Editor’s note: On Sept. 19, the Texas Lawyer editorial department hosted a roundtable discussion in Collin County, “Domestic Relations: How to Make Your Case in Family Court.” Panelists included 296th District Judge John Roach Jr., 219th District Judge Scott J. Becker, 366th District Judge Ray Wheless and 397th District Judge Brian Gary. This is the first part of the discussion. The second part will be published in an upcoming issue. The judges’ discussion covered e-filing, domicile restrictions, the enforcement of morality clauses and their thoughts on social media. It has been edited for length and style.
John Council, senior reporter, Texas Lawyer, Dallas: . . . I’m pleased to be in Collin County to talk about the one form of litigation that dominates the civil docket here. That’s family law. The four general jurisdiction judges . . . gathered today spend the majority of their time on the bench dealing with [the] family law bar and their clients. I’m sure they’re all happy to see both with your latest custody-modification pleading. Hopefully, these judges can give us some pointers on how to make those courtroom interactions go a little bit more smoothly. So, from the Collin County bench, we have Judges John Roach Jr., Scott Becker and Ray Wheless, and we have their neighbor in the north, Judge Brian Gary of Grayson County to give us some pointers on how things are done in Sherman. So, without any further ado, I’d like to start off with a matter that I’m sure everybody in this room is still getting used to, and that’s electronic filing. So, I’m going to start with you, Judge Roach. That’s something that you’ve been steeped in for a while. . . . I understand the electronic filing system is essentially a fileless system, but it’s not a paperless system. So, what are some of the kinks that you’ve been running into with the system as it stands?
