With support coming from Gov. Greg Abbott, Bill Piatt, a professor at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, is hopeful the State Bar of Texas will reconsider accreditation for a CLE program on “Christian Ethical Perspectives: Faith and Law Today.”

While attendees at an October 2015 presentation of the program did receive 3.75 hours of ethics credit, the bar's Minimum Continuing Legal Education Committee notified Piatt on Nov. 4, 2015 it would not approve the “activity” in the future on the ground the definition of legal ethics/professional responsibility allows credit only for topics “dealing with matters pertaining specifically to attorney duties and responsibilities and excludes credit for individual religious or moral responsibilities.”

The law school and others who put on that continuing legal education program have appealed the MCLE decision to the State Bar of Texas board of directors. The appeal hearing is set for Jan. 21.