TCLEP

Fred Hagans

Fred Hagans is the founder of Hagans Burdine Montgomery & Rustay, P.C. in Houston. He is certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Civil Trial Law and Personal Injury Trial Law. Fred is a graduate of the University of Texas Law School (1972) and he obtained his B.A. at the University of Texas in 1969. Mr. Hagans has served as Past President and Director, for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Gulf Coast Chapter. He is a member of Million Dollar Advocates Forum, American Board of Trial Advocates, National Board of Trial Advocacy, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Texas Trial Lawyers Association, and Houston Trial Lawyers Association. Fred is also a Fellow of ...

The Honorable Karen Gren Johnson

The Honorable Karen Gren Johnson joined the Dallas office of Jones Day in 2009 after eight years of judicial service as a state district judge where she presided over thousands of civil cases, including well over 100 cases tried to jury verdict. Prior to her judicial service she was in private practice for 18 years where she focused on complex tort, product liability, business, and other general civil litigation. Ms. Johnson is the recipient of numerous honors, including the 2008 Dallas Asian American Bar Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the first such award ever given by the organization; the Dallas Women Lawyers Association 2007 Louise B. Raggio Award for "significant contributions...

Charles Herring, Jr.

Chuck Herring is a lawyer in Austin, Texas and is a partner in the law firm of Herring & Irwin, L.L.P. He is certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is co-author with Professor Albright of the West Practice series volume Handbook on Texas Discovery Practice, and since 1990 he has written Texas Legal Malpractice and Lawyer Discipline, which he updates annually. He has written many articles on legal malpractice, legal ethics, and litigation topics, and has taught and lectured extensively on those subjects. In 1991 the Texas Supreme Court appointed him to chair the Statewide Task Force on Sanctions, and the Court also appointe...

Justice Douglas S. Lang

Since October 24, 2002, Justice Lang has served as one of 13 Justices on the Court of Appeals, 5th District of Texas at Dallas. Justice Lang has also served as a member of the Texas Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation since 2003 after having been appointed by the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. In 2007, Lang was specially commissioned by the Governor of Texas to sit on a case at the Texas Supreme Court. His practice began as a briefing attorney at the Supreme Court of Missouri immediately after his graduation from the University of Missouri, School of Law in May, 1972. Prior to law school, he graduated from Drake University in 1969 with a degree in Business Administrati...

Judge Lora J. Livingston

After her successful election, Judge Livingston was sworn in as Judge of the 261st District Court in January, 1999. She is the first African-American woman to serve on a district court in Travis County, Texas. In 1992, she received the “Outstanding Attorney” award from the Travis County Women Lawyers Association. In 2005, she received both the Texas Access to Justice Commission Pro Bono Champion Award and the Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation Harold F. Kleinman Award. Judge Livingston was also the recipient of the 2005-2006 Texas Center for the Judiciary Exemplary Judicial Faculty Award. She was awarded the Women of Distinction Award in 2006 by the Lonestar Girl Scouts Co...

Rachel Madorsky, LCSW, Mediator

Rachel Madorsky has been a licensed clinical social worker since 1996, graduating from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University with a Masters in Social Science Administration. In 1997, she opened her private practice in Austin, Texas focusing on individual, couple and group counseling as well as providing professional consultation for lawyers dealing with client mental health issues. Rachel joined the staff of the State Bar of Texas Lawyers’ Assistance Program in May 2006 and has served as the senior TLAP professional since 2008. While practicing in both Ohio and Texas, Rachel served as A...

Gene Major

Gene has served as a compliance officer with the State Bar of Texas since 1998, when he moved from Chicago. He was the Director of the Lawyer Referral Information Service, and Liaison for local bar association referral services with the State Bar. He has worked on various projects at the State Bar including the past two Referendums. As the Director of Advertising Review, Mr. Major works as the staff contact for the Advertising Review Committee and Liaison with the Chief Disciplinary Counsel.

James McCormack

During the past 25 years, James McCormack has practiced extensively in civil practice. He is a Martindale-Hubbell "AV" rated lawyer, the highest peer-based rating available for professional ability and integrity. He is frequently consulted by lawyers and law firms in Texas and nationally. Mr. McCormack completed both his undergraduate degree, with honors, and his law degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Amongst his many honors, Mr. McCormack received State Bar Presidential Citations in both 1993 and 1996 and is a past member of Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership honorary society. He also served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Texas dur...

John Neal

John Neal was licensed to practice law in 1980. He was a partner in the law firm of Neal, Neal, Richie and Hill from 1980 to 1986, a litigation firm that practiced in State and Federal courts. He was District Attorney of the 90th Judicial District from 1986 to 1996. In 1996 he was named Division Chief of the Attorney General's Criminal Law Enforcement Division, and served under Attorneys General Dan Morales, John Cornyn and Gregg Abbott. From 2005 to 2009 he was Chief Disciplinary Counsel for the State Bar of Texas, and is presently First Assistant District Attorney for Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg.

Jonathan E. Smaby

Jonathan E. Smaby is a Dallas attorney whose practice includes business and corporate transactions, litigation, employment, health care, real estate, probate and estate planning. He is a member of and the incoming chair of Advertising Review Committee of the State Bar of Texas. Mr. Smaby is a frequent CLE speaker, primarily on the topics of legal ethics, law office management and lawyer advertising. He co-authored the third edition of Opening and Managing a Law Practice, which is published by the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism, and he periodically consults with lawyers and law firms on law office management issues. Mr. Smaby has authored numerous articles on legal and pol...

Wendel A. Withrow

Wendel A. Withrow. Now in his 10th year as a speaker for the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism and 30th year as a litigator. Mr. Withrow educates and entertains the new attorneys with ‘war stories’ and practical advice. He is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Currently he is also the Chair of the Dallas Sierra Club.

Justice Lee Yeakel