Eastern District of Texas Federal Court Practice

New SBPS offices in Marshall featured in Marshall News Messenger

This morning's front page story in the Marshall News Messenger was about some local attorney named Michael Smith, who has bought two historic old storefronts downtown next to his grandfather's old store and is in the process of restoring them for new office space for his firm Siebman, Burg, Phillips & Smith, LLP, and for use by visiting attorneys. 

The occasion for the article was the removal of the aluminum facade Tuesday to expose the original 1897 (or older) storefront.  The article is a good one (especially the part where the Kariels call me a "young man") and I've reproduced the photos from it below. 

Attorney Most Supportive of Paralegals Award

Had a nice surprise on my desk when Jamie and I got back from vacation this week - at their recent Paralegal Day event the Northeast Texas Association of Paralegals voted me the attorney most supportive of paralegals.  Not to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty proud of that award.  I now have a certificate attesting that I am not a jerk to work with.  Well, to be more precise I am not a jerk to work with in comparison to others.  It is definitely a relative thing, I have a feeling...

Texas Lawyer's "I Like Being A Lawyer" by Susan Fisher

Texas Lawyer runs a periodic column "I Like Being A Lawyer" where contributors list their top five reasons why they like being a lawyer.  This week's contributor was Susan Fisher from SRBPS - Sherman, who in addition to her day job at our firm's Sherman office also moonlights as a State Bar director representing 25-odd Northeast Texas counties (can't imagine who might have talked her into that).  She writes:

Top 5 Reasons I Like Being a Texas Lawyer:

1. As lawyers, we have the opportunity to make a difference — not only in our local communities, but nationally and globally.
2. Every day is different.
3. Each case has unique questions and challenges that sometimes call for creative solutions.
4. I get to meet a lot of amazing and interesting people.
5. I get to write.

I don't know about that writing business... Sound suspicious to me.

Art at Work: Summer 2009 - Various Artists

For the summer months, our Art at Work program is featuring a variety of artists with a summer-y motif (Carol Pace tells me) including a lot of, well, sea-ish stuff, like fish hooks, and, uh, animals and stuff. 
Out front we have a stunning new watercolor of the old (for eight more days) Harrison County Courthouse by Carol Pace to celebrate its rededication as "the" Harrison County Courthouse on June 20, flanked by a pair of new "fish hook" paintings by Jo Ann Imhoff and a sunset landscape by Mary Norvell.  The frames on the fish hooks  are painted the same as the canvas, and the painting wraps around the side - they're real attention-getters.  (To the left is a close-up that will hopefully show this a little better - two are a sort of aqua-blue and a third is deep purple).  Also out front is a flamingo and a Neptune by Sally Martin, a floral by Mary Norvell and a floral by Mieko, and a large equestrian collage-type painting by Lou Violette.  Down the hall, we've hung on to Bob Metzger's beautiful watercolor of downtown (an office favorite) , and in one of the visiting lawyer offices we have a purple fish hook by Joanne (my favorite of the three) and the original of Carol Pace's old courthouse that we used on our firm's Christmas cards last year.  The original plan was for that to stay out front, but we've had such great art to show off lately it has been spending time in a side office.

Decided A Patent Should Be Held Invalid? Celebrate by Donating Blood.

Ever had that blinding moment of clarity where you realize that any idiot could see that a particular patent should be held to be invalid?  That no lawyer or judge or jury with half a brain and thirty seconds of exposure to basic patent law could possibly fail to see that a particular patent is just amazingly, incredibly, obviously invalid? 
Don't waste those endorphins - celebrate that special feeling in a socially beneficial way by donating blood at your local blood center.  It doesn't matter if you end up being right - what matters is that right now you just know you're right.  And you're willing to put your blood where your mouth is (okay maybe that metaphor needs some tweaking) by donating blood to celebrate your discovery.
For a list of the blood centers closest to you, click here. 
Now here's how the subliminal thought process works.  For the several thousand daily readers of this weblog, I have observed that many (if not most) of you have the above special feeling on a daily (if not weekly) basis (whether with good reason or not we won't get into - that's what judges and juries are for).  But the next time you have it, guess what (socially beneficial) thought's going to run through your head?

