Inadmissible

Military veterans who need legal assistance but cannot afford to hire attorneys can find help through a new pro bono program that the State Bar of Texas planned to launch officially on July 23 during the annual Bar Leaders Conference in Houston. “Texas Lawyers for Texas Veterans” is a major initiative of State Bar president Terry Tottenham , of counsel at Fulbright & Jaworski in Austin. Tottenham, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1971 to 1974, says that when he was asked to run for State Bar president, he was “aware of the needs of our men and women coming back from harm’s way.” However, Tottenham says he found only two programs in the country — in Houston and Atlanta — that assist vets with their legal needs. Tottenham says the Bar plans to set up a statewide program of legal clinics for veterans based on the program sponsored by the Houston Bar Association . Baker Botts partner Travis Sales of Houston, co-chairman of the Bar’s new initiative, says the HBA’s Legal Initiative for Veterans began several years ago as a monthly clinic staffed by attorneys from Beirne Maynard & Parsons . In 2008, the HBA expanded the program and now provides legal assistance to veterans from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. every Friday at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston. In the 2008-2009 bar year, the Houston program’s first year, it served more than 1,000 veterans, Sales says. He says the mission of the State Bar’s program is to provide free legal assistance — ranging from service-related problems to a wide range of civil, family law, tax and other matters — to veterans in legal clinics around the state. Tottenham says that in addition to Houston, the program already is up and running in Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth and San Antonio. “The response from Texas lawyers has been overwhelming,” Tottenham says. He says the Texas Young Lawyers Association has produced two different brochures, one for lawyers to explain the legal issues and the other for veterans to explain the services available. Tottenham says he also is “on a campaign” to set up similar legal clinics for veterans nationwide and is trying to coordinate that effort with the National Association of Bar Presidents and other organizations. On July 23, the State Bar planned to unveil the “clinic in a box,” which contains everything that Tottenham says is needed to set up such a legal clinic. “All we need are people willing to do it,” he says. A $20,000 grant from the Texas Bar Foundation is funding the State Bar program.

Moot Suit

Maybe it’s best for litigants not to complain about a four-year wait for a decision from the Texas Supreme Court. The plaintiff in Marketing on Hold Inc., d/b/a Southwestern Tariff Analyst v. Jefferson, et al. did just that in an April 28 federal civil rights complaint. Eight days later, the high court ruled 5-3 against that plaintiff in the underlying case, Marketing on Hold v. Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. A lower court had certified a class action against Southwestern Bell; the high court’s decision reversed the class certification. Lawyers for the Supreme Court moved to dismiss the federal complaint for mootness. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks agreed on July 19 to toss the case out of his court. He disagreed with the plaintiff’s assertion that the motion to reconsider that the plaintiff filed with the Texas Supreme Court defeated the defendant’s mootness argument. “The court finds plaintiff has not advanced a single reasonable argument, either in its pleadings or at the hearing, which indicates there is any justiciable controversy left in this case now that there has been a final judgment entered by the Texas Supreme Court. Defendant’s motion is therefore GRANTED on the grounds of mootness,” Sparks wrote. Houston solo Tom Bray , who represents the plaintiff in the federal complaint, did not return two telephone calls seeking comment. Lauri Saathoff, spokeswoman for the Texas Office of the Attorney General , which represented the Supreme Court in the federal complaint, declines comment.

Stopping Swindlers