What a Year!

These last few months have been exciting to say the least. It seems we have had our hands in just about everything going on in and around the Criminal Justice Center. We’ve participated behind the scenes and in group studies to give the defense a voice. We’ve met with prosecutors and judges to make sure they hear our concerns. In short, we have made a difference! Thank you all for the help and support you have given to our board which made this possible.

We received word that our complaint against Judge Bill Harmon was sustained with a private reprimand. The Judicial Commission agreed that his display of the M.A.D.D. plaque in a public courtroom was inappropriate. Thank you to Tyler Flood and all others who brought this issue to light and helped set the stage for our successful complaint.

If you missed it, we also had some spectacular CLE events: Maneuvering Search and Seizure and our Judge Wendell Odom Appellate Seminar were highly attended and received rave reviews. If you missed Appellate, you missed live oral arguments in the Court of Appeals and a frank roundtable discussion of the arguments immediately following. We’ve also had some amazing happy hour CLE events on DWI, electronic devices, and interrogation among others. Under the direction of David Ryan, our CLE chair, we have offered more variety and lower cost CLE to benefit our members and surrounding local bars. When you see him, give him your thanks!

Our strike force, fearlessly led by Mark Bennett, continues to aid our members faced with bullying, indifference, and injustices. For a quick read and example of his work, see Bat Signal: Superheroes Called to Action in this issue.

We have a tremendous resource in our web and social media presence that spun off from our Reasonable Doubt television show. We have a host of writers commenting on current issues, providing legal experience and insight, and educating our public. With your help, we can continue to grow our audience. Don’t forget to tweet and Facebook us! Our websites alone are garnering approximately 15,000 hits a month!

Great things are in store for our future, and I can’t wait to see where this next year takes us with Tyler at the helm. I am humbled and honored to have once again worked with you all to better our bar and elevate the defense voice in Harris County. Together we have made a difference.

Together we will continue to stand against the injustices. Together we will stand and fight. Together we will stand for what is right.

A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right.
A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice.
A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.
– Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on courage, March 8, 1965

It has been my pleasure to serve the criminal defense bar.
JoAnne