Yep, that's me - making the world a better place one quirky idea at a time.  But seriously - go donate blood.  It'll make you feel great.

Pam Matthews featured in NTAP Key Note

The Northeast Texas Association of Paralegals circulates a monthly newsletter, the Key Note Download Key Note - June 2009  Page 6 of the June issue features SRBPS-Marshall's own Pam Matthews as the "Member in the Spotlight". While Pam does begin her answer to the question "Favorite read?" with "I probably should say anything my boss writes" she then falls down by saying "seriously, anything by John Grisham, David Baldacci, Larry McMurty or Dean Koontz." Hmmm!
(As I write this, Pam and her husband Glenn are on vacation floating down some river or other near New Braunfels, and I'm trying to stay on top of my docket without my crackerjack paralegal!  Help!)

"Cy Pres: Impact on Justice" Award

I am pleased to report that at the Texas Access to Justice Commission's 25th Anniversary Gala benefiting the Texas Access to Justice Foundation on Wednesday, May 27 in Austin, my cocounsel Jeff Rasansky of Dallas, Jeremi K. Young of Amarillo (pictured left with Tom Gobold, TAJF board member from Houston) and I received the Cy Pres: Impact on Justice award in recognition of a recent award of cy pres funds from one of our cases totaling $230,160 to help bolster legal aid in Texas. Jeff and Jeremi (with minimal help from me - although I'm still keeping the award, assuming they'll send it to me) settled a federal case and played an instrumental role in awarding the resulting cy pres funds to the Texas Access to Justice Foundation
Cy pres awards are, by the way, residual funds from a class action or other proceeding that cannot be distributed to class members or the intended beneficiaries for a variety of reasons.  The Texas Access to Justice Foundation and Commission have launched a statewide campaign to seek cy pres awards to help impact funding for legal aid for the most vulnerable Texans. The recent award from our case will, I am proud to say, serve to jumpstart the campaign in Texas.  (If you have a case that might be a candidate for this, drop me a line and I'll put you in touch with the right people with the TAJC.  Your hard work might as well benefit people that need the help, as well as the clients you've worked so hard for).
Unfortunately, as you can tell I could not be there for the festivities - as savvy readers will remember, my twins were graduating from kindergarten, so Jeff and Jeremi - who deserve 100% of the credit anyway - got to receive it.     

Collin & Parker's Graduation Set for Thursday Morning

Point of personal privilege - my six year old twins Collin and Parker graduate from kindergarten tomorrow morning.  (That's Parker on the right and Trouble on the left).
This is an event so momentous that it was commemorated by all of the litigants in one Eastern District patent case I am counsel in to actually agree on every single claim term this afternoon so that we could cancel the Markman hearing set for tomorrow morning, so I could attend.

SRBPS - Marshall presentations at SBOT 2009 Federal Court Practice seminar

Friday afternoon was a busy one for SRBPS - Marshall, as both our paralegal Pam Matthews and I had presentations at the State Bar of Texas 2009 Federal Court Practice seminar in Dallas. 
First, Pam was on a panel on Electronic Case Filings Best Practices with McKool Smith attorney Jill Bindler and Northern District of Texas Division Manager Jason McDonald.  I followed them with Dispositive Motions.  Both presentations (as well as several others that day) emphasized the importance of reading both the local rules and judge-specific orders.

Homer Reynolds III (1961-2009)

I am sorry to report the untimely death of one of our partners Homer Reynolds III, who passed away at his ranch in Oklahoma recently.  In addition to being a partner in Siebman, Reynolds, Burg, Phillips & Smith, LLP, Homer also served on the boards of several local corporations and charities, including the board of Presbyterian Healthcare System, Inc.
Homer Reynolds was a 1980 graduate of Plano Senior High School. He graduated from SMU, Magna Cum Laude with a dual major in history and political science in 1984, and earned his J.D. from the SMU School of Law in 1987.
The Collin County Observer has a page with tributes to Homer that provides some observations on what an exceptional man Homer was, and how much of a loss this is not just for his family, but also his friends and his community.