Leading into the Future: Securing the Public Trust in Texas Courts

Fall 2010 Publication of March 5 Symposium
“It is necessary that judges scan the future while they act in the present, so that they may do justice and work equity, so that they may protect all persons in their rights.”
—Theodore Roosevelt, December 8, 1908

As American Society rapidly changes, it is vital that judges are prepared to face the future. Local and national experts addressed the future of Texas courts in this one-day Symposium held March 5, 2010 in Houston, Texas.

Topics included:
Proactive Judicial Leadership
“Best Practices” Proposals and Implications for Texas Litigants
Challenges to Judicial Ethics and Judicial Education
Meeting Demographic and Socio-Economic Changes

The publication of the Symposium papers in the South Texas Law Review will include additional authors, perspectives and updates, including a paper entitled: The Economic Benefits Associated With Increasing The Efficiency and Productivity of The Texas Judicial System Through Expanded Investment in Educational Programs for Judges, prepared by The Perryman Group.

For information on purchasing a copy of the Symposium contact Sammy Miles, 713-646-1749, or smiles@stlc.edu.

Speakers:
Judge Stephen Ables, retired judge of the 216th District Court, serves as presiding judge of the Sixth Administrative Judicial Region of Texas. He has undergraduate and law degrees from Baylor University and was named Outstanding Young Alumnus of Baylor in 1989. In addition, Judge Ables and his wife, Lynda, were named Baylor Parents of the Year in 1999-2000. The State Bar, Judicial Section, also honored Judge Ables in 1999-2000, naming him Criminal Judge of the Year. In September 2002, the Kerrville Area Chamber of Commerce named Judge and Mrs. Ables as Outstanding Citizens of the Year. Judge Ables is a past chair of the Judicial Section, State Bar of Texas, and the Texas Center for the Judiciary. He is also past chair of the Texas Center for the Judiciary’s Curriculum Committee and the Judicial Ethics Committee. He is presently serving as a director of the Texas Judicial Foundation and chair of the Presiding Judges. However, Judge Ables says his biggest claims to fame are playing golf with Tiger Woods, sitting on the Supreme Court, and singing at the Vatican.

Dean James J. Alfini is Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law, where he served as President and Dean from 2003 to 2009. Prior to his arrival at STCL, Dean Alfini was Professor of Law and Dean at Northern Illinois University and previously was a member of the law faculty at Florida State University.  Professor Alfini is co-author of Judicial Conduct and Ethics, published by Lexis and in its 4th Edition (2007).  He served on the American Bar Association Joint Commission to Evaluate the Model Code of Judicial Conduct. The Commission’s work resulted in the 2007 Model Code of Judicial Conduct. Professor Alfini received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University and his J.D. from Northwestern University.

Ms. Mari Kay Bickett has served as executive director of the Texas Center for the Judiciary since 1994. As executive director, she serves as the chief executive officer and is responsible for the general supervision of the Center staff, planning and organization of major program areas, specific conferences, seminars, programs, and workshops for Texas appellate, district, and statutory county court judges. She is the former academic director of The National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada. She also serves as second vice president on the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors for Texas CASA. In addition, Ms. Bickett has been appointed to serve on the National Judicial Center Advisory Committee on Family Violence. She is a member of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the National Association for Court Management, and the National Association of State Judicial Educators where she currently serves on their membership and education committees. Ms. Bickett attended Baylor University and received a BBA in finance/accounting from the University of Nevada, Reno. She received her JD (cum laude) from the Nevada School of Law and entered private practice specializing in appellate work, family law, and criminal law. She served as judge pro tem for the Reno Municipal Courts and as an arbitrator for the Judicial District Court of Nevada.

Mr. John Browning has honed a reputation as a tenacious, aggressive, and creative trial lawyer defending individuals and businesses both large and small throughout Texas for over 20 years. John has extensive trial, arbitration, and summary judgment experience, and has achieved victory for his clients in everything from auto and trucking cases and premises liability matters to product liability, non-compete, trade secrets, defamation, and trademark infringement litigation. He represents companies in a wide variety of fields ranging from manufacturers and retailers to technology developers, media outlets, financial advisory firms, health care entities and professionals, and insurance companies. John handles civil litigation in state and federal courts throughout Texas and Oklahoma and on a pro hac vice basis in other jurisdictions.

Dr. Diane Cowdrey serves as Director of the Education Division/Center for Judicial Education and Research (CJER) of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), and has more than two decades of experience in the field of adult education. Just prior to joining the California AOC, she served as Director for the Education Division at the Utah AOC where she directed comprehensive educational programming for all judges and court personnel since 1992. Before serving as Director of Education with the Utah AOC, she was Director of the Judicial Education/Adult Education Project at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education, University of Georgia. For more than a decade, she has contributed to judicial education efforts nationally, serving on numerous boards and committees of the National Center for State Courts, National Judicial College, American Judicature Society, National Association of Women Judges, and others, on issues ranging from trial court leadership and curriculum development to e-learning and rural courts. Dr. Cowdrey has also served as Western Region Director of the National Association of State Judicial Educators. She has consulted and taught extensively throughout the country and internationally and is a frequently published author on topics in judicial and adult education. In 2006, Dr. Cowdrey received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Center for State Courts. She holds a doctor of education degree in adult education from the University of Georgia, and a bachelor of science in social work from Ohio State University.

Judge William Dressel is President of The National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada since November of 2000. He was appointed judge to the 8th Judicial District of Colorado in 1978 and retained through 2000.  In 1966 he received his Colorado license to practice law continuing in private practice until 1978, receiving his J.D. from the University of Denver Law School, and B.A. from Cornell College.  Judge Dressel is the principal author of the Trial Management Standards adopted by the ABA in 1992 and has taught for the University of Denver Law School.

