South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 3, Ed. 1, December, 2004 Page: 10 of 12
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Page 10
December 2004
1
m
Continued from P. 9
Annotations: As a defense
lawyer, were there some
cases that you were not
comfortable accepting?
Yes. Personally, I don't like
to be involved with inter-
mediate and above level
drug dealers.
Annotations: Why?
I don't approve of it. I think
it is a high societal cost.
People tend to prey on
members of their own
community. Even though I
don't approve of it, I can
understand how someone
might commit murder.
However, I don't approve
of the calculated decision
to have an expensive car
or lush home on the backs
of fellow citizens. Now, do
I think that the government
should legalize drugs, tax
them and provide revenue
for better education?
That's a whole separate
question.
Annotations: What did
you do after private prac-
tice?
Then I came here. My hus-
band was elected to the
bench, and I thought I
would just do a year as an
adjunct; and let everybody
settle down. Then I would
go back to doing what I
"Seeing those
movies in el-
ementary
school ig-
nited passion
[for the
lawf
199
love to do, which is prima-
rily post-conviction work.
I thought I would only be
here for a year, but I loved
it.
Annotations:You're also
in charge of South Texas'
Pro Bon Honors Program.
Tell our readers what it's
all about.
Students who have com-
pleted their first 30 hours
have the last two years of
school to do 50 hours of
pro bono service represen-
tation. We have a list of
approved placements
that's continually being
updated. The list spans the
gamut from working with
the Houston Volunteer
Lawyer's Project to the
ACLU, battered women's
shelters, and immigration
projects. There is some-
thing for virtually every
student at any skill level.
You can start off doing in-
take on a phone line for
people who think they have
a legal problem. It's great
because it's like a first
year law exam. You hear
the story of someone's life
and you see all the inter-
sections of legal problems
in a variety of environ-
ments. For more skilled
students, there is research,
drafting, and court ap-
pearances. It's pretty ex-
citing. If anyone knows a
lawyer who is working on
a.pro bono project and if
that lawyer will agree to
supervise, we'll do that
too. Students can generate
any pro bono placement
that they want. The only
restrictions are that the
placement actually pro-
vides direct service, so it
doesn't count to work for
a judge. It would have to
be working for people.
Annotations:What was
the motivation behind
starting the Pro Bono Hon-
ors Program?
Students were routinely
giving 200 or 250 hours,
and there was no way to
recognize their service. I
am really passionate
about the idea of pro bono
service. Lots of our faculty
members put in tremen-
dous pro bono hours that
the students never hear
about. I think it starts in
law school. If the school
has a culture of pro bono
and we start to develop
that habit, then it is easier
to do when the students are
out in practice.
Ann:If students are inter-
ested in the program,
whom should they con-
tact?
Gladys Radetti can send a
student the forms or they
can contact me. My dream
is for student organiza-
tions to compete on a pro
rata membership basis
among themselves to do
pro bono honors the same
way they compete to raise
foodfor the food bank. We
can find placement theft
would gear towards the
interests of every student
organization.
Annotations:It sounds
like a great program pro-
fessor. I hope more stu-
dents take advantage of it.
Thanks for taking the time
to sit down with us.
I enjoyed it immensely,
and I'm excited about the
pro bono program. Spread
the word
Sleeping Pille May Cause Drowsiness
Federalist Society Welcomes Chief Justice
McKeithen to Speak on Judicial Inactivism
By Greg Degyter
Guest Columnist
O n Wednesday Oc-
tober 27th, the
STCL Federalist
Society held a program
with Chief Judge Steve
McKeithen of the 9th
Court of Appeals in Beau-
mont giving a lecture on
judicial inactivism. Chief
Judge McKeithen spoke
for about 15 minutes, and
a 25 minute question and
answer session followed.
The gist of the pre-
sentation was that tort law
has progressed, or perhaps
regressed, to the point that
product liability cases are
advancing on failure to
warn claims to the point
that manufactures now
have to warn for very ob-
vious dangers. The Chief
Judge expressed his con-
cern that the excessive
amounts of warnings may
be desensitizing consum-
ers to warnings. Some
examples of warning la-
bels were from a box of
sleeping pills (Warning!
May cause drowsiness)
and on fishing lures
(Warning! Harmful if
swallowed!)
A second theme in
the speech was the concern
about the changing of
products to protect against
tort cases was limiting the
usefulness and enjoyment
of products and creating a
"dull gray world of safety."
The Chief Judge
mentioned that we are ap-
proaching the time when
the question of where
should the line be drawn
between protecting society
from itself and allowing
members of society to do
harm to themselves. The
"fat lawsuits" were offered
as an example. Should fast
food manufactures be pro-
hibited from making un-
healthy foods, because
some people may get fat,
or should society be able
to enjoy the fast food?
The question and
answer session started out
with questions about the
presentation. Two main
types of questions were
asked about the presenta-
tion. The first was what
standards should be set to
limit warning (limit warn-
ings to dangers not known
by common sense). The
second was how to prop-
erly warn members of so-
ciety who the warnings are
aimed at.
After questions
about judicial inactivism
were asked the question
and answer session topic
turned to the Texas Su-
preme Court. The Chief
Judge spoke about how
when he graduated form
South Texas aspiring to
become a Justice on the
Texas Supreme Court was
a high aim, and a position
of service to the people of
Texas. He continued, with
a hint of sorrow in his
voice, that the Court was
now a position where an
attorney could add a high-
light to his resume by serv-
ing for two years and then
move on to different en-
deavors.
When asked why
there was a high rate of
turnover in the court Chief
Judge McKeithen an-
swered that the salary for
the Justices was the main
reason turnover was high.
Two reasons were given
for the salaiy level. First,
Texas has a bifurcated sys-
tem with two high courts.
With two high courts more
justices are present and the
funding level is diluted.
The second reason is tied
to the retirement system of
the state legislature. Re-
tirement benefits for state
legislators are tied to judi-
cial salaries, so an increase
in judicial salaries has a
side effect of increasing
legislator retirement ben-
efits. Judicial salaries are
set by the legislature, and
the last time judicial sala-
ries were increased all but
one incumbent legislator
was reelected. The sole
incumbent to lose tys bid
for reelection was the au-
thor of the bill increasing
judicial salaries.
Thirteen students
and two faculty members
attended the presentation.
So far this semester, the
Federalist Society has
hosted Judge Jim Taft,
Judge Edith Jones, United
States Fifth Circuit and
potential Supreme Court
Nominee, and Chief Judge
Steve McKeithen. Ninety-
one people have attended
Federalist Society presen-
tations this semester.
The Federalist So-
ciety, which derives its
name from The Federalist
Papers written by James
Madison and Alexander
Hamilton, is a non-parti-
san conservative and lib-
ertarian oriented organiza-
tion interested in the cur-
rent state of the legal or-
der. It is founded on the
principles that the state
exists to preserve freedom,
that the separation of gov-
ernmental powers is cen-
tral to our Constitution,
and that it is emphatically
the province and ekity of
the judiciary to say what
the law is, not what it
should be.
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Hennessey, Patrick J., III. South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 3, Ed. 1, December, 2004, newspaper, December 2004; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth144563/m1/10/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Texas College of Law.