Windowless bedrooms are illegal. Right? The issue is apparently not so cut-and-dry, much to the dismay of thousands of university students living in downtown Austin. Due to certain loopholes found in the 2021 International Building Code, the code that the City of Austin follows, so-called “luxury” student apartments can legally exclude windows from their apartment bedrooms. As per the Code, …
The opinions expressed in Entre Nous are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Austin Bar Association membership or the Austin Bar Association board of directors. My travels take me through a lot of airports, and being a friendly—okay,“nosy”—guy, I almost always strike up a conversation with a fellow passenger after carefully considering whether …
Registration is now live for the 21st annual Austin Bar Foundation Gala. The gala will take place on Jan. 27, 2024, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, 98 San Jacinto Blvd.Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale at a discounted rate of $250 until Dec. 31, 2023. Entries into the jewelry pull can be purchased for …
After this year’s impeachment trial, you may find yourself sitting around the Thanksgiving table being peppered with questions from your family about the Texas Rules of Evidence. While you can’t be expected to explain all the nuances of hearsay over pumpkin pie, here are a few quick refreshers that you can use for Great-Aunt Clara’s questions and your own trial …
This column summarizes two kinds of legal-writing plagiarism and then presents a recent article that proposes a new view of plagiarism in law practice. Law-School Plagiarism In In re Zbiegien, a student who committed plagiarism in a law-school seminar paper was confronted, admitted the plagiarism, and accepted the law school’s penalty: a grade of F. Although he disclosed the plagiarism …
BY BONNIE NEEL, CANOPY MORTGAGE LLC Bonnie Neel is a licensed Residential Mortgage Loan Officer in California, Colorado, Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas. NMLS# 1613742. I tell all my first-time homebuyers that a mortgage is essentially made up of four categories. If you play video games, it’s helpful to think of these categories as your player stats: How you …
The Austin Young Lawyers Association held its 24th annual Evening with the Judiciary at the Austin Club on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. Each year, this reception provides AYLA members with an opportunity to share an evening of great food and even better conversation with local, state, and federal judges. AYLA members who took advantage of this opportunity were treated to …
The following is a summary of a selected criminal opinion issued by the Third Court of Appeals from May 2023. The summary is an overview; please review the entire opinion. The subsequent history is current as of Oct. 1, 2023. PUNISHMENT ENHANCEMENTS – OUT-OF-STATE CONVICTIONS: Enhancement of defendant’s sentence using out-of-state conviction was legal. Smith v. State, No. 03-21-00368-CR (Tex. App.—Austin May …
Inspiring dismay in litigators nationwide, in the now-infamous case of Mata v. Avianca, two New York lawyers submitted “non-existent judicial opinions with fake quotes and citations created by the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT” to the federal district court and continued to “to stand by the fake opinions after judicial orders called their existence into question.”1 The public release of ChatGPT …
This is the fourth in a series of eight articles about the Travis County Forensic Mental Health Project. The Travis County Forensic Mental Health Project delivered its recommendations to the Travis County Commissioners in March 2023. The goal of these recommendations is to provide solutions other than jail to address mental health and substance abuse disorders in the county. Recommendation …