On Oct. 8, Texas Gov. Rick Perry appointed Eva Guzman , a justice on Houston’s 14th Court of Appeals, to the Texas Supreme Court. Guzman, a 1989 graduate of South Texas College of Law , is the first Latina to serve on the high court. In 1999, then-Gov. George W. Bush appointed Guzman to the 309th District Court, a family law bench. In 2001, Perry appointed Guzman to the 14th Court. “Justice Guzman is known throughout legal circles as a strict constructionist with an unmatched work ethic, and has demonstrated a proven record of sound jurisprudence,” Perry says in a prepared statement. “I am proud to appoint this principled, conservative judge as the first Hispanic woman on the Supreme Court of Texas.” In an interview, Guzman says, “There are days that you dream of all of your life and days you will remember for the rest of your life. Today is both.” Guzman disposed of more than 5,000 cases in her three years on the trial court bench. And since 2001, she has ruled on more than 2,000 civil and criminal appeals and has authored hundreds of published opinions, according to her biography on the 14th Court’s Web site. This year, the Hispanic National Bar Association honored Guzman as “Latina Judge of the Year.” And the Mexican American Bar Association of Texas Foundation named Guzman “2009 Judge of the Year.” Roger Townsend , a partner in the Houston office of Alexander Dubose & Townsend who is a friend of Guzman’s, says she is an outstanding choice who will arrive at the court with no agenda. “I’ve had cases where she’s voted for plaintiffs and cases where she’s voted for the defense. She’s not going to be a predictable vote,” Townsend says. “I think she’ll be kind of a moderate voice, probably a lot like [Chief Justice] Wallace Jefferson . She’s extremely hard-working. If you are talking a 1 to 10 scale, I’d give her a 10.” Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina , who was a law school classmate of Guzman’s, says she’ll be a welcome addition to the court. “I think it’s awesome. It’s exciting,” Medina says of Guzman’s appointment. “She obviously has a tremendous amount of experience on an appellate court and a breadth of knowledge. She has analyzed every type of issue that we have analyzed before.”
On the Move
Fish & Richardson ‘s loss is Bracewell & Giuliani ‘s gain. On Oct. 5, Bracewell announced that it picked up a group of nine intellectual property lawyers from Fish & Richardson’s office in Austin, which is scheduled to close by the end of the year. The IP group is headed by Alan Albright , who was managing principal of Fish & Richardson’s Austin office. Albright, Ed Cavazos , Barry Shelton , Andrew Gajkowski and Chris Johnson joined Bracewell on Oct. 1, while Betty Chen joined on Oct. 6 and Josh Tucker is slated to join on Oct. 12. Michael Chibib and David Hoffman will join Bracewell after they complete an International Trade Commission matter, according to a Bracewell press release. Albright, Cavazos, Chibib and Shelton join Bracewell as partners, while the other five lawyers come on as associates. Once Fish decided to close the Austin office, Albright says that he and the others in the IP litigation group decided to stick together. While they talked to a number of other firms, “none had the enthusiasm that Bracewell did for being in the [IP litigation] area, for taking the whole group, for realizing the talent level of the associates that would be coming,” he says. He declines to identify clients they brought with them to Bracewell. In late August, Peter Devlin , the Boston-based president of Fish & Richardson, announced the firm would close the Austin office because of “strategic decisions to invest the firm’s resources in ways that build on our fundamental strengths and core competencies.” According to the Fish & Richardson Web site, 12 lawyers, including Chibib and Hoffman, are currently in the Austin office.
