Texas Lawyer Blog

This Week in Texas Lawyer

Shaping STCL: From ratings to recruitment, the new dean of South Texas College of Law explains his vision for the law school's future to reporter Miriam Rozen.

You're not the boss of me: Senior reporter John Council checks out a decision holding that U.S. district courts don't always have to defer to the rulings of MDL courts.

Sparks fly: Senior reporter Mary Alice Robbins looks in to a fight over legal fees that resulted from the settlement of the Pedernales Electric Cooperative Inc. litigation.

Approach the bench: Senior reporter John Council sits down with a former engineer who specialized in automotive crash safety who later followed his love for public service onto the bench.

Act of contrition: Senior reporter Brenda Sapino Jeffreys talks to the lawyer who represented James M. Davis, the former CFO for Stanford Financial Group and Standford International Bank Ltd. David Finn says Davis "had a very heavy heart the first time I met him."

Uh-oh: Suzanne Howe offers advice for 3Ls who don't have an offer.

Fish & Richardson to close Austin office by end of 2009

Fish & Richardson, which does intellectual property and commercial work and litigation, will close its Austin office by the end of the year. Some of the 25 lawyers currently working in Austin will move to other firm offices, says Thomas Melsheimer, managing principal of the firm’s 55-lawyer Dallas office. “We’ve got some immensely talented people down there that we hate to lose, but we are facing the same economic conditions that our clients are facing and other firms are facing,” Melsheimer says. “Like a lot of firms, we are bigger than we need to be for the work that is available,” he says.  Melsheimer says many of the Austin lawyers would be welcomed with open arms at other Fish & Richardson offices, but he expects many to seek employment at other firms because they want to stay in Austin. “It’s hard to get people out of Austin,” he says. Melsheimer says the decision to close the Austin office came down this week. He says the firm will maintain a Texas presence through the Dallas office, which he says is the busiest and most profitable in the firm, and the 10-lawyer Houston office, which is less than a year old. In a written statement provided by Peter Devlin, the Boston-based president of Fish & Richardson, the firm said the decision to close the Austin office resulted from “strategic decisions to invest the firm's resources in ways that build on our fundamental strengths and core competencies.” The firm will “assist those who are affected with a severance program.” Alan Albright, the managing principal in Austin, could not be reached for immediate comment.

-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

Harris County Judge Don Jackson charged with misdemeanor

Harris County Criminal District Court-at-Law No. 3 Judge Don Jackson was indicted yesterday on a misdemeanor charge of official oppression. As alleged in the indictment, Jackson made “unwanted sexual advances” toward a woman who was identified by The Houston Chronicle as a DWI defendant in Jackson’s court. Jackson offered to get the woman “a different attorney to get her case dismissed if she would be interested in [Jackson] and enter into a relationship with him that was more than a one-night stand,” the indictment alleges. Jackson did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment; neither did his Houston attorney Clay Rawlings. But Rawlings told the Chronicle that Jackson will plead not guilty. According to a press release from the Office of Court Management for the Harris County Criminal Courts at Law, a copy of Jackson’s indictment is being sent to Seana Willing, executive director of the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct. The commission will decide if suspension is appropriate, and if so, whether it should be with or without pay. The release quotes the Texas Constitution as it relates to judicial discipline: “Any person holding an office specified in this subsection may be suspended from office with or without pay by the Commission immediately on being indicted by a State or Federal grand jury for a felony offense or charged with a misdemeanor involving official misconduct.” Willing did not immediately return a call for comment.  Harris County ADA Matthew Peneguy also did not immediately return a telephone call.

