On Nov. 12, Gov. Rick Perry announced his appointment of 353rd District Judge Jeff Rose to the 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin. Perry had appointed Rose to the 353rd District Court bench in October 2009. On Nov. 2, Rose lost his bid for election to the district court to Democrat Tim Sulak . Prior to taking the bench, Rose was the first deputy assistant in the Texas Office of the Attorney General . According to a news release from the Office of the Governor, Rose is board certified in civil trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Rose fills the vacancy on the 3rd Court created by former Justice Alan Waldrop ‘s resignation in September. Rose says he plans to wrap up his work at the 353rd District Court and assume his duties at the 3rd Court in mid-December. “I’m excited to get over there,” Rose says. “The [3rd] Court deals with a lot of the same type of cases we’ve dealt with here in the trial court and when I was at the AG’s office,” he says. Also on Nov. 12, Perry appointed Shannon Gracey Ratliff & Miller partner R.H. Wallace Jr. to the 96th District Court in Tarrant County. Wallace replaces longtime Judge Jeff Walker , who retired from the trial court. “It’s kind of like getting ready for vacation: I’m waiting for the last day. I’m trying to get ready,” Wallace says of the move to the Tarrant County Justice Center. He says he will take the bench on Dec. 1. “After 30-plus years of trying lawsuits, I’m looking forward to a different perspective. It’ll be fun helping people get their cases resolved,” says Wallace, who practices commercial litigation and professional liability defense. Wallace joins a long line of Shannon Gracey partners who have made the move to the courthouse, including John Cayce , Bob McCoy , Anne Gardner and Sam Day , who became justices on Fort Worth’s 2nd Court of Appeals; McCoy and Gardner still sit on the 2nd Court. “I kind of like being in that company,” Wallace says.
Rule Referendum
In early 2011, State Bar of Texas members will get an opportunity to have their say on proposed amendments to the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct. In an order signed Nov. 16, the Texas Supreme Court directed the State Bar to conduct a referendum on the rules from Jan. 18 through Feb. 17, 2011. Attached to the court’s order is the ballot form, on which the proposed rule changes are grouped into seven different categories. Bar members will vote “yes” or “no” on each category of the rules. In a letter Nov. 17 to State Bar president Terry Tottenham , of counsel at Fulbright & Jaworski in Austin, Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson noted that the court has made a few substantive revisions to the rules recommended by the State Bar board of directors. For example, the court revised proposed Rule 1.04(d)(1) to require a lawyer’s signature on a contingent-fee agreement. According to the letter, the court also did not incorporate most of the revisions that the Bar board recommended for Comment 1 to proposed Rule 1.13, which addresses sex between lawyers and their clients. Still an unanswered question is whether the Supreme Court, which has administrative authority over the State Bar, will promulgate the rules if the Bar membership votes them down. Justice Phil Johnson , the Supreme Court’s liaison on the rules, says, “The court has not taken a position on that at this point in time.” Johnson says the Supreme Court is precluded by the Texas Constitution from giving advisory opinions and takes action when it has a controversy before it. If the lawyers turn down the rules, Johnson says, “I suspect strongly there will be a controversy about it.” Tottenham says the referendum will be “the culmination of a long, transparent process.” He says the State Bar has given lawyers and the public ample time to comment on the proposed rules and the Supreme Court has listened. “We look forward to the referendum in January,” he says. Jefferson was travelling and did not immediately returning a call seeking comment.
