This blog post summarizes the new CDC eviction moratorium issued on August 3, 2021, as well as provides information on two resources in Texas to help people facing eviction.
Read moreA Matter of Statutory Interpretation: Texas Supreme Court Declares Amazon.com Is Not a Seller Under Texas Products Liability Law
Image by Mediamodifier from Pixabay
On June 25, 2021, the Texas Supreme Court stated that Amazon.com is not “a ‘seller’ under Texas law when it does not hold title to third-party products sold on its website but controls the process of the transaction and delivery.” Read more about the majority opinion and the dissent in this blog post.
Read moreTexas Eviction Resources for an Uncertain Time
On March 28, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) extended the order halting certain residential evictions through June 30, 2021. However, an emergency order from the Texas Supreme Court “that instructed judges across Texas how to follow the federal mandate expired March 31.” This blog post features resources for residents of Texas who are facing eviction.
Read moreTexas Supreme Court Rules on Bar Admission in Time of Covid
If you are now, or have ever been, a licensed attorney, then you probably have a hazy constellation of bar exam memories seared into your brain. While each state handles its aspiring practitioners in different ways, for many lawyers nationwide the experience included being herded into a massive space packed with folding tables, borderline elbow-to-elbow with hundreds of other emotionally-exhausted recent graduates fueled by a summer’s worth of coffee and pizza, under the watchful eyes of a battalion of retiree proctors. Is it possible to replicate this special rite of passage in the time of Covid? The Texas Supreme Court, which ultimately controls the method of bar admission state-wide, decided on Friday it is not currently feasible to do so.
Some states, such as Washington and Utah, have decided to temporarily waive bar exam requirements for prospective attorneys who meet certain qualifications, like holding a JD from an ABA accredited school, or who fulfill a certain number of hours of supervised legal work. Here in Texas, law school deans, students, and prominent attorneys around the state, called for the state Supreme Court to similarly implement a “diploma privilege” that would have allowed JDs to earn licensure through supervised practice, or even just by virtue of having a JD.
Indeed, Texas has offered diploma privilege for bar admission in the past, though it has been almost 100 years. The requirement for a written examination was first implemented in Texas in 1903. Two years later, in 1905, UT Law graduates were able to join the bar without sitting for the exam (Texas Laws 1905, page 150, Laws 1919, page 63). In 1919, these rules were expanded to include graduates from other law schools, unnamed in the Act but enumerated in accompanying Rules. According to a 1978 article in the Houston Law Review, the reason for this expansion was lobbying from the then nascent (and now nonexistent) TCU law school to break the UT diploma privilege monopoly. (Stephen K. Huber & James E. Myers, Admission to the Practice of Law in Texas: an Analytical History, 15 Hou. L. Rev. 485, 512 (1978).) Rather than expand the diploma privilege to graduates of other Texas law schools, the Texas Supreme Court decided at that time to instead expand the privilege to graduates of law programs of high national renown, in order to encourage attorneys of quality to consider a move to Texas. The eight schools then covered besides UT were University of Virginia, Washington and Lee, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, and George Washington University. (Id.) The Texas diploma privilege lasted in this form until its total repeal in 1935.
Instead of reviving some version of the long-gone diploma privilege, even temporarily, this past Friday the Texas Supreme Court opted for a hybrid model. First, the Court outright cancelled the July 2020 exam administration previously scheduled for the end of this month. Next, the Court has ordered an in-person exam be administered September 9 – 11th, “subject to guidance from public health authorities.” Scoring will be rushed to only be delayed by three weeks from the typical release of July scores. Third, the Court has ordered a bar examination be offered on-line the first week of October. Finally, the Court has asked law school deans and local bar organization leaders to help identify practitioners willing to formally supervise practice by JDs who will sit for the bar in either September, October, or February 2021, thereby providing a path to begin practice despite disruption to the exam administration.
As Covid spread puts Texas on the map as a global hotspot, it seems likely the Texas Supreme Court may revisit the issue of diploma privilege again in the coming months. But with the bar now postponed at least six weeks, students can breathe a brief sigh of relief before getting back to their flashcards.