-- John Council

Fashion Fridays: How to read the September issues

For months I’ve been anticipating the release of the R.J. Cutler film "The September Issue", which chronicles the making of and masterpiece that was Vogue magazine’s September 2007 issue. It’s rare to find a 30 second YouTube clip of Anna Wintour, the magazine’s longtime editor-in-chief, let alone two hours of footage, interviews and behind-the-scenes intel surrounding the year’s most anticipated issue.  I’m particularly excited to see the personalities behind the decisions that fill 800+ pages with tweed coats, tall boots and other fabulous fall accessories (never mind that 700 of those pages are equally delicious ads). For example, who suggested Marchesa for the cover among all of the other influential designers who made big splashes with their fall lines that year?     Considering the number of fashion magazines filling my mailbox monthly, I fully expect to spend at least one lazy Sunday morning poring through thousands of pages of September-issue fashion in the next few weeks. And I’m bound to get at least a little frustrated when I realize I cannot afford all three of the boldly colored designer topcoats suggested by one of the ultra savvy contributors.  (After all, I do live in Dallas now, where “fall” lasts approximately 30 days before transitioning to temperatures we call “spring” up north.) So how can I avoid being overwhelmed by this season’s items that are missing from my closet? A while back I came across an article discussing how to read a newspaper. The author acknowledged how daunting the pages of small print can be for someone who doesn’t regularly read a paper. And there seems to be an unwritten rule that a newspaper must always be read in its entirety. But what about the headlines that simply don’t interest you? Must you read those stories, too? Apparently not; instead, the author suggested, view the newspaper as a buffet to be enjoyed at your leisure and according to your taste.  Read as much or as little as you like and feel no guilt. I’ll take a similar approach to reading the September issues this year. The magazines’ responsibility is to pack as much information (and advertising) about the season’s trends as possible into a single text. Even as a self-professed fashion junkie, I am under no obligation -- and probably shouldn’t, in any case -- rock every trend Wintour, et al. offer up. Rather than brainstorm ways get my hands on a $2,000 black-on-black TechnoMarine watch, I’ll skim the wristwatch trend page and get to the stuff I really want, like these statements about necklaces. And I won’t feel a drop of guilt about it.

Kasia Benson is a corporate associate with Andrews Kurth in Dallas. She is also the founder of Wardrobe Peace, which provides sensible, “use what you’ve got” wardrobe consulting services to lawyers and other busy professionals.

Charges dismissed against Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina's wife

At the request of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, 176th District Judge Shawna Reagin of Houston yesterday dismissed an arson charge and a criminal mischief charge against Francisca Medina, the wife of Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina. The two felony charges were dismissed due to insufficient evidence. In April 2008, Francisca Medina was indicted in connection with the June 28, 2007, fire that damaged the Medinas’ home and a neighboring home in Spring. Steve Baldassano, the assistant DA handling the case since January, says his office didn’t have sufficient evidence to prove arson. “We couldn’t eliminate an electrical malfunction,” says Baldassano. Francisca Medina’s attorney, Dick DeGuerin, says that last week he provided the DA’s office with a report prepared by independent fire experts who found that the evidence did not prove arson. “Our experts believe that it could not be called an arson fire,” DeGuerin says. Baldassano says the fire investigators DeGuerin hired are often used by the DA’s office, and “you have to keep an open mind to see if new evidence comes up.” The dismissal averted a trial set for October. DeGuerin, a partner in DeGuerin & Dickson, gives DA Pat Lykos’ administration credit for doing the right thing by dismissing the charges. “The fact is she [Francisca Medina] should have never been indicted,” DeGuerin says. In January 2008, Justice Medina was indicted by a Harris County grand jury along with his wife, but those charges were quickly dismissed after former DA Chuck Rosenthal’s office determined there was insufficient evidence. Francisca Medina was indicted three months later after a second grand jury heard evidence in the case.

UPDATE: Justice David Medina says of the dismissal, “We’re absolutely elated with that great news. . . . There’s nowhere we can go to get our name back. We’ll continue to live our life and move forward. It’s a new beginning. We’re thankful to God and to our friends throughout the country who prayed for us. Those friendships never wavered during these difficult times.” Medina declines to say specifically how much money the couple spent fighting the criminal charges. "It’s a lot of money. It’s a substantial amount of money.”

-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys and John Council

Texas Supreme Court addresses electronic discovery

In a case of first impression, the Texas Supreme Court today addressed how parties should handle electronic discovery in its unanimous decision in In Re: Weekley Homes LP. “The court has now set forth procedures for electronic discovery,” says Joel Reese (pictured), a shareholder in Winstead’s Dallas office and Weekley’s lead attorney in HFG Enclave Land Interests v. Enclave at Forney Branch LTD, et al., the suit underlying the mandamus proceeding. Weekley is a defendant in HFG, which involves a dispute over allegedly defective lots that HFG purchased in a Dallas subdivision after Weekley represented that the lots were properly developed. As noted in the Supreme Court’s opinion, written by Justice Harriet O’Neill, HFG served Weekley with requests for production of a wide variety e-mails that related to the subdivisions but received only 31 e-mails responsive to that request. In July 2008, HFG filed a motion for limited access to Weekley’s computers to search for deleted e-mails relating to the subdivision or allegedly unsafe lots in it. The 134th District Court granted HFG’s motion in August 2008, and Weekley filed a petition for writ of mandamus with Dallas’s 5th Court of Appeals. The 5th Court denied the petition in September 2008, and Weekley turned to the Supreme Court, which heard arguments in the case on March 31. (See “Hard Drives and Determination,” Texas Lawyer, April 6, 2009, page 1.)   In holding that the trial court abused its discretion in granting HFG’s limited-access motion, the Supreme Court found that “the plaintiff failed to demonstrate the particular characteristics of the electronic storage devices involved, the familiarity of its experts with those characteristics or a reasonable likelihood that the proposed search methodology would yield the information sought.” The Supreme Court conditionally granted mandamus in Weekley and ordered the trial court to vacate its order. The opinion includes a summary of the proper procedures for seeking electronic discovery under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 196.4. Christopher Rentzel, HFG’s attorney and a partner in Bracewell & Giuliani in Dallas, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
-- Mary Alice Robbins

