I’ve always loved history, enough even to major in history in college. From that love has grown a tendency to look back to learn from those who have come before me and to gain a reverence for whatever new task, job, assignment, or position I undertake. As the new Editor of The Voice, I didn’t change my stripes but instead wanted to find out who had held this position before me in the last almost-50 years of TCDLA. Sometimes not knowing the answer is probably more comforting than knowing the answer because there are times where you don’t want to know the size of the shoes you are trying to fill. A veritable Who’s Who of criminal defense lawyers in Texas have undertaken to make sure that the materials provided in The Voice have been up to snuff during the last almost-50 years. To name a few:
Emmett Colvin
Harry Lee Hudspeth (later United States District Judge)
Buck Files
Scrappy Holmes
Stanley Weinberg (a good Sooner, like myself)
Emmett Harris
Greg Westfall
Michael Gross
Sarah Roland
There are many more, too many to put in one article, but I can’t help but think, “Wow, what the hell am I doing getting this gig?” These folks have each had such an instrumental position in making TCDLA the wonderful organization that it is today. I count on this list alone a number of friends and a lot of heroes. I don’t know that I’ll live up to being a federal judge or Scrappy Holmes, but maybe knowing the size of the shoes you’re supposed to wear makes you feel the responsibility to fill ‘em. I think I owe it to our wonderful Organization and the previous Editors to do my best to continue the tradition of not only making The Voice a high-quality publication for each TCDLA member and every Judge in the State, but also to strive to be as zealous an advocate as each of my predecessors. Now, I’m off to put on extra socks to fill the shoes.
