Questions about whether a lawyer’s job includes talking to journalists about cases—specifically, if counsel should be immune from defamation lawsuits over press statements—arose Tuesday from Texas Supreme Court justices hearing a dispute involving tigers, pre-lawsuit publicity and $450,000 in sanctions.

As the oral argument in Landry’s v. Animal Legal Defense Fund unfolded, justices kept bringing counsel back to discussions about the attorney-immunity doctrine, which protects an attorney who was representing a client from getting sued by a third party.