In memoriam: Bob Flowers

Robert C. “Bob” Flowers, longtime executive director of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, died Aug. 26 in Austin at the age of 85. Seana Willing, the judicial conduct commission’s current executive director, says Flowers served in that position for 18 years, retiring in 1999. Before Flowers joined the commission’s staff, he had an opportunity to argue a landmark case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1972, while an assistant attorney general for Texas, Flowers argued on the state’s behalf when the Supreme Court heard Roe v. Wade for a second time. Flowers did not prevail in that case. The high court struck down the Texas abortion statutes, finding that a woman has a constitutional right to choose to terminate a pregnancy. Visitation for Flowers will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 30 at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 3125 North Lamar, Austin. Graveside services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Aug. 31 in the Texas State Cemetery, 909 Navasota St., Austin. A memorial service for Flowers is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.  Aug. 31 in the First United Methodist Church, 1201 Lavaca St., Austin.
-- Mary Alice Robbins

Lawyers help establish German school

Kinder, juristen und eine schule: That's "kids, lawyers and a school” for those who don’t speak German (of which I almost count myself, since my college Deutsch is fading fast.) Two lawyers in the Dallas office of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell have helped create the German International School of Dallas, which will immerse children between the ages of 1 to 5 in German curriculum. The school will open its doors on Sept. 1. Partner Stuart Bumpas (pictured, left) helped with the paperwork that set up the school, and associate Hans Heppe (pictured, right), who’s from Bonn, Germany, incorporated the school and helped write its curriculum. Heppe says Dallas has a large community of Germans, some who are immigrants and others who work in the city and will eventually return to Germany. The school will be an easy way for Germans in mixed marriages with Americans to immerse their children in the language early, Heppe says. Eventually he hopes the school will grow and expand beyond just teaching young children. Heppe says he has a vested interest in the school as a father of a 6-week-old and a 2-year-old. “In this regard I am interested in the success of the kindergarten myself,” he says.
-- John Council

Scott Atlas takes a break from law to work as campaign finance chair for Mayor Bill White's U.S. Senate campaign

Scott Atlas (pictured), a business litigation partner in Weil, Gotshal & Manges in Houston, will take an indefinite leave of absence from the firm as of Aug. 31 to work full time as campaign finance chairman for Houston Mayor Bill White’s campaign for the U.S. Senate. Atlas has been doing the job on a volunteer, part-time basis since December 2008, when White launched his bid for the Senate seat. Atlas will remain as an unpaid volunteer in his new role. “Every once in a while, we are in a position that we can do something that we think will help make a difference to a large number of people, and I believe in Bill White’s vision of public service,” says Atlas. Atlas says he and White have been friends for a long time, and he’s handled some major litigation for the city on a pro bono basis at White’s request. While on leave, in fact, Atlas says he will handle the oral argument before the Texas Supreme Court in Carroll Robinson, et al. v. Bill White, Mayor, et al., which involves a dispute over caps on city taxes. Atlas says he’s looking forward to challenge of working on White’s campaign. “I can only work on something of this impact now. There is always time for a law practice,” he says.

UPDATE: Atlas notes he will withdraw from the Weil, Gotshal partnership to go on the indefinite leave of absence from the practice of law.

-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

BARBRI creates bar exam prep game for the iPhone and iPod touch

There’s a new app designed specifically for law school students. BARBRI, the provider of bar exam review courses, has created a multiple-choice game based on questions typically found on bar exams, according to a press release from New York-based Thomson Reuters, the company that owns BARBRI. Users can challenge others to multiplayer games as they answer questions such as "Which of the following remedies is least likely to be granted in a breach of contract action?" A spokeswoman for Thomson Reuters says that the game, the BARBRI Challenge, can be downloaded for free from the Apple Inc. App Store on an iPhone or iPod touch.
-- Jeanne Graham