John Council

August 08, 2008 | Texas Lawyer

Nearly 50 criminal-defense lawyers from across Texas packed into a Collin County courtroom last week as a show of support for a colleague whose law office was searched in February by police seeking evidence against the attorney's capital murder client. Rick Hagen, president of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, attended a hearing on a recusal motion in the case.

By John Council

10 minute read

July 23, 2007 | Texas Lawyer

During his trip to Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton was called "overzealous," "elitist" and "overreaching" by politicians and pundits. Despite the name calling, Sutton, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, says his politicized appearance in the nation's capital had a purpose: to clear up misconceptions about his office's controversial prosecution last year of two former U.S. Border Patrol agents who shot at a fleeing drug smuggler who later became a key witness in the agents' trial.

By John Council

9 minute read

April 20, 2001 | Law.com

In a decision that surprised the state and the defense, the first inmate to face a jury under Texas' "sexually violent predator" civil commitment law got a "get out of treatment free card" on April 5. The controversial 1999 law allows the state to commit the worst sexual offenders to outpatient treatment after completing their prison sentences, but defendants may contest the commitments in a civil trial.

By John Council

4 minute read

July 21, 2003 | Texas Lawyer

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 14 rejected the Federal Tort Claims Act case filed by survivors of the Branch Davidian standoff based on their only appellate issue -- that the Waco U.S. district judge who heard their case should have recused himself because of alleged "bias."

By John Council

5 minute read

November 21, 2005 | Texas Lawyer

It's a building born out of controversy. And 144 years later � after squabbles involving Civil War munitions, lost remains, a faith healer and a horse in heat � the controversy continues. Built in 1861, the Cass County Courthouse, which sits in the northeast town of Linden, is the oldest continuously operated courthouse in Texas.

By John Council

10 minute read

May 05, 2008 | Texas Lawyer

A second grand jury indicted Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina's wife on three felony arson charges but declined to indict the justice, while a trial court judge dismissed a declaratory judgment action filed by a previous grand jury that had indicted both of the Medinas.

By John Council

5 minute read

August 25, 2009 | Law.com

Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales this month began his tenure as a visiting professor at Texas Tech University. His first class is "Contemporary Issues in the Executive Branch," and when it comes to his students, all topics are open for discussion, he says. Texas Lawyer's John Council interviewed Gonzales about a wide range of topics: the so-called "torture memo," his controversial visit with then-AG John Ashcroft in the hospital and his involvement in the firings of nine U.S. Attorneys.

By John Council

21 minute read

December 31, 2007 | Texas Lawyer

A Dallas businessman has sued Weil, Gotshal & Manges, alleging that the firm and two of its partners took advantage of him as a client by lessening his interest in a deal while he was undergoing treatment for cancer. "The facts are simply not as alleged," says Glenn West, managing partner of Weil, Gotshal's Dallas office.

By John Council

8 minute read

June 21, 2010 | Texas Lawyer

Veterans Court programs taking root in four Texas counties offer assistance to defendants who carry the invisible scars of war. Dallas has the newest Veterans Court with seven participants so far. Judge Mike Snipes (pictured) presides over Dallas' Veterans Court.

By John Council

10 minute read

June 09, 2003 | Texas Lawyer

The personal-injury suits arrived at civil courthouses across Texas by the box load, filed by plaintiffs lawyers scrambling to beat a deadline they thought had been set by lawmakers who recently passed one of the strictest tort reform measures the state has ever seen. District clerks in major urban counties were swamped on May 29, the last day many lawyers assumed that they could file suits and not be subject to some provisions of the new law, House Bill 4.

By John Council and Mary Alice Robbins

9 minute read