March 2025

More than 500 guests attended the “Secret Garden”-themed Austin Bar Foundation Gala on Jan. 25, 2025, at the Four Seasons in downtown Austin. Members of the legal community arrived in their black-tie best. Austin Bar President Mary-Ellen King hired flower-covered stilt walkers, who posed with guests to take pictures. Attendees enjoyed an elegant pre-event cocktail hour while perusing the auction

The practice of law is a stressful profession. Lawyers face intense pressure with long hours, demanding clients, high-stakes and high-conflict deals or cases, and high professional and societal standards. As a result, the legal profession faces high rates of depression, substance use, and behavioral addictions. Chronic stress can also strain the body to the point of causing life-threatening diseases, and

The 15th Annual Austin Young Lawyers Association Day of Service on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day was tremendously successful with the help of volunteers and donors.  This local project is modeled after the national Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service, which is intended to transform Dr. King’s life and teachings into community service that helps solve social problems. There

The following are summaries of selected civil opinions issued by the Fifth Circuit in January 2025. The summaries are overviews of particular aspects of the opinions; please review the entire opinions. APPELLATE PROCEDURE: 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) did not permit interlocutory review of pretrial ruling on proper measure of damages. Silverthorne Seismic v. Sterling Seismic Services, 125 F.4th 593 (5th Cir.

The following are summaries of selected civil opinions issued by the Third Court of Appeals during January 2025. The summaries are an overview; please review the entire opinion. Subsequent histories are current as of February 10, 2025.  ARBITRATION: Court reverses trial court’s failure to enforce arbitration clause. Design Tech Homes of Tex., LLC v. Siemens, No. 03-23-00735-CV (Tex. App.—Austin Jan.

EVIDENCE ADMISSIBILITY – BREACH OF COMPUTER SECURITY: Evidence found on defendant’s phone by defendant’s wife was inadmissible. State v. Holloway, ___ S.W.3d ___, No. 03-23-00423-CR (Tex. App.—Austin July 26, 2024, no pet.) (designated for publication). Holloway was charged with aggravated sexual assault. Evidence of an extraneous offense was found on Holloway’s phone by his wife. She found the evidence by

The University of Texas School of Law’s William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law and the Civil Rights Clinic released a report recommending changes to Texas’ parole system. Parole reform is needed, the authors argue, because the state has become over-reliant on incarceration: Texas has a prison population of 130,000–the most in the country.1 Further, in 2024, the Texas

The American Bar Association has suspended its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) standard in response to the Trump administration’s Department of Education (DOE) mandate that such policies be eliminated or federal funding for higher education may be cut. The suspension of this standard, called Standard 206, will last until at least Aug. 31, 2025, the ABA Legal Education and Admissions

The American Bar Association condemns recent remarks of high-ranking officials of the administration that appear to question the legitimacy of judicial review and demand impeachment of a judge merely because the court did not agree with the government’s position. These comments pose serious risks to our constitutional framework that separates power among three co-equal branches. Last week, the administration lost

The International Academy of Trial Lawyers has one mission: to protect and promote the Rule of Law.  We condemn the new administration’s repeated disregard for the U.S. Constitution, as well as statutory and common law. In accordance with their Constitutional mandate, courts have rightfully intervened to protect legal rights and the Rule of Law.  Sunday (Feb. 23, 2025), Vice President