Inadmissible: Rule 12 Access

If you don’t succeed the first 10 times, try, try again. The LGBT Law Section of the State Bar of Texas has tried five times since 2005 to repeal a state law that criminalizes homosexual conduct. Before that, five other bills tried to do the same thing and failed. All of the past bills died without even making it to the House or Senate floors, but the section is ready for another attempt in 2015. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 declared the law, Texas Penal Code §21.06, unconstitutional in Lawrence v. Texas. “There is no valid reason, legal or otherwise, to keep Penal Code §21.06 ‘on the books.’ This is not merely an academic argument. The ‘homosexual conduct’ law was used in a 2009 incident in El Paso as possible grounds for the police to arrest patrons who were kissing in a restaurant, resulting in a lawsuit against the city,” said the legislative proposal. The LGBT Law Section is asking the Texas Legislature to repeal §21.06, which makes it a Class C misdemeanor if a person “engages in deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex.” The section is also asking lawmakers to strike two Health and Safety Code provisions that refer to §21.06. Previous bills tried to do so in 1993, 1997, 1999 and twice in 2001. Then, after the U.S. Supreme Court declared §21.06 unconstitutional, LGBT Law tried again in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013. John V. Trevino Jr., the section’s chairman, didn’t return a call seeking comment. The State Bar of Texas board of directors planned to vote on Sept. 19 on whether to adopt the proposal. The board was also scheduled to consider proposals for legislative changes in the areas of family, real estate, probate and trust law.

Health Exchange

Health care lawyers Kathy Poppitt and Catherine Greaves joined King & Spalding’s Austin office on Sept. 15, coming from Cox Smith Matthews. Poppitt joined King & Spalding as a partner and Greaves as counsel. Poppitt said she has worked with Gary Eiland, a King & Spalding partner in Houston, for several years, as they both serve on the planning committee for the University of Texas School of Law Health Law Conference. “He just brought an opportunity to me and to my longtime colleague Catherine Greaves,” Poppitt said. “The things that were really appealing to me about this was getting to work with a large group of health care attorneys that do the same things that I do.” She said she is excited to work with King & Spalding’s large health care group. “When you start talking about, say, the Stark law, you don’t have to explain it,” she said. Poppitt does health care regulatory law, health litigation and administrative law. Greaves does state and federal compliance work related to health care. Poppitt said her clients include Tenet Healthcare Corp. of Dallas and St. David’s Foundation in Austin. In a press release, Mike Stenglein, managing partner of the King & Spalding office in Austin, wrote that Poppitt and Greaves have practices that “dovetail perfectly” with the firm’s life sciences and health care practices, and the needs of the Houston and Austin offices. Deborah Williamson, managing director of San Antonio-based Cox Smith, was traveling and did not return a telephone message. However, in an email, Amy Miller, director of client relations for Cox Smith, wrote that the firm has a “deep bench” in its health care practice despite the departures. “We wish Kathy and Catherine well in their new endeavor,” Miller wrote.

Rule 12 Access