© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook
After nearly three decades on the state court bench, recently retired Texas Appeals Court Justice Joseph Morris is going back to private practice as Of Counsel at the Hankinson law firm in Dallas.
Justice Morris, who retired from Dallas’ Fifth Court of Appeals in December after 25 years, has joined the appellate law and arbitration boutique headed by former Texas Supreme Court Justice Deborah Hankinson. The two judges officed next door to each other in 1995 when the two SMU Dedman Law School graduates served together on the appeals court.
“Joe was my mentor when I became a judge, so that put him at the top of the list of people I would like to join us at the law firm,” says Justice Hankinson.
Justice Morris said that his friendship and admiration for Justice Hankinson made his decision easy and that he is looking forward to working with the young lawyers at the Hankinson firm. He said that he planned to focus his practice on appellate work and arbitration matters, but will not be doing mediation or trying lawsuits.
Initially elected to the state district court in 1987, Justice Morris said that a “quarter of a century on the bench seemed long enough.”
“The work I was doing [on the appellate court] was not as stimulating as it had been,” he says. “It took greater and greater effort to have the enthusiasm.
“Our docket had changed over the years and it had been a very long time since I saw a case that was truly interesting,” he says.
Justice Morris says that the “nature of the legal practice and the growth of arbitration” have diverted many of the complicated civil disputes away from trials and away from the courts. As a trial court judge, Justice Morris conducted more than 100 jury trials and 500 bench trials.
The judge isn’t the only new addition to the Hankinson firm. Later this week, the firm is expected to announce that Stephanie Nelson, a 1997 Baylor University School of Law graduate and former appellate lawyer at Carrington Coleman, has joined Hankinson.
Nelson’s practice focuses on helping trial lawyers representing business clients in bench and jury trials identify and anticipate legal issues that are likely to surface on appeal.
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