Texas Lawyer Blog

District courts in Brownsville close as Hurricane Alex advances

With rain generated by Hurricane Alex already pelting Brownsville, the Cameron County District Clerk’s Office is preparing to close at noon today and will not be open on Thursday. In a telephone interview this morning, District Clerk Aurora de la Garza says the district courts in Brownsville are closed today and tomorrow and that she is preparing the central jury room at the Cameron County Courthouse as a shelter for those county employees who have to stay on the job. “It’s pouring,” and there are tornado warnings, de la Garza says. On Tuesday, her staff wrapped plastic around all the district clerk’s files currently in storage in a warehouse in San Benito and placed sandbags at the warehouse’s doors, says de la Garza. She says her staff also removed files from their desks and disconnected and covered all equipment in the office. Streets in Brownsville already are flooding, and the rain has reduced visibility, de la Garza says. “I can’t even see, it’s so dark,” she says.
-- Mary Alice Robbins

Houston solo Joe Phillips in trouble over his guardianship practice

Joe Phillips has had a solo practice in Houston for several years, in which he serves as a court-appointed guardian to incompetent military veterans who need help managing their government benefits. But a Southern District of Texas grand jury returned anindictment June 24 that accuses Phillips and his wife, Dorothy, who serves as his legal assistant, of helping themselves to $2 million of veterans’ money. In 2007, an audit by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs of Joe Phillips’ client files showed that they were “either incomplete, misleading or inaccurate,” notes the indictment. The department later removed Joe Phillips as guardian and later claimed he and his wife “did willfully and unlawfully transfer monies from veteran client bank accounts to their joint personal checking account.” The indictment charges Joe Phillips with misappropriation by a fiduciary and both Joe and Dorothy Phillips with tax fraud, among other things. The Phillipses did not immediately return a call for comment. Neither did Vernon Lewis, an assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case. The Public Access to Court Document Electronic Records system did not list a criminal defense lawyer for the Phillipses.
--- John Council

Packing a powerful pen and, sometimes, packing heat

Fort Worth lawyer Jim Hryekewicz (pictured) can lay claim to being on the winning side of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling. McDonald, et al. v. City of Chicago, et al. struck down one of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation, and Hryekewicz represented more than 40 state gun clubs that sent in an amicus brief in that case. Hryekewicz has another distinction: He makes part of his living carrying a gun. He served as a police officer with the city of Benbook before he went to law school and still works there as a cop part time. He respects the SecondAmendment, even while doing a job that puts him danger from people who are exercising their right to bear arms. “I went into law enforcement with my eyes wide open, knowing that there were limitations on what I could do and there were rights that people I encountered could have,” says Hryekewicz, a partner in Fort Worth’s Blaies & Hightower. “Guns are an instrumentality that can be used for bad purposes . . .  just like alcohol, automobiles, or if we go back to Cain and Abel, a stone.”
--- John Council

Ted Cruz, the un-candidate

Ted Cruz is a lot of things, including former Texas solicitor general and a partner in the Houston office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. One thing he is not is a candidate for office. So it was kind of confusing getting a very campaign-like e-mail from Cruz today, trumpeting the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in McDonald, et al. v. Chicago, et al. as a “major victory” for gun rights. That 5-4 decision struck down one of the strictest firearm laws in the country and is big deal for those who love the right to bear arms. Cruz’s e-mail even has a heading with a very campaign-looking logo stating: “Ted Cruz. Republican. For Texas. For Liberty.” Cruz says in an interview, “At this point, I’m not a candidate for anything.” He was a candidate for Texas attorney general for most of last year, up until March, after U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, announced she was not stepping down from her seat. That decision caused Texas Attorney Greg Abbott not to run for Hutchison’s seat, instead running for re-election to his present post. Cruz won’t run against Abbott. So that’s that. But: “We still have a website,”  says Cruz. “I’m still going to speak out. And I intend to run in the future because I tend to be concerned about these issues.’’
-- John Council

Reversed & Remanded video blog

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion today in Bilski, et al. v. Kappos. Andy Ehmke, a partner in Haynes and Boone in Dallas, came to the Texas Lawyer offices to discuss the decision's implications with senior reporter John Council.

-- Anne K. McMillan

This Week in Texas Lawyer

Letter from the Editor

THE BIGGEST LEGAL STORIES: MAJOR CASES AND CONTROVERSIES OF THE PAST 25 YEARS

The death penalty: Senior reporter Mary Alice Robbins traces legal developments governing death and Texas.

The Enron effect: Senior reporter Brenda Sapino Jeffreys looks back at the collapse of the formerly high-flying Houston-based energy company and what that implosion wrought.

Big-ticket litigation: Senior reporter John Council reckons why everything --trials, damages and litigators -- is bigger in Texas.

