South Texas College of Law, Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 7, No. 5, November, 1978 Page: 2 of 9
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1303 San Jacinto St.
Houaton. Taxaa 77002
ANNOTATIONS
Volume VI i Number 5
November 1978
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Interview With
Chief Justice
Joe Greenhill
Judicial Reform
by David Dies
Co-editor
During the last election for the
Texas State Supreme Court and
the Criminal Court of Appeals,
the election of November 7, In
le State
the number of people
ly knew who the candidates were.
The results of the survey showed
that only 15.4 percent of the
voters could correctly name the
Judicial candidates. As a result of
the election, Don Yaibrough was
elected. Do you feel the Texas
voters are not qualified to deter-
mine tiie members of die judici-
ary and that a i
I think the voters are qualified
to cast an intelligent vote. The
problem is that they are not
informed. 1 am surprised that 15
percent of the people knew who
the candidates were.
The Constitutional Revision
Commission made recommenda-
tions for the change of the
Constitution before the last time
the legislature met as a Consti-
tutional Convention. Their
recommendation was that judges
of appellate courts, which, would
be either state-wide or region-
wide, be elected on the basis of
roughly the Missouri Plan, and
that the legislature be authorized
to put into effect a merit selection
of trial judges as they saw fit. The
general idea was that on a
statewide basis appellate judges
by and large are unknown.
It is not that the public does not
have the capacity to make wise
decisions, it is simply that they
are misinformed. In a small town
or a small community, they would
either know or have a means of
finding out who the judicial
candidates are.
Now if the public is informed or
can be informed, I have no
objections to public elections.
There are objections such as it
takes money for a state-wide race.
Gubernatorial candidates are
spending $2 million to S3 million,
United States senators, $3 mil-
lion. There is no way for a judge
to raise this kind of money. If a
judge raises $150,000, he has
raised a lot of money.
Another problem is from whom
do you take it? Who do you ask to
contribute it? By and large, it is
attorneys who contribute; and
people who have been asked by
attorneys to contribute. There are
some who feel that since attor-
neys have cases before the courts,
they should not contribute. The
other side of that is, if your
attorney contributes to your op-
ponent, do you forget it? If he
refuses to contribute to you, do
you forget it? Or if he contributes
to you and then moves on you,
which is not very hard because all
we can do is say, "You are out of
line."
You referred to the merit
system in which a judicial nomi-
nations committee would nomi-
nate candidates for the judiclaiy.
W1D this merit system have the
effect of taking the election of
away from the electorate
and placing it in the hands of the
attorneys In this State?
Well, it depends on who does
the nominating. If the nominating
committee is made up of lawyers,
then the answer to your questions
would be "Yes." The Constitu-
tional Revision Committee settled
that by planning to place a
majority of non-lawyers on the
committee. The legislature pro-
vided for the governor, the
lieutenant governor, and the
speaker to nominate "X" number
of people. The Chief Justice and
the President of the Bar would
have the power to nominate one
or more. It can end up with a
Commission that is predominate-
ly lawyers or non-lawyers, de-
pending on how you set it up. It
should not be left to the legal
community itself.
It is my understanding that to
adopt the merit system in Texas
would take a
That is true.
Do you think the merit system
III ever have a chance of coming
Yes.
A recent poll stated that 69
percent of the voters favor the
electorate process for judges.
I haven't seen the poll. In
Harris County at the last Demo-
cratic Primary, it is my under-
standing that there were over 100
judicial candidates on the ballot.
In one of the races there were
either 16 or 18 candidates. That is
a classic case of asking the people
to vote on 100 judicial candidates
starting with the Supreme Court
of Texas, the Court of Civil
Appeals, the district courts, the
justices of the peace, the whole
thing, and to make an intelligent
choice. I think it turned out where
Chief Justice
there were 16 or 18 people that
were the first persons on the
ballot, and they were elected.
They may be the best people but
it looks like this is not the best
way to select our judges.
Let me mention one other
thing. I understand that in
California at this time the Chief
Justice of California is a lady
named Bird. A million and a half
dollars has been raised to have
her not retained as Chief Justice.
How she will combat that I do not
know.
I was at a national judicial
meeting a few years back when
the California Supreme Court had
declared unconstitutional a Cali-
fornia Constitutional Amendment
with regard to housing. The
people had adopted an amend-
ment allowing restrictions in the
sale of houses to people of dif-
ferent races and beliefs. The
Supreme Court of California
declared that act unconstitu-
tional. Those on this Court had a
hard time when their term of
office expired. They had to go
Legal Co-ops Offer Valuable Benefits
by Kembra L. Smith
Managing Editor
Legal Cooperative, Inc. Presi-
dent Michael Walter refers to the
cooperative as allowing an at-
torney to "start at the top of the
profession," and his choice of
locations for the cooperative
allows this to be a reality.
Situated in the Lummus Tower at
Post Oak on the Lake on the
fifteenth floor, the outside offices
give one a skyline view of
downtown Houston or an over-
view of the southwest.
The definition of Legal Cooper-
atives as found in their brochure
indicates that it consists of "a
number of individual lawyers and
small law firms occupying the
same cooperative space which, in
turn, is managed by Legal
Cooperatives," or, in plainer
language, an office management
association by and for lawyers.
And if the purpose and concepts
involved with the association are
just limited to this, which they
certainly are not, the cooperative
is a complete success.
For a basic "membership" fee,
you rent an office space available
on the fifteenth floor as the entire
floor has been obtained by the
Cooperative. This fee can range
from $165 per month for a desk
space available to first year
practicing attorneys, to $365 for
an inside office, to less than $500
for an ample outside office with a
view. The office space is available
for decorating and living as the
member wishes and is certainly
an adequate size. The Coopera-
tive takes a laissez-faire attitude
towards the offices of their
members, allowing freedom for
living and working space.
If one is a "working" attorney,
complete with papers all over the
desk, Walters has made available
conference rooms which may be
scheduled for use with one's
clients. He indicates that aside
from ethical considerations, it is
permissible to tell one's clients
that the entire floor is "your
office."
The basic office space rental
fee includes the conference rooms
to be used as extensions of your
own space, a receptionist and
reception room, telephone ser-
vice, some office supplies and a
law library. The layout of the
office is such that the reception
room faces the library and
therefore affords a client a view of
your books. The library is filled
with a complete Texas and
Federal resources, a Westiaw
1 system provides a weekly printout
of all important court decisions
to page 4
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Dies, David & Bettman, Gerald S. South Texas College of Law, Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 7, No. 5, November, 1978, newspaper, November 1978; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth144379/m1/2/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Texas College of Law.