On April 6, three Texas lawyers took the stage at the Dallas International Film Festival to discuss legal issues that might arise for filmmakers. Danica Mathes, who is of counsel at Dallas’ Bell Nunnally & Martin, Evan Fitzmaurice, who is an associate with Austin’s Selman Munson & Lerner, and Evan Fogelman, who is senior counsel at Dallas Underwood Perkins, all participated as part of a panel. A book agent and film producer joined the three lawyers. In the audience were filmmakers, students and lawyers, some of whom were aspiring filmmakers, according to Mathes. The lawyers in the audience had the option to receive continuing legal education credit for the session. The problem with the one-hour event: time, or too little of it, Mathes says. "There is no way we could cover more than just the tip of the iceberg, so this is more just kind of a ‘buyer beware,’???" she says. Fitzmaurice says the opportunity to get CLE credit for no charge as well as the subject matter "intrigued" many lawyers and the big turnout surprised him. Fitzmaurice shares characteristics with those in the audience who have a hyphenated career status (lawyer-filmmaker): The Selman Munson associate released in 2007 his own documentary film "A Lawyer Walks into the Bar," a feature about six law school graduates’ attempt to pass the California bar exam. Fitzmaurice also previously served as director of the Texas Film Commission.
Happy 40th, Winstead!
Winstead, which is marking its 40th anniversary, has stuck to two specific goals over four decades teamwork and a business focus, says Tom Helfand, a shareholder in Dallas who was the firm’s first summer clerk. "From day one, the whole concept of this firm was teamwork and collaboration . . . the other to be a business law firm representing business clients," says Helfand, who joined the firm in 1977 after graduating from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. The Dallas-based firm, originally known as Winstead McGuire & Sechrest, was founded on April 9, 1973 by Pete Winstead, Chuck McGuire and Bill Sechrest. Winstead, a shareholder in Austin, continues to practice at the firm. Mike Baggett, a shareholder in Dallas and chairman emeritus who joined the firm in 1974 after clerking at the Texas Supreme Court, says Winstead recruited him to the firm, and he stayed for 39 years because of its culture. "They wanted to make it more like teamwork, and, me being an Aggie, I like all that teamwork. The lawyers get along here very well. We don’t get into arguments," he says. "When I started, we had seven lawyers and we did real estate, some banking, some business stuff and just grew the base from there," Baggett says, noting that the firm’s initial expansion into Houston and Austin was for a banking client, the former Mercantile National Bank. Even today, Baggett says, the firm’s five largest clients are banks. Today, Winstead has 305 lawyers in Dallas, Houston, Austin, Fort Worth, San Antonio and The Woodlands, along with Charlotte, N.C., New Orleans and Washington, D.C.
