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October 13, 2011
Austin lawyer to head national intellectual property law group
Barber, at right, is a managing partner at Austin law firm Pirkey Barber LLP and has been active in the national organization for more than 20 years, according to a firm press release. His practice focuses on trademark policing and litigation.
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August 23, 2011
Law firm releases statement on Austin lawyer's bribery indictment
Today’s Statesman reports that Austin-based personal injury lawyer Marc Rosenthal, whose firm has a satellite office in Brownsville, has been ensnared in a South Texas bribery probe.
Rosenthal’s firm, Rosenthal & Watson, denied the accusations contained a 13-count indictment unsealed Monday.
Here is the full text of that statement:
“Rosenthal & Watson stands fully behind Marc Rosenthal and his innocence of these charges. We are proud of his work with the firm and he’s helped hundreds of people get justice in our courts by following the rules for his entire career.
“The admissions of wrongdoing from the judge and others are disheartening. But we were not aware of their improper activities. We expect to see Marc vindicated.
“It is business as usual at Rosenthal & Watson and we have no plans to do anything but fully and zealously represent our clients, both our existing clients and the new ones who’ve hired us in the last few months. Marc and the rest of the lawyers and staff at Rosenthal & Watson will continue to do all we can, full-time and with full force to represent those injured and seeking justice. As in the past, Lynn Watson will continue to handle the bulk of the firm administrative duties.”
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February 2, 2010
Lawyer Reposa heading to jail tonight for making lewd gesture
Austin criminal defense lawyer Adam Reposa, sentenced to 90 days in jail for making a gesture simulating masturbation in a Travis County courtroom in 2008, will begin serving his sentence this evening, according to a statement issued by his law office.
Reposa, 35, shown at right after his arrest, has been free on bond while appealing the contempt of court finding and the jail sentence, both of which have been upheld by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He will turn himself in at the Travis County jail at 10:30 this tonight, the statement said.
In a hearing scheduled for tomorrow at 10:30 a.m., Reposa will ask senior state District Judge Paul Davis, who sentenced Reposa, to allow him to serve the time in a non-traditional manner, such as on weekends or in home confinement, according to his lawyer Todd Dudley.
Dudley said that several judges would be subpoenaed to testify that Reposa has conducted himself appropriately in court since the 2008 incident.
Reposa made the lewd gesture while standing before County Court-at-Law Judge Jan Breland on March 11, 2008. Breland found Reposa in contempt of court, a finding Davis later sustained during a hearing on the matter.
Breland testified during the hearing that Reposa rolled his eyes and looked at her while making the gesture. Reposa said the gesture was aimed at a prosecutor. They were discussing plea negotiations in a driving-while-intoxicated case.
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January 13, 2010
Despite latest ruling, lawyer Reposa still hopes to avoid jail
Austin lawyer Adam Reposa, who was found in contempt of court and sentenced to jail for making a simulated masturbatory gesture in court in 2008, suffered another legal setback today and could end up behind bars within a month.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals today refused Reposa’s request to reconsider its ruling upholding the contempt finding and 90-day sentence.
Reposa said that it would take 15 days for the appellate court to pass along its decision to the lower court. At that time he expects a warrant would be issued for his arrest. Reposa has been free on bond pending his appeal.
Reposa said his lawyer would soon file a motion with senior state District Judge Paul Davis, who issued the sentence, asking that the sentence be served in some creative fashion, such as home confinement. The motion would ask Davis to hold a hearing on the request, he said. At that hearing Reposa may ask other judges to testify that the gesture he made in Court-at-Law Judge Jan Breland’s court was an aberration.
“It was obvious that I shouldn’t have lost my composure,” he said. “It really was an isolated incident.”
Reposa said his girlfriend is pregnant and is expected to have their baby in March. He hopes at the very least Davis would delay imposition of the sentence so he can be there.
