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When he passed away in mid-September, Judge Sam Sparks was properly recognized by members of the Austin Bar for his long and distinguished service as a district judge of the Austin Division of the Western District of Texas. One commented on the LinkedIn notice of his death, “He was a total jackass on the Bench but one helluva a judge.” Indeed, many of us who earned a lecture on this or that rule of federal procedure or evidence while trying a case in his courtroom probably felt the same way.
But he had standing for his instruction of lawyers in his court because before he became a federal judge, he had been a top-notch trial lawyer himself for more than 25 years with the Hardie, Grambling, Sims and Galatzan law firm in El Paso.
My first job out of law school was as a briefing attorney for Chief Justice Max Osborn on the El Paso Court of Appeals in 1989-1990. Before we observed arguments, Justice Osborn would note which attorneys to pay special attention to in order to learn how to do it well. “Sam Sparks,” he told us, was “one you should watch to learn how to be a good lawyer.”
And it wasn’t just Justice Osborn. In a judicial profile by one of Sparks’ clerks several years ago, retired Federal Judge Royal Furgeson recalled several cases they tried on the same side and against each other in El Paso when they officed “just down the street” from each other. Judge Furgeson noted that “…Sam was as formidable a trial lawyer as I ever saw in action.”
Sparks tried hundreds of cases before he took the bench, including more than a few against Mike Thompson Sr., my dad. Dad echoed Judge Furgeson about Sparks’ trial skills. He related this story: As they both were getting ready for trial against each other (and undoubtedly other lawyers) the stress of preparation would compel them to the restroom to throw up and then back to work they would go to continue to prepare. I think that it is okay I share that story now since both are gone.
That heavy trial schedule led to Judge Sparks being inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers and two stomach surgeries. He had also been president of the El Paso Bar Association. My dad often commented that the federal bench would be better if the judges were elected every Monday morning. He did not feel that way about Judge Sparks.
His reputation led to inquiries about judicial appointments during the Carter administration. Sparks answered the early outreach saying that he loved trying cases too much to leave it. That changed by the early 1990s as he lost his first wife, Arden Reed Sparks, after a tough battle with cancer and his children were all grown. When President George H. W. Bush called Sparks, he accepted the appointment, came home to Austin and was confirmed to the bench in 1991. He had the support of both GOP Senator Phil Gramm and Democratic Senator Lloyd Bentsen. In the subsequent years, his rulings in cases like the Tom DeLay election case, the Hopwood v. Texas school admission case, the Hainze v. Richardson ADA case, and the United States v. Morales case undoubtedly upset either Gramm or Bentsen. That is proof he was probably doing it correctly.
I was sworn into the Western District by Judge Sparks and tried my first federal case in his court room at the old Federal Courthouse across the street from the Brown Building. That building was referred to as a “ritzy loft development” in news reports of the time. Apparently, the lofts housed luxury dogs that were walked on the courthouse lawn, often leaving poop. That led to the infamous Sparks-Yeakel “outlaw dog poo” order of 2004. The order read in part: “Any person who authorizes or permits any animal to relieve itself on the grass or grounds of the United States Courthouse shall be subject to citation, fine, and/or arrest effective from this date.” As far as I remember there were no challenges to the constitutionality of the order on the grounds it violated the first amendment.
Given Sparks successful career as a trial lawyer, it should not have been a surprise he believed he should be hard on lawyers appearing in his court, even being a “jackass” maybe. He believed that lawyers who were in his court a second time should be better than the last time. And the judge was concerned that as a profession we were not trying enough cases and losing the craft of the trial lawyer.
His concern about the courts and how trials were conducted in his court was not just about lawyers either. There is an expert witness who the judge was very hard on with evidentiary rulings and questions during his testimony. The witness felt he had been so disrespected by the court that he let it be known he would never again appear in Judge Sparks’ courtroom. The judge reached out to the expert explaining to him he felt obligated to be firm with experts in trial as juries pursued the truth. He also went on to tell the expert how much he respected him, how much he had learned from him about his expert field and hoped the court would hear from him again.
I tried my first federal trial in his court. He called a mentor of mine to tell him how I had done. The next time Judge Sparks was in El Paso after my trial in his court he took the time and made a special trip to the El Paso County Courthouse to see my dad so he could tell him I had tried a case in his court and I had done “well,” except I needed to learn to urge the “asked and answered” objection. A teacher always. That trip meant a lot to my dad and me. I bet I am not the only attorney he did that for.
RIP Judge.