I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the hard-working people who are dedicating their time and talents to making TCDLA the wonderful organization it is for our members. Each of the committee chairs and members have been such a great amount of help for me during my time this year as president.
These excellent TCDLA committees are: Affiliate, Amicus Brief Curiae, Awards, Budget and Finance, By-Laws, Cannabis, Capital Assistance, Client Mental Health, Corrections and Parole, COVID-19 Task Force, Criminal Defense Lawyers Project, Diversity, Justice & Inclusion, DWI Resource, Ethics, Executive, Health and Wellness, Indigent Client Defense, ICC, Judicial Conduct, Juvenile, Law School Students, Legislative, Listserv, Long-Range Planning, Media Relations, Membership, Memo Bank, New Lawyers, Nominations, Past Presidents, Prosecutorial Conduct, Public Defender, Reapportionment, Rural Practice, Strike Force, Technology, Transcript Database, Veterans, Voice for the Defense, and Women’s Caucus. I also want to include the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Educational Institute and local Affiliate Criminal Defense Bars.
Almost daily, TCDLA s confronted with challenges from various areas of concern. It is a relief to know that I can refer these challenges to our brilliant committees knowing that I will receive a collective consensus on how to best tackle any given issue. I always know that I will get the most astute advice possible from these outstanding individuals. After obtaining the advice from a committee, I then refer the issue to our Executive Committee for their input. I want to thank my Executive Committee for their tireless and wonderful guidance during my presidency on the many issues we have faced together. Heather Barbieri, John Hunter Smith, David Guinn, Jr., Clay Steadman, Nicole Deborde Hochglaube, Jeep Darnell, Betty Blackwell, David Moore, David Botsford, Grant Scheiner, Monique Sparks, and Paul Tu each deserve our heartfelt thanks for their dedication and contributions to TCDLA. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful support from these individuals.
Last but not least, I want to thank our hardworking TCDLA staff and their excellent leader, Melissa Schank. The number of CLE’s alone that are produced by TCDLA keeps our staff working long hours and oftentimes away from home. Thanks so much for your service to TCDLA. Melissa is the leader that keeps all of this running for TCDLA. Her fortitude, experience, thoughtfulness, and steady hand at handling the many issues confronting TCDLA is truly awesome. I cannot thank her enough. The next time any of our members are at a TCDLA function, please take the time to seek out these people and thank them for their contributions to our wonderful organization.
In the future, it is my hope that our members who have not yet taken part in our committees will take the time to help our organization continue to grow by dedicating their time to committees or any other part of our organization.
