Frank Garrettson Evans, III, retired chief justice of the First Court of Appeals in Houston, Texas died Saturday at his home in Bastrop, Texas. He was 91.
Often called the “father of alternative dispute resolution,” Chief Justice Evans is indelibly recorded in history as a pioneer and implementer in the field.
Alternative dispute resolution, which provides conflict resolution outside the usual legal system, has provided countless citizens throughout the United States with access to justice that improved their lives. He also will be remembered for his peripatetic and sustained curiosity and thirst for knowledge about history, science, technology, sustainable design and living, plants, clean water and renewable and clean energy.
During his legal and judicial career, Chief Justice Evans pioneered successful ADR programs in 15 Texas communities. He was instrumental in developing the first appellate settlement conference program in the Texas court system, as well as the first juvenile justice peer mediation programs in Texas elementary and middle schools. He also sponsored and helped draft the first ADR financing and court referral statute in Texas. He served as a principal draftsman of the 1987 Texas Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedures Act. The Act established a new state policy encouraging the voluntary and peaceable resolution of civil disputes and mandated that all Texas courts have the responsibility to carry out that statutory policy. He helped champion and implement the conflict resolution concepts he started in Texas in several states throughout the United States as a frequent speaker at conferences nationwide on alternative dispute resolution methods and system design.
Justice Evans joined the First Court of Appeal in 1973, when Governor Dolph Briscoe appointed him to serve as a justice on the First Court of (Civil) Appeals in Houston. In 1980, Governor Bill Clements elevated him to the position of chief justice of that appellate court, which had become renamed the First Court of Appeals.
After retiring from the court in 1990, Chief Justice Evans entered private practice to become the Judicial Officer of Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services (J.A.M.S.) in Texas. He also was named Visiting Professor and Founding Director of the Center for Legal Responsibility at South Texas College of Law Houston, where he taught ADR-related courses such as mediation and arbitration. The Center was later renamed in his honor and is now known as the Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution. While at the Center, he served as “Of Counsel” in the appellate section at the Houston office of Haynes and Boone. He also served as the Conference Judge for the First Court of Appeals in Houston.
He was committed to public service throughout his life. Upon graduation from Lamar High School, Houston, Texas in 1945, Chief Justice Evans enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served overseas with the First Marine Division in China. In 1947, he was released from active duty, and with funds provided by the G.I. Bill, began his college education at the University of Houston. He later transferred to The University of Texas at Austin and graduated from its law school in 1951. As the North Korean Conflict was occurring, Chief Justice Evans volunteered a second time for active duty and was assigned to a special officer training program. Upon completion of the program, he was appointed to service as a regimental legal officer, and later as prosecutor and as defense counsel, in military court martial proceedings. In 1953, he was promoted to the rank of Captain and honorably discharged from active duty in 1959.
Chief Justice Evans then returned to Houston to work as a land title examiner and property claims investigator for Kirby Lumber Corporation, later moving to Carrizo Springs, Texas where he started his career as a trial lawyer with the law firm of Petry & Dean. In the mid-50s, he moved back to Houston to rejoin his colleagues and legal mentors at the law firm of Fountain, Cox & Gaines, where he would become actively engaged as a trial lawyer in a wide variety of civil cases in state and federal courts throughout South, Central, and East Texas. He was then appointed to the First Court of Appeals.
For the past 25 years, Chief Justice Evans remained active in bench and bar events nationally. He also helped spread the concept and methods of dispute resolution by speaking at educational programs on various topics internationally, including in Mexico, Argentina, Panama, Guyana, Jamaica, Turkey, and Malta. Most recently, he was active in creating continuing education programs for his local bar association in Bastrop, conducting mediations and serving as the President of Resolution Forum, Inc., a non-profit §501(c)(3) he founded that was dedicated to developing new dispute resolution systems that increase the efficiency and effectiveness of alternative dispute resolution procedures.
He has earned numerous awards and accolades, including Member of original American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Committee; Founding Chair, the Houston and State Bar of Texas Dispute Resolution Committees; Founding President, Houston Bar Association Dispute Resolution Center; Founding Director, South Texas College of Law Houston Center for Legal Responsibility and its successor, the Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution at South Texas College of Law Houston; Founding President, A. A. White Dispute Resolution Institute, University of Houston Law Center; Fellow, Center for Public Policy Dispute Resolution at The University of Texas at Austin School of Law; International Academy of Mediators, Lifetime Member Award; State Bar of Texas Board of Directors’ Award for Improved Access to Justice; National Foundation for the Improvement of Justice Award; State Bar of Texas “Justice Frank G. Evans Award;” American Judicature Society, Herbert Harley Award; American Arbitration Association, Whitney Seymour, Sr. Medal; Texas Bar Foundation, Outstanding Jurist of the Year; Council of Chief Justices Award for Outstanding Justice; Houston Bar Association President’s Award; University of Houston Foundation Legal Improvement Award; Named one of Texas’ 100 Legal Legends by Texas Lawyer magazine.
Chief Justice Evans is survived by his beloved wife of 29 years, Elizabeth Lawrence Evans, his son, Richard Evans (Melissa Byrd), and his daughter, Margaret Cormier. He is also survived by his grandchildren, April Evans, Lauren Evans and Keith Cormier; stepchildren Jeffrey Campbell (Cassandra) and Ellis Garvin (Keesha Bowers) and step grandchildren Astrid Campbell, Jolie Campbell, Layla Campbell, Rowen Garvin and Clara Garvin. He was preceded in death by parents, Frank Garrettson Evans, Jr. and Ruth Forquier Evans, and by his cherished poodle and companion, Luc.
The family profusely thanks the devoted caregivers and hospice care staff who helped Elizabeth and Frank in his final days, including Mandi Miller, Amanda Chandler, Veronica Salpor, Brenda Prater and Pat Bureleson; as well as all the many friends who have visited Frank at home. He found great comfort in sharing time with each of you.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests in memoriam gifts to <BastropFoodPantry.org> or <BastropAnimalRescue.org>. Services by Bradshaw-Carter, 713-521-0066.
Al Amado is an Austin lawyer who was the founding director of the International Institute and Director of Latin American Projects for the Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution and was an adjunct faculty member, at South Texas College of Law Houston.