With Texas opening back up and members faced with more in-person contact, TCDLA is moving at full speed. We continue to deal with change – Covid variants cropping up, new executive orders. We must also now contemplate a second special session, which includes “bail reform” on the agenda. To that end, we will present a legislative update in September. For now, you’ll find a Legislative Update Paper in the members-only section of our website. TCDLA will do everything possible to keep our members up to snuff on every new change, legislative or otherwise. As soon as our legislative cheatsheet is revised, we will share it as a free member benefit.
Our volunteer forces are also mustering to provide help as needed. Our COVID Task Force, co-chaired by Allison Clayton () and Nicole DeBorde Hochglaube (), maintains a timely COVID resource page on TCDLA’s home page, with useful motions, tools, and other resources. As always, if you are being threatened or found in contempt, contact our Strike Force, led by co-chairs Wm. Reagan Wynn () and Nicole DeBorde Hochglaube (). Confronted with an ethical dilemma? Call our Ethics Hotline, and Robert Pelton or one of the committee members will assist you.
Other volunteers on our committees are also contributing to the team effort. Our Amicus Curiae Brief Committee, steered by Chair Niles Illich, has been hard at work this month preparing several new briefs. The Technology Committee is assessing new apps and databases, along with security programs and other tools to enhance your member experience. If you have not visited our committee page, by all means click on the “About” tab on the TCDLA website. We list more than 30 committees there, all designed to assist our members. If you want to join one and contribute to the effort, let us know. We cannot succeed without our members; they make everything possible.
Also of note, TCDLA is working with LPDO and TIDC on responses to Operation Lone Star. As part of Operation Lone Star, Governor Abbott bolstered the law-enforcement presence along the border. The number of immigrants arrested for criminal trespass or related offenses has subsequently mushroomed. More criminal defense attorneys are now needed to lend a hand representing those arrested under this heavy-handed program. We emailed information and have posted this, but you can learn more by emailing or visiting https://www.lpdo.org/.
For those who’ve needed a break from the madness, our monthly zoom meetings with TCDLA past presidents have provided welcome relief, wherein our gentle giants gather, brainstorm, and continue to lead the charge from behind the scenes. They let me crash their meetings, listening in on so many amazing stories. I love the laughs and camaraderie, the obvious affection they share for one another. It reenergizes me every time I visit.
And finally, we’re preparing for the Tim Evans Texas Criminal Trial College, featuring deans Kerri Anderson Donica and Lance Evans and emeritus deans Lydia Clay-Jackson and Tim Evans. We have a cohort who’ve been waiting since March 2020 for the college, and they’re excited for the opportunity. But don’t forget all our other upcoming seminars: Visit our website to sign up. It has been too long since we’ve seen each other! Nothing can surpass the feeling when can we come together, not only reconnecting but also sharing strategies – and assisting one’s brothers and sisters.