In his appeal, Reposa argued that the lewd gesture, made during a pretrial hearing in a DWI case, was not contemptuous behavior because it was directed at a prosecutor and not the judge, and because the act did not disrupt the trial or interfere with the administration of justice.
However, the Court of Criminal Appeals in October ruled that “disrespect for the court has a long-established history” in contempt findings.
“Regardless of the fact that the gesture was not directed at Judge Breland, it nevertheless was a purposeful act of disrespect and an affront to the dignity of the court. As such, it rises to the level of criminal contempt,” Judge Paul Womack wrote.
The court also rejected Reposa’s arguments that the sentence was excessive, noting that 90 days was in the middle of the punishment range.
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January 12, 2010
Lawyer denies wrongdoing in dustup with courthouse security
Carolyn Machalec Barnes, the Leander lawyer who was arrested at a Travis County courthouse security checkpoint Friday, said in an interview today that she did nothing wrong.
A probable cause affidavit accuses Barnes of assaulting a Travis County sheriff’s courthouse security officer after another officer told her she could not bring a small multi-tool, which included a knife, into the Heman Sweatt Travis County Courthouse downtown.
Barnes, 53, said that there is no blade on the tool, which she described as “an eye glass repair tool my son gave me for Christmas.” She denied assaulting the officer and said that he attacked her from behind while she was exiting the building.
She said she was attacked while calling 911 to report the officer’s “threats.”
The affidavit said that Barnes became argumentative when an officer told her the tool could not be carried inside the courthouse and suggested she return it to her car.
After she refused to leave, Barnes dialed her cell phone, stating she was “calling the judge,” the affidavit said.
The affidavit said that after Barnes was told she must exit the building before making the call, she turned and struck an officer in the chest with her right hand and forearm.
There are video cameras near the security checkpoints and Barnes said she is confident that video of the incident will corroborate her account.
Barnes, 53, is a civil lawyer who works on a variety of cases, including medical malpractice, according to her Web site.
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January 11, 2010
Leander lawyer arrested at court security checkpoint once attended Lutheran seminary
It looks like a Leander attorney is in hot water after a run-in with a Travis County courthouse security officer at the Heman Sweatt Travis County Courthouse on Friday.
A Statesman account of the incident involving Carolyn Machalec Barnes, 53, published earlier today here said she is charged with assaulting a public servant.
An affidavit accuses Barnes of striking a deputy at a security checkpoint after the deputy told Barnes she could not enter the building with a “multi-tool” that included a knife.
“When restrained defendant began to scream like an animal and threaten affiant as well and use profanity,” said the affidavit. “Defendant threatened to end affiant’s career using statements such as, ‘this is the last arrest you will ever make you fat (expletive).’”
According to Barnes’ Website, she is a 1984 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law who operates a solo practice. She also has attended the Lutheran Seminary of the Southwest, her Website said.
Barnes handles medical malpractice and other civil cases, her Website said.
Update: This post has been corrected since it was originally published. It originally identified Security Coordinator G. Alvarez as the deputy who wrote the affidavit. Alvarez, whose first name is not known, was the one who initially discovered the multi-tool and asked Barnes to take it outside the courthouse, the affidavit said. Another sheriff’s officer wrote the affidavit. That person’s name was signed at the end of the affidavit but his or her name was illegible.
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January 6, 2010
Lawyer won't ask for delay in death penalty case, despite judicial campaign
Undoubtedly many political candidates gearing up for the March primaries have day jobs that will distract them from campaigning. But perhaps none have a more intense task than Leonard Martinez, who is running for judge in Travis County. Martinez will spend much of January and February in court trying to save a man’s life.
Martinez is the lead defense lawyer for Milton Dwayne Gobert, who is accused of capital murder in the October 2003 killing of 30-year-old Mel Cotton, his ex-girlfriend’s friend, at her apartment on Interstate 35 near Rundberg Lane. Gobert is accused of stabbing Cotton and her then 5-year-old son, who survived. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Gobert’s trial, which has been delayed by pretrial appeals, is finally set to begin January 19 with jury selection, which is expected to last for several weeks. Opening statements are scheduled for February 22.
