Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
A short and sweet P.S. this week highlights two Thanksgiving-themed public service efforts led by Winston & Strawn, a name partner at Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann and the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program. Plus: a movie recommendation.
This edition of P.S. features a new bank that joined a program that finances civil legal services in Texas through IOLTA accounts, a firm that recently became Mansfield 6.0 certified, recent awards received by Texas law students and law schools and law school staff and faculty for their dedication to pro bono, two lifetime achievement awards, a Texas firm’s recognition for its veteran pro bono work and an ABOTA civil and ethics-oriented award given to a special prosecutor in the Ken Paxton impeachment trial.
This edition of P.S. features an award received by an Aldous Walker attorney, an upcoming international rule of law-focused CLE hosted by Dallas nonprofit ACT and a Veterans Day gala tonight in Houston co-chaired by the top lawyers at CenterPoint and ConocoPhillips. Plus: a feature of Haynes Boone associate Alex Clark, an Air Force intelligence analyst turned lawyer who helped organize a special swearing-in at the state capitol this week for newly minted lawyer-veterans, discusses how his personal experiences motivate him to continue serving veterans.
While I am now proudly a Texas trial lawyer, I spent the first 18 years of my adult life in the Army. Although I left the Army in 2016, I still view many things through the lens of my military training and experiences. My work as a trial lawyer is no exception. On this Veterans Day weekend, I write to share a few of the military teachings that have stuck with me and how I conceptualize them now as a member of the profession of law rather than the profession of arms.
Commercial litigator Jeremy Wallace loved his four years in the Air Force. He loved his work as a cryptologic language analyst, the friends he made, and the acquired skills that still show up in his law practice at Greenberg Traurig.
But, he acknowledges, “many people serve and they don’t leave unscathed,” so he’s put in significant hours this past year helping veterans pro bono. Wallace sat down with The Lawbook this week to discuss his military service, his path to becoming a lawyer and, as Veterans Day approaches, why he continues to serve veterans through pro bono work.
Throughout this week and next week, the Texas Access to Justice Foundation is celebrating Texas Veterans Legal Aid Week, which offers free civil legal aid to Texas veterans at various in-person and virtual clinics across the state. This article lists all upcoming clinics for veterans in need of pro bono legal advice as well as attorneys who want to inquire about volunteering.
This week’s edition of P.S. features the fundraising outcome of the JL Turner Legal Association Foundation’s annual awards gala, an Arlington nonprofit that received federal funding to help prevent youth homelessness, select quotes from partners at Baker Botts and Hunton Andrews Kurth and LyondellBasell’s general counsel on why supporting this year’s Houston Bar Association Harvest Celebration was important to their organizations, this year’s recipients of the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program’s pro bono awards, and the University of Houston Law Center’s newest legal clinic hire.
During a panel discussion last Friday at the Texas Minority Counsel Program’s 31st annual conference in Houston, the three high-ranking in-house lawyers at Goldman Sachs, Energy Transfer and Republic National Distributing went into detail on what they look for in outside counsel, and also offered a plethora of ways law firms could immediately land in the doghouse — if not lose their business immediately.
In this special Halloween edition of P.S., Natalie Posgate highlights details from the Texas Minority Council Program awards, the recipients of A&M Law’s 2023 Alumni Legacy Awards, NAMWOLF’s 2023 law firm MVP, November legal clinic dates in Dallas (the first one falling on Día de los Muertos), a Texas Access to Justice Foundation luncheon that honored a group of individuals for their efforts during the Texas Legislature’s 88th session, and how Haynes Boone celebrated the end of the ABA’s National Celebration of Pro Bono last week.
Three diverse managing partners — Quinn Emanuel’s Chris Porter, Reed Smith’s Omar Alaniz and Thompson Coburn’s Nicole Williams — swapped stories, described their leadership styles, shared their approach to DEI in the office and gave career development advice to young diverse attorneys at last week’s Texas Minority Council Program’s 31st Annual Conference in Houston. Natalie Posgate was in the room and has the highlights.
Three days before Winston & Strawn became the target of legal activist Ed Blum’s third lawsuit, another firm operating in Texas — Susman Godfrey — responded to a demand letter defending its DEI programs to Blum. "We believe both programs fully comply with all relevant laws," the letter says.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Houston federal court, alleges one of Winston’s diversity fellowship programs “has been racially discriminating against future lawyers for years” because the only law students considered for the DEI-oriented fellowship are those who “belong to a group that is ‘diverse,’ ‘disadvantaged’ or ‘historically underrepresented’ — Winston’s shorthand for not a straight white male.” Winston is the third law firm to be sued by conservative legal activist Edward Blum and his organization, American Alliance for Equal Rights.
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