Texas A&M University School of Law in Fort Worth, Texas mourns the passing of Judge Joe Spurlock II, senior professor of law and director of the Asian Judicial Institute, who passed away on Tuesday, June 9, in Fort Worth at the age of 82. He was born in 1938 in Fort Worth to Clarice Spurlock, the first woman elected to the Fort Worth City Council in 1953, and father, Joe C. Spurlock, who was a trial and appellate court judge who helped create the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. His grandfather, Sheriff Joe G. Spurlock of Throckmorton County, Texas, died in 1910, two days after being shot while attempting to serve a warrant. Otis Rogers, his great-uncle, was a Fort Worth attorney, as is his brother, Dean Spurlock. Spurlock was a professor at Texas Wesleyan University law school, which later became Texas A&M University School of Law  in 1992. By the time he joined the faculty, Judge Spurlock had already spent years in private practice and served as an assistant criminal district attorney, a member of the Texas Legislature, a trial court judge and an appellate justice.

Legal reform and advancing the rule of law were among his passions, ones which ultimately led him to invitations to speak with the president and prime minister of Mongolia, among others, upon whom he pressed the importance of an independent judiciary. The founding in 1999 of the Asian Judicial Institute, which Judge Spurlock led for years, occurred soon thereafter.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]