The Democratic primary is March 2. Martinez said he would not ask for a delay in the case because of the campaign, even though preparing for such a high-stakes case often has lawyers working into the evenings and on weekends.
“I wish there was something I could do about the timing,” Martinez said. “There is just no way I am going to make the family of the victim wait another several months or make the defendant who, has been in jail for six years, wait for his day in court.”
Martinez is among four Democrats who hope to replace Judge Charlie Baird, who is not running for re-election to the 299th District Court.
Also running are defense lawyer Eve Schatelowtiz Alcantar, 38; prosecutor Karen Sage, 44; and family and criminal defense lawyer Mindy Montford, 39. No Republican filed to run.
Martinez said that he has asked state District Judge Bob Perkins to end the trial each day by 5 p.m. so he can attend candidate forums in the evening. He said he would prepare for the next day’s proceedings after that.
Veteran defense lawyer Kent Anschutz has also been appointed to represent Gobert.
Martinez said that he hopes to prove that if Gobert did kill Cotton, which he is not conceding, then it was not done while committing another felony, which is what qualifies the crime for a capital murder charge. Then he could not received a death sentence.
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November 27, 2009
Judge backs away from jail sentence for lawyer
An Austin defense lawyer whose brief profane statement during a Travis County jury trial in September drew the ire of state District Judge Charlie Baird will not spend any time in jail under an agreement between the two.
During the trial, Baird said defense lawyer Edmund “Skip” Davis was in contempt of court for saying, “I love this (expletive)” in front of the jury and then falsely denying it. Baird sentenced Davis to 10 days in jail and fined him $1,250 but delayed the imposition of the penalty.
Since the trial, Baird said that Davis has convinced him that a contempt of court finding would hinder Davis’ ability to practice law in some jurisdictions. Baird said he did not intend for the punishment to be that harsh.
So last week, Baird said, the two agreed that Davis will pay $500 to the food pantry at the St. Ignatius, Martyr, Catholic Church, a charity Davis chose, and $750 to Meals on Wheels, which Baird picked. Davis will also work five days for Habitat For Humanity.
Baird said he would not enter a formal contempt of court finding.
“I just wanted to get his attention and make sure he didn’t do this anymore,” Baird said.
According to the State Bar of Texas, Davis, shown at right in a 2001 photo, received his law degree in 1999 from the University of Texas and has not been publicly disciplined by the bar.
Davis’ outburst came during the injury to a child trial of Tamika Andrews, who prosecutors say abused an 11-month girl in her care last year.
Davis said Friday that he was exuberant after a heated cross-examination of an Austin police detective that he thought showed the jury that his client was led to falsely confess in the case.
“I spiked the ball,” he said, comparing his comment to a football player’s celebration after scoring a touchdown.
Andrews pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree injury to a child hours after Davis’ outburst, and a jury later sentenced her to probation.
“I do love my job and I especially love it when the truth is weeded out,” he said. “I do love this.”
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October 29, 2009
Houston lawyer John O'Quinn dies in car wreck
John O’Quinn, one of the state’s most prominent trial lawyers, was killed this morning in a car wreck on a rain-slickened Houston street, the Houston Chronicle reports.
Another man in O’Quinn’s car was also killed in the crash, which occurred about 8 a.m. when their sport-utility vehicle skidded across a median on Allen Parkway and struck a tree, the newspaper quoted police as saying. It was unclear which man was driving the vehicle.
O’Quinn was one of five lawyers who helped Texas gain a record $17 billion settlement against tobacco companies in 1998. O’Quinn’s law firm coordinating dozens of lawsuits in the 1990s alleging that silicone breast implants had damaged the health of recipients.
