Mary Alice Robbins

October 20, 2006 | National Law Journal

A federal bankruptcy judge caused a stir when he sent National Public Radio an e-mail denouncing recently passed federal legislation that he says deprives suspected terrorists of rights.

By Mary Alice Robbins

6 minute read

May 11, 2010 | The Legal Intelligencer

From Texas to Florida, the litigation rush is on, as thousands of gallons of oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the April 20 explosion of a drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana.

By Mary Alice Robbins

9 minute read

May 03, 2004 | Texas Lawyer

Two people injured in a 1992 accident allegedly caused by a trucking firm employee can't collect damages that a jury awarded against the trucking firm's insurance company because the judgment isn't the result of a fully adversarial proceeding, the 5th Court of Appeals ruled recently.

By Mary Alice Robbins

9 minute read

February 22, 2002 | Law.com

In a 3-0 ruling, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that an amendment to a motion to vacate, set aside or correct a sentence is not time-barred under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act if it relates to a claim previously asserted in the original motion. The appeal of Zosimo Reyes Saenz, a federal prison inmate serving 25 years in Texas for drug trafficking, presented an issue of first impression for the circuit.

By Mary Alice Robbins

4 minute read

December 20, 2010 | Texas Lawyer

This year's Tongue-in-Cheek Awards include the Mislabeling Award (going to Justice Leslie Brock Yates), the 15 Seconds of Fame Award (for Ricky Anderson), the Best Defense Is a Change in Defense Counsel Award (for R. Allen Stanford), the Sanction Snafu Award (the State Commission on Judicial Conduct), the Some People Never Learn Award (for Judge Bruce Priddy), the Too Quick on the Trigger Award (for some State Bar officials) and the Dress Code Gets the Boot Award (going to Judge Kevin Madison).

By Mary Alice Robbins

4 minute read

December 06, 2010 | Texas Lawyer

Within a seven-day period in April 2009, Greg Coleman argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of clients in two cases, and he won both. That's an example of the kind of attorney Coleman was. The 47-year-old Coleman (pictured), Texas' first solicitor general and at the time of his death a partner in YetterColeman in Austin, died Nov. 23 in a private plane crash in Florida.

By Mary Alice Robbins

6 minute read

October 08, 2012 | Texas Lawyer

All cases filed in the state's justice of the peace courts will be handled as small claims if the Texas Supreme Court adopts rules proposed by a special task force.

By Mary Alice Robbins

5 minute read

January 30, 2012 | Texas Lawyer

The Texas Supreme Court has rejected a request by the State Bar of Texas board of directors to suspend the work of the Uniform Forms Task Force, which recommended forms for pro se litigants to use in uncomplicated, uncontested divorce cases.

By Mary Alice Robbins

4 minute read

November 10, 2008 | Texas Lawyer

Jim Sharp wasn't feeling too sharp the morning of Nov. 5. He'd been up all night watching election returns -- results that eventually showed he had become the first Democrat elected to Houston's 1st Court of Appeals in more than a decade. Sharp's win means something, several political observers say: Intermediate appellate courts in large urban counties — especially in Dallas and Houston — are no longer seen as the completely safe seats for Republicans they once were.

By John Council and Mary Alice Robbins

11 minute read

October 10, 2012 | Texas Lawyer

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's attorney today asked a 3rd Court of Appeals panel to stick to the court's previous finding that Texas' money laundering statute did not cover checks in 2002 when a political action committee sent corporate contributions to a Republican committee that gave money to GOP candidates.

By Mary Alice Robbins

4 minute read