johnson, a shareholder in Harris, Finley & Bogle in Fort Worth, says the Bar board welcomes the Supreme Court’s request and believes the court has given the board a fair time to consider the issue. Johnson says he anticipates the board will vote on the issue at its January 2010 meeting.
-- Mary Alice Robbins