Inadmissible

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld is going through a succession process and is considering two partners as successors to firm chairman R. Bruce McLean . The two partners are Kim Koopersmith of New York, the firm’s managing partner-United States, and J. Kenneth Menges , partner-in-charge of the firm’s Dallas office, Menges acknowledged on May 10. Washington, D.C. partner McLean succeeded name partner Alan Feld as chairman of the Dallas-based firm in 1996. He did not immediately return a request for comment. Koopersmith is a litigation partner, serves as chair of the firm’s partnership committee, is a member of the firm’s partner compensation committee and the diversity committees for the firm and New York office, according to the firm’s website. She did not immediately return a request for comment. Menges is co-head of the firm’s corporate practice, a member of the firm’s management committee and the Dallas office’s diversity committee, according to the firm’s website. Menges deferred questions about the firm’s succession process and plans to Barry A. Chasnoff of San Antonio, chairman of the firm’s succession committee. Chasnoff did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

Bar Members Vote

If it were up to Texas lawyers, the November general election for presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals would be an upset: challenger Keith Hampton would boot incumbent Sharon Keller from her position, according to the 2012 Judicial Poll by the State Bar of Texas. State Bar spokeswoman Kim Davey explains the Bar conducts the poll every election year before the primaries, simply to ask lawyers who they would vote for if the election were held today. The poll covers candidates for the Texas Supreme Court, the CCA, and the state’s 14 intermediate appellate courts. “The judicial poll has been conducted since 1952 at the direction of the Supreme Court. It’s a long-standing nonpartisan preference poll on the judicial candidates,” explains Davey. If the poll actually decided the election, Supreme Court Justices Don Willett , David Medina and Nathan Hecht would be safe and sound. So would CCA Judges Barbara Hervey and Elsa Alcala . But Keller garnered only 3,516 votes compared to Hampton’s 4,838 votes. Another 941 votes went to Lance Stott . Hampton, an Austin criminal-defense solo and a Democrat, says he thinks the vote reflects he’s “getting support from independents and Republicans,” and that he’s conveyed to the legal community “my skills and my record and what I’ve done as a lawyer.” Hampton adds he thinks the vote also reflects controversy surrounding Keller over her decision to “shut the courthouse doors” on a last-minute death penalty appeal and a Texas Ethics Commission fine against her. Keller didn’t return a telephone call seeking comment before deadline.

Kudos for a First Novel