Mr. Stuart A. Forsyth, a veteran bar executive, visionary legal futurist and dynamic presenter, is Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the largest metropolitan bar in the nation. He began his legal career with Johnson & Stanton, a small firm in San Francisco after graduating from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He left that position to join the State Bar of California where he held various legal and senior management positions over the next 24 years. He joined the State Bar of Arizona as Executive Director and stayed there for three years. For four years he was the owner and the principal of The Legal Futurist, an independent futures consulting practice based in San Diego. Mr. Forsyth served as Consultant to the American Bar Association’s Committee on Research About the Future of the Legal Profession and was a founding member of the Association of Professional Futurists. As one of the founders of the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento, Mr. Forsyth has had a long-standing interest in history and technology and their effects on society.

Mr. Daniel  J. Hall is Vice President of the National Center for State Courts, Court Consulting Services Division in Denver, Colorado.  As vice president, he is responsible for the development, coordination and execution of all consulting work and the provision of technical assistance to the nation’s courts through the National Center which is headquartered in Williamsburg, Virginia.  He also develops new products and services to assist the ever changing needs of state courts.  Until the end of July 2001, he was the Director of Planning and Analysis for the Colorado Judicial Department.  In that role, he developed nationally recognized staffing models for court staff, judges and magistrates.  In addition, he developed the judicial department’s annual budget and coordinated legislative activities for the department.  He was the Executive Director of the Chief Justice’s Judicial Advisory Council, Technology Steering Committee, and State Commission on Judicial Performance.  In addition, he has provided court consulting services internationally working in Australia, Bulgaria, Chile, Costa Rica, Nigeria, Peru, Spain and Singapore.  In 1991, Mr. Hall accepted the Justice Achievement Award from the National Association for Court Management for the development of bi-lingual, computerized, and interactive kiosks in the courts. He was previously employed as a policy analyst for the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies.  He served as an adjunct professor at Denver University College of Law from 1992 to 2002.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson made history on September 14, 2004, when Gov. Rick Perry promoted him to chief justice. Chief Justice Jefferson is the first African-American to serve on the Texas Supreme Court, and now the first to lead it. Chief Justice Jefferson practiced law in San Antonio from 1988 with Groce, Locke & Hebdon, until he helped found Crofts, Callaway and  Jefferson  in 1991, an appellate specialty law firm. He served as the San Antonio Bar Association president from 1998–99 and was named the San Antonio Young Lawyers Association’s Outstanding Young Lawyer in 1997. He was among the “40 Under 40 Rising Stars” named by the San Antonio Business Journal in 1996 and received the “Pillars of the Foundation” award by the Northside Independent School District in San Antonio. Professional activities include serving on the Supreme Court of Texas Advisory Committee and the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct and chairing the host committee for the 2000 Fifth Circuit Judicial Conference. Chief Justice Jefferson has served as a director of the San Antonio Public Library Foundation and the Alamo Area Big Brothers/Big Sisters and on the education committee of the San Antonio Area Foundation. He is a graduate of the James Madison College at Michigan State University and the University Of Texas School Of Law. Chief Justice Jefferson, who won two cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, is certified in civil appellate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Mr. Scott McCown retired as a state district judge in September 2002 to become the executive director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities. In 1985 the Congregation of Benedictine Sisters founded the center as a health policy think tank. The center has grown into an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit policy institute committed to improving public policies to better the economic and social conditions for low- and moderate-income Texans. In 2007 the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin presented Scott with the Vision and Valor Award of Distinction for exemplary accomplishments in the promotion of social justice. In 2005 Texas Monthly named Scott one of “The 25 Most Powerful People in Texas Politics” and a “voice for the voiceless.” As a state district judge, Scott McCown presided over a court of general jurisdiction, but by special assignment also presided over a child protection docket. He heard over 2,000 child abuse cases concerning over 4,000 children. He is widely recognized for his expertise in child protection and remains an active member of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. Scott McCown earned a BS cum laude (Psychology) in 1976 from Texas Christian University and a JD with Honors in 1979 from The University of Texas School of Law.

Mr. Carl Reynolds is an attorney with extensive experience in all three branches of Texas state government. He is currently the Director of the Office of Court Administration in the judicial branch.  From 1997 to 2005 he was General Counsel for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), the executive branch agency responsible for prisons, probation, and parole. From 1993 to 1997, he was General Counsel to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, which is the governing body for TDCJ.  Prior to 1993, he was the Executive Director of the Texas Punishment Standards Commission (a blue-ribbon legislative agency charged with reforming the State’s sentencing laws and corrections resources), General Counsel to the Texas Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, Director of the Senate’s redistricting staff, and a briefing attorney for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.  Mr. Reynolds holds a J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law, a master’s degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, and a B.A. with honors from the University of Cincinnati.

Ms. Seana Willing is a 1993 graduate of St. Mary’s University School of Law, in San Antonio, Texas. She is licensed to practice law in Texas, before the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, and before the United States Supreme Court. From 1993 until 1998, Ms. Willing was in private practice in San Antonio, concentrating in the area of business
litigation. Prior to joining the Commission in September 1999, she worked in the San Antonio Regional Office of the State Bar of Texas, where she investigated and prosecuted disciplinary actions against attorneys. In May 2001, Ms. Willing was promoted to General Counsel for the Commission. She has been its Executive Director since June 2003.