Fordham law student drops suit against State Bar of Texas over lawyers’ e-mail addresses

Marni von Wilpert, a student at Fordham University School of Law, has filed a notice of nonsuit in her litigation against the State Bar of Texas over e-mail addresses of the Bar’s members. On Aug. 14, von Wilpert, who worked this summer as a law clerk at the Texas Civil Rights Project in Austin, filed suit in a state district court in Travis County against the State Bar and its executive director, Michelle Hunter, after Bar officials declined von Wilpert’s request that the Bar provide her the e-mail addresses of Texas lawyers. In the suit, von Wilpert v. State Bar of Texas, et al., filed in a state district court in Austin, von Wilpert sought a declaratory judgment that the Bar officials violated the Texas Public Information Act by not releasing the e-mail addresses. She also sought injunctive relief to require them to release that information. However, State Bar officials voluntarily released the information to von Wilpert on Aug. 16. Joe Crews, von Wilpert’s attorney and owner of the Crews Law Firm in Austin, says that yesterday he received notification from the district court that the notice of nonsuit is filed in the court. Crews says the case has been resolved. Don Jones, the State Bar’s legal counsel, says, “I’m happy we got it resolved amicably.” But that is not the end of the story. After receiving additional requests for Bar members’ e-mail addresses, Hunter sent a letter to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on Sept. 3. In the letter, Hunter requested a determination by the AG that Texas Government Code §552.1176 excepts from disclosure certain personal information about lawyers that the Bar maintains. Among other things, Hunter is requesting a determination from the AG that the Bar is required to withhold pertinent information relating to those attorneys who have chosen to keep such information private. “The AG ruling request is still pending,” Jones says.
-- Mary Alice Robbins