Tort reform: Senior reporter John Council looks at a movement praised by business owners fearful of damage awards, pilloried by plaintiffs lawyers seeking redress for injured clients and lamented by defense attorneys who have seen their business decline as a result.

Judicial selection: Senior reporter Mary Alice Robbins delves into an issue that won't go away but never seems to be resolved: How should Texas choose its judges?

The business of law: Research editor Jeanne Graham and senior reporter Brenda Sapino Jeffreys trace the seismic shifts in the legal profession over the past quarter century.

Lawyer advertising: Senior reporter Mary Alice Robbins examines the tension between free speech and consumer protection in the battle over what's permissible when lawyers want to pitch their services.

Race, sex and religion: Reporter Miriam Rozen looks back at some of the societal struggles that played out in front of judges.

THE 25 GREATEST TEXAS LAWYERS OF THE PAST QUARTER-CENTURY

Meet the practicing Texas lawyers who have made outstanding contributions within the 25 years Texas Lawyer has published.

FACTS AND FIGURES

It's a by-the-numbers look at caseloads, cash, headcount and much more.

COVER TO COVER: A PICTORIAL RETROSPECTIVE

Look back at covers and photos that have appeared in Texas Lawyer over the past quarter century.

THE FUTURE OF TEXAS LAW AND LAWYERING

Attorneys share their thoughts on what the next quarter century may hold for the Lone Star State's legal profession and it members.

Supreme Court weighs in on cattle controversy and exemplary damages

"This case involves an extended drought, missing cattle, and feuding neighbors." That's how Texas Supreme Court Justice Don R. Willett starts today's opinion in Bennett, et al. v. Reynolds, which goes on to examine exemplary damages. Back in 2007, then-Texas Lawyer senior reporter Mark Donald looked into the cattle controversy.

-- Anne K. McMillan

5th Circuit rules again in fatal alien-transport case

On June 24, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in United State v. Tyrone Mapletoft Williams. The prosecution stems from an incident in which 19 "unlawful aliens" died after being locked in a tractor-trailer. Here's some of our previous coverage of the case from 2006 and from 2005, plus a 2006 5th Circuit decision and another from 2005.

-- Anne K. McMillan

5th Circuit to hear case regarding use of race in university admissions

On Aug. 3, Abigail Noel Fisher will get to make her arguments against the admissions practices of the University of Texas at Austin before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That’s according to Bert Rein, a partner in Wiley Rein in Washington, D.C. He represents the Texas plaintiff, who was rejected from UT’s flagship school. Fisher sued in federal court in April 2008, trying to prevent UT officials from considering race in admitting students who do not qualify for automatic admission under the state’s top 10 percent rule. In a 2009 decision in Fisher v. Texas, et al., U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks sided with UT. Fisher appealed to the 5th Circuit, which scheduled the hearing. Fisher, who was not in the top 10 percent of her public high school class, alleges that UT Austin's admissions policies discriminated against her on the basis of her race in violation of her right to equal protection under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and federal civil rights statutes, 42 U.S.C. §§1981, 1983 and 2000d.

-- Miriam Rozen

Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling scores partial victory at the U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court handed former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling a partial win today when it ruled that the so-called honest-services fraud statute used to convict him did not apply to his case. In 2006, a federal jury in Houston found Skilling guilty of 19 criminal counts, including the honest-services fraud conspiracy charge, and not guilty of nine insider-trading counts. Skilling appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, alleging his conviction was flawed because the honest-services fraud statute conviction was improper and because he was not allowed a change of venue. The 5th Circuit affirmed Skilling’s conviction. But a majority on the Supreme Court ruled in Skilling v. United Statesthat the honest-services statute, 18 U.S.C. §1346, should be confined to bribes and kickbacks given to criminal defendants by third parties. “Skilling did not violate §1346, as the court interprets the statute. The government charged Skilling with conspiring to defraud Enron’s shareholders by misrepresenting the company’s fiscal health to his own profit, but the government never alleged that he solicited or accepted side payments from a third party in exchange for making these misrepresentations,” wrote Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, adding that the ruling “does not necessarily require reversal of the conspiracy conviction.” “The Court leaves the parties’ dispute about whether the error here was harmless for resolution on remand, along with the question whether reversal on the conspiracy count would touch any of Skilling’s other convictions.” The high court denied Skilling relief on his claim that he did not receive a fair trial because it was held in his hometown of Houston where Enron is based. Neither Sri Srinivasan, a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of O'Melveny & Myers who represents Skilling before the Supreme Court, nor Michael Dreeben, a deputy U.S. solicitor general who represents the government before the Supreme Court in Skilling’s case, immediately returned a call for comment.
-- John Council