Texas

After 21 of his clients received the death penalty, lawyer won’t take any more capital cases

Houston lawyer Jerry Guerinot says he is tired of being pilloried over his work in capital cases. After four decades of handling death-penalty trials, 71-year-old Guerinot tells the Associated Press he won’t be taking any more of those cases. And there is a reason why he wasn’t able to win…

Aug 15, 2016 11:26 AM CDT

Lawyer is charged with alleged $4 theft of policy manual pages

A legal aid lawyer in Texas who won a suit against a housing authority has been charged with theft for allegedly stealing some pages from its policy manual. The lawyer, Christina Trejo of Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, represented a retiree who sued the Victoria Housing Authority and won after…

Aug 1, 2016 9:37 AM CDT

Law firm sues ex-client over her online reviews about ‘pushy’ and ‘super unprofessional’ lawyers

A Houston law firm has sued a former client who alleged on Yelp and a Facebook group that “super unprofessional” and “pushy” lawyers came to her home and into her bedroom to secure her business after a serious car accident. The former client is 20-year-old Lan Cai, who works as…

Jul 28, 2016 10:50 AM CDT

Suit alleges law firm didn’t pay promised bonuses because of free-spending CEO

A Texas lawyer has filed a lawsuit against his former law firm alleging he never got promised bonuses for establishing and managing a mass tort practice. The July 22 suit by Houston lawyer Robert Schwartz claims Bailey & Galyen never paid him millions of dollars in bonuses he was to…

Jul 27, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

Prosecutors drop charges against activists who made undercover Planned Parenthood videos

Prosecutors in Texas have dropped the remaining charges against two anti-abortion activists who made undercover videos of Planned Parenthood officials in an attempt to show the group illegally sells fetal tissue. The Harris County District Attorney’s office on Tuesday dropped charges accusing David Robert Daleiden and Sandra Merritt of using…

Jul 26, 2016 11:32 AM CDT

Texas judge declares on Facebook his intent to ban plea bargains in assaults against police

A Texas judge is under fire after declaring on Facebook he generally won’t accept plea deals in cases involving assaults and threats to police officers. Judge Kerry Neves of Galveston County backed up his public declaration with a July 18 order (PDF) barring the plea deals unless there is compelling…

Jul 26, 2016 9:00 AM CDT

Rape victim who had breakdown on witness stand was jailed to ensure future testimony, lawsuit says

A woman who had a breakdown while testifying against her alleged rapist was jailed for nearly a month because prosecutors wanted to ensure her future testimony, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week in Houston. District Attorney Devon Anderson of Harris County, Texas, issued a videotaped statement defending the…

Jul 21, 2016 9:33 AM CDT

5th Circuit blocks Texas voter ID law as violation of the Voting Rights Act

The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has again struck down Texas’s controversial voter ID law, according to the Dallas Morning News. The en banc ruling affirms a panel ruling issued in August of 2015, which found the law disproportionately harms Latino and African American Texans’ ability to…

Jul 21, 2016 8:45 AM CDT

298 Texas drug suspects pleaded guilty before lab tests showed roadside drug test was wrong

Nearly 300 people pleaded guilty to drug possession in Harris County, Texas, even though later lab tests found no drugs in samples that initially came up positive in a roadside test. The findings were made in a 2014 audit of drug cases since 2004 by the Harris County District Attorney’s…

Jul 20, 2016 7:30 AM CDT

Akerman acquires 30 lawyers from dissolving litigation firm

Akerman is acquiring 30 trial lawyers from a dissolving litigation law firm based in Houston. The new lawyers from dissolving firm Beirne, Maynard & Parsons will give Akerman offices in Houston, San Antonio, Austin and New Orleans, Texas Lawyer (sub. req.) reports. The Florida-based Akerman already had a Texas office…

Jul 19, 2016 11:05 AM CDT

Probe of federal judge’s alleged sexual harassment didn’t go far enough, committee says

A committee of the U.S. Judicial Conference is ordering additional investigation of a federal judge sanctioned last year for “inappropriate and unwanted” sexual advances toward a court employee. In a July 8 decision (PDF), the Judicial Conference’s Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability ordered additional investigation of U.S. District Judge…

Jul 12, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

University of Houston Law Center sues over law school’s ‘strikingly similar’ new name

The University of Houston Law Center claims in a lawsuit that the South Texas College of law infringed its trademark by changing its name to the Houston College of Law and adopting its red-and-white colors. The suit, filed on Monday in Houston federal court, also alleges unfair competition, according to…

Jun 28, 2016 10:13 AM CDT

Supreme Court overturns Texas abortion clinic regulations

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday overturned two provisions of a Texas law regulating abortion clinics in a 5-3 decision, finding they place an undue burden on access to abortion. Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote the majority opinion (PDF). The dissenters were Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices…

Jun 27, 2016 9:10 AM CDT

Reward is offered for information in lawyer’s mysterious death

The three sons of a Dallas lawyer who died in a suspicious fire announced a $25,000 reward on Thursday for information leading to an arrest. The family of the lawyer, Ira Tobolowsky, has put up $20,000 and North Texas Crime Stoppers has added $5,000, report the Dallas Morning News and…

Jun 24, 2016 8:43 AM CDT

Houston lawyer sues Starbucks for alleged burns from spilled coffee

A Houston lawyer says in a lawsuit that a barista spilled hot coffee on her, causing burns to her lap and such excruciating pain that she had to remain on her hands and knees while a colleague rushed her to the hospital. The lawyer, Katherine Mize, claims in the suit…

Jun 22, 2016 7:30 AM CDT