Witan (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 4, Ed. 1 Monday, December 1, 1975 Page: 8 of 8
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SBA Up-date
Witan
by Joshua Brown
SBA President
Reputation
Soured
Within the last three weeks, the Student
Bar Association has sponsored two
informative and practical programs. The
first was a symposium on legal ethics and the
second a discussion concerning the current
Personal Recognizance Bond Program in San
Antonio. The combined student attendance
at these functions, if exaggerated, may have
reached 50 people. This is one thirteenth of
the law school student body.
As S.B.A. President and co-ordinator of
the programs, I was extremely embarassed
to show the distinguished speakers the bare
sides of classroom No. 101. Several times I
found myself dashing to the library to purge
it of the faithful student so two or three
empty seats could be filled.
Students continually badger me about the
lack of practicality the law school fosters. In
recognition of this problem, a major goal of
my administration is to get the law school
involved in worthwhile and practical
projects and programs. Coinciding with this
is a drive on my part to co-sponsor various
activities with the San Antonio Young
Lawyers Association. If a student body
president does not have the support of his
constituents, how in the world can he expect
the help and support of other local
organizations?
A law school should take an active and
positive role in its respective community. St.
Mary's, being the only law school in San
Antonio, should assert itself as a viable link
between the law student the legal
community. The demise of the previously
mentioned programs has soured our
reputation with leaders of the local legal
community. It is a sad situation when I
continually have to apologize to our guests
for lack of interest. Most of you are lucky in
that the usual response from the guest has
been "Well I guess they're all studying." As I
chuckle to myself, I can't help but think what
the real reason is.
Moot Court
To Regionals
In this first venture into National Moot
Court Competition, St. Mary's team,
composed of Chrys Lambros, Larry Likar,
and Jon Kelly made a fair showing,
according to the team coach, Morton Beard.
The team-composed brief was placed fourth
by the judges.
The Regional Competition took place at
the Federal Court Building in Dallas on
October 29, 30, and 31. Of the eleven teams
entered from Texas, Oklahoma and
Arkansas, the University of Texas and
Baylor were the tournament co-favorites. St.
Mary's lost by a split ballot (2 to 1) to Texas,
but defeated Baylor by the same margin. An
upset loss to Oklahoma eliminated St. Mary's
from the competition. Texas Tech was the
tournament champion.
One member of the Texas team which
went on to win third in event, admitted that
they were glad not to run up against many
teams as strong as St. Mary's.
Personal Recognizance Bonds
ontinued from Page 1)
after he fails to appear at Court. These
'forfeitures' constitute about 5% of the
people released on personal bond. However,
the real problem is the 'fugitive' third group
who cannot be found. There are only 2.5% in
this category.
Out of the 3,600 personal bond cases that
were closed during the first nine months of
this year, less than 2% went back to jail. The
remaining cases are adjudicated or settled,
some were found innocent and others were
put on probation or assessed fines.
So if this program is so successful what's
all this controversy about?
The commercial bonding business is
financially hurting. The fee for a commercial
bondsman is 10% for a state offense and 15%
for a federal offense. If 10% of the
commercial bonding business is cut due to
personal bonding, there is potential loss of
approximately one million dollars.
There has also been criticism that the job
should be done by more magistrates not
investigators.
This is both financially and theoretically
unsound. An investigator for the personal
recognizance bond program makes approxi-
mately $8,000 a year, compared to a
magistrate's salary of $20,000. The
investigator does not perform any legal
service for the accused; rather he is
providing a public service. Further, the
investigator has no interest in whether or
not the individual will be released. The
system also eliminates much of the
temptation of solicitation by attorneys or
bondsmen, which is unethical and illegal.
The personal recognizance bond program
was organized in 1967, with the approval of
the police department, the sheriff, the
president to the local bar association, the
criminal district judges, county judges and
private attorneys. So far, the program is a
success story, according to Mr. Christian. It
has saved the citizens of Bexar County
$5,000,000 a year in jail costs (assuming that
a jail large enough to handle all the accused
unable or unwilling to post a commercial
bond existed.) and it saves much personal
grief to those who would otherwise not be
allowed to go back to families and jobs.
W« T«ach You th* Texas Law Yow N**d
Bar
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Witan (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 4, Ed. 1 Monday, December 1, 1975, newspaper, December 1, 1975; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth855601/m1/8/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting St. Mary’s University School of Law.