TCDLA is committed to celebrating our freedoms by organizing local readings of the Declaration of Independence throughout Texas every year. This year, perhaps more than ever, our annual patriotic project is especially warranted.
Criminal defense lawyers are at the point of the spear against despots, unreasonable laws, and misguided regulations. We therefore must remind the public how America’s founding document is relevant even in the face of a worldwide pandemic.
State Declaration reading co-organizer Robert Fickman and I invite all members to celebrate the Declaration of Independence on or about July 3 in a reasonable fashion depending on health risk circumstances. We hope you will follow whatever social distancing measures are recommended in your community. It may mean just one TCDLA member will read the Declaration on the courthouse steps without inviting an audience. It may mean a ZOOM reading. Whatever works best in your town is okay, as long as the Declaration gets read. As always, your event should be properly memorialized, so please send TCDLA your best photos/selfies of the reading, and please post the pix on social media.
We will not be deterred by the pandemic. Our commitment to the principles enunciated in the Declaration has never been stronger.
Chuck is a former director of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. He is co-organizer of the annual TCDLA Declaration of Independence statewide readings and serves on TCDLA’s ethics committee. TCDLA awarded him the President's Commendation for "Outstanding Service to the Citizen Accused" and honored him with the President's Award for his service to the TCDLA's Strike Force. He is a charter member and former president of the Lubbock Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.
Chuck served as director of the State Bar of Texas, District 16, and as president of the Lubbock Area Bar Association. He was the founding editor of the LABA's monthly publication, The Lubbock Law Notes. He was a founding member of the South Plains Trial Lawyers Association. He is a life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation.
He has published numerous articles on legal history in TCDLA’s Voice for the Defense, HCCLA’s The Defender, Lubbock Law Notes and the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal history series “Caprock Chronicles.”
In 2018, the Lubbock Area Bar Association presented Chuck the Distinguished Lawyer Award, the Bar’s highest honor.
In 2008, Chuck was named among the “200 Most Influential People in the History of Lubbock” by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