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April 23, 2009
Lawyers squabble over fees in Pedernales lawsuit settlement
An attorney representing a client who opposed the settlement of a lawsuit against the Pedernales Electric Cooperative last year now wants a portion of the proceeds resulting from the case.
Corpus Christi attorney Christopher Bandas filed suit against Austin attorney Bill Ikard and others for a share of the $4 million in lawyers fees awarded to the plaintiffs. All were PEC members who sued the co-op leadership, alleging mismanagement and seeking reforms and damages.
Resolution of their lawsuit was delayed when other members appealed the proposed settlement.
Bandas’ client, co-op member Max Moudy, later backed off his appeal. In turn, Bandas claims Ikard and other plaintiff’s lawyers committed a share of the award to him.
“Defendants have breached the Settlement Agreement,” Bandas says in his March filing in Harris County.
Ikard has countersued, saying Bandas didn’t follow required procedures.
“He does not have standing,” reads the filing by Austin attorney Jason Nassour on Ikard’s behalf.
The original lawsuit against Pedernales forced disclosures that led to a series of management changes and governance reforms at the Johnson City-based co-op. Hill Country resident and attorney David Allen Hall also fought the settlement, but his appeal was rejected last month by the 3rd Court.
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January 13, 2009
DPS names new top lawyer
Stuart Platt, a U.S. magistrate judge in Midland-Odessa for 13 years, will become the top lawyer for the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The agency’s new general counsel starts work in Austin on Jan. 20, DPS announced today.
Platt has also been an assistant U.S. attorney for 10 years in the Eastern District of Texas and the Eastern District of Tennessee, and spent several years in private practice Greenville, northeast of Dallas.
His law degree is from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, and his bachelor’s degree in political science came from Texas A&M University, DPS said.
Platt is married with three children, including one who is a trooper in the Texas Highway Patrol.
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December 12, 2008
Lawyer sued over land sale for water treatment plant
Members of the prominent Joseph family have accused one of their own — real estate lawyer John Joseph Sr. — of fraud for his role in selling 40 acres of family-owned land to his son’s company, which quickly “flipped” it to the City of Austin for an eight-fold profit.
The property, purchased from a family trust for $1.7 million in December 2007, was sold to the city for a profit of $12 million to $15 million less than four weeks later, according to a lawsuit filed in Travis County district court.
Austin plans to build its fourth water treatment plant — which was controversial even before details of the land sale emerged — on the land off RM 620 in Northwest Austin.
Before the sale, Joseph failed to inform the family trust that the land had been appraised at $417,000 an acre or that the city had already committed to buy the parcel for $330,000 per acre, the lawsuit says. The trust earned $42,000 an acre on the sale.
“John Sr. knowingly withheld … the existence of a signed contract to ‘flip,’ or quickly re-sell, the property,” said the lawsuit, filed Nov. 5.
Joseph denied the accusations, without going into detail, in his own court filing.
Full story in tomorrow’s paper and website.
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October 1, 2008
Texas Lawyer names 10 Austinites as "Extraordinary"
Texas Lawyer magazine this week announced its top 30 “Extraordinary Women in Texas Law” and 10 Austin-based lawyers made the list.
Chosen by the magazine’s editors from almost 500 nominations made through a form on the magazine’s Web site, the women are:
- Jerry K. Clements, chairwoman, Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell
- Ann D. Foster, director, Texas Lawyers’ Assistance Program of the State Bar of Texas
- Linda Icenhauer-Ramirez, solo practicing defense lawyer
- Maurie Levin, senior staff attorney, Texas Defender Service
- Andrea Marsh, executive director, Texas Fair Defense Project
- Laura Lee Prather, partner, Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold
- Raenell Silcox, staff attorney, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
- Seana Willing, executive director, State Commission on Judicial Conduct
- Jennifer Wuamett, vice president and chief intellectual property manager, Freescale Semiconductor Inc.
- Anne Wynee, partner, Ikard Wynne.
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