Inadmissible: Prosecutors and Paxton

Neal Manne, a co-managing partner at Houston’s Susman Godfrey, responded to an emailed inquiry about events that had bolstered firm morale recently. His droll answer was too revealing not to share: “Since our partners exist in a state of perpetual bliss, I asked our associates about the most significant events in boosting their morale. The consensus is: a. The hotel security camera footage of a very strong associate relocating a huge statue during the middle of the night during our firm retreat in Deer Valley, Utah. b. Providing free snacks to all employees in our various offices. c. Offering “standing desks” to asso­ciates who prefer them. d. Maintaining our composure when our associates decided to charge us for—and consume—a case of cognac pre-dating the McKinley administration … .” Manne noted that the cognac consumption substantially eroded the proceeds from the firm’s $1.3 billion settlement for the class in the Toyota unintended accelerated litigation, and led to the aforementioned statue incident.

Fitting Tribute

A year after his death, Dallas lawyers, historians and family recently gathered on the campus of Prairie View A&M University to discuss the legacy of Dallas civil rights pioneer Louis A. Bedford, who was a 1946 graduate of the historically black college. And in a fitting tribute after the conclusion of lectures about the man who became Dallas’ first African-American judge in 1966, his alma mater’s mock courtroom was named in honor of him. Segregation in Texas forced Bedford to travel to New York, where he got a law degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1951. Bedford returned to Texas later that year and set up a law practice in Dallas. He was one of only a dozen African-American lawyers who served North Texas’ segregated black communities in the early 1950s. [See "Remembering Lawyer, Civil Rights Pioneer Louis A. Bedford," Texas Lawyer, April 21, 2014.] In 1952, when the Dallas Bar Association still excluded African-American attorneys, Bedford founded the J.L. Turner Legal Society for black lawyers. Bedford later became the fourth black attorney to join the DBA in 1968 and was elected to its board of directors in 1984. In 1970, Bedford served as counsel on Tasby v. Estes, the desegregation case that declared “separate but equal” provisions to be unconstitutional in Dallas public schools.

Prosecutors and Paxton