Houston Bar Association Veterans Legal Initiative Clinic – Tomball August 5, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Veterans who need legal advice or legal assistance can visit a free legal clinic on Saturday, August 5, from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., at the Tomball VA Outpatient Clinic, 1200 W. Main Street, Tomball, TX 77375. The clinic is a public service of the Houston Bar Foundation’s Veterans Legal Initiative and will be held in conjunction with a free Veterans Benefits Fair sponsored by the Texas Veterans Commission, the Veterans Land Board and the Department of Veterans Affairs.⠀
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No appointment is necessary. Any veteran, or spouse of a deceased veteran, can receive advice and counsel from a volunteer attorney in any area of law, including family, wills and probate, consumer, real estate and tax law, as well as disability and veterans benefits. Veterans who need ongoing legal representation and who qualify for legal aid may be assigned a pro bono attorney to handle their case.⠀
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For more information on the August 5th clinic and other services for veterans, contact the Veterans Legal Initiative at 713-759-1133 or visit HBA VLI online 

We've Come a Long Way Abe-y!

In recent days, stories about coins and other currencies have been appearing in the news: a coin collector has all but confirmed the authenticity of the first coin ever minted in the United States; the Abraham Lincoln penny, which debuted on August 2, 1909, celebrated its anniversary; the Bitcoin split in two; and the Venezuelan bolivar was calculated to be less valuable than the currency used in World of Warcraft. With today's blog post, we're continuing the trend with a discussion of coins old and new. 

Since the release of the Abe Lincoln penny more than a century ago, simple coinage has evolved dramatically. These physical objects that we trade for goods and services still hold value as legal tender, but in some circles cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoins are becoming a more widely preferred unit of exchange. Serving as alternatives to traditional forms of money, these cryptocurrencies are intangible strings of computer code, executed on a distributed ledger or blockchain, to be transferred between virtual parties in the digital realm. According to speculators, the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies is quite lucrative, prompting the government to formally consider whether or not U.S. federal securities laws should govern their trade. In a Report of Investigation released last Friday, the SEC determined that offers and sales of digital assets by virtual organizations are indeed securities and therefore subject to the requirements of the federal securities laws. Of course, pennies and other minted metals (along with banknotes) are still the primary forms of currency in use today, and they will be for the foreseeable future, but the idea of transacting business using a secure, anonymous, decentralized alternative to traditional coins and bills has many supporters. Increasingly, the legal industry is among them, and Agrello is one of the first players at the table. 

Created by a group of Estonian lawyers, academics, and technology experts, Agrello is a pioneer in the legal tech field. (It's no surprise that Estonians are leading the charge. The small but impressive country has fully embraced digital life by building an efficient, cost-effective, entirely digital government infrastructure that warrants a closer look.) This innovative company seeks to transform the practice of law using artificial intelligence as a tool for facilitating digital agreements over the Internet. These smart contracts have the potential to radically change how business is conducted, as well as the monetary model on which it will rely. Just weeks ago, Agrello announced an initial coin offering (ICO) for its own cryptocoin called Delta, which, according to the token utility paper published on the company's blog, "will be required to employ the Agrello platform and to perform various actions in the system, such as the deployment of new agreements or the usage of blockchain and contract repository resources." The Delta token sale started on July 16th, but for the time being, "US nationals are excluded from participating in the sale." Regardless, tracking the progress of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology will be interesting, especially as these new tools are used to shape the practice of law. At least for now, however, a penny saved is still a penny earned.

Fastcase 50 Honorees

Earlier this month, the legal research platform, Fastcase, announced its annual class of innovators, techies, visionaries, and leaders. Known as the Fastcase 50, the honorees are a distinguished group of lawyers, legal technologists, policymakers, judges, law librarians, and bar association executives. They are people from all walks of life whose accomplishments in the field of law inspire others to advance the profession.

In recent years, Texas has been well represented among those selected, and 2017 is no exception. Cameron Vann, Senior Staff Attorney of the State Bar of Texas Lawyers' Assistance Program is a recent inductee as is Cisselon Nichols Hurd, Senior Counsel at Shell Oil and Co-Founder of the UT Center for Women in Law. 

Also included among the honorees since 2011 are several librarians. Carla Hayden, 14th Librarian of Congress, is on this year's roster. Previous librarian inductees are listed here.

2016: Tim Baran, Cathryn Bowie, Robert (Bob) Oaks

2015: David Mao, Kate Martin

2014: Tina Gheen, Courtney Kennaday, Richard Leiter

2013: Bob Berring, Jr., Cindy Chick, Anne Ellis, Bess Reynolds

2012: Tom Boone, Jason Eiseman, Jane Kinney , Roger Skalbeck

2011: Robert Brink, Tom Bruce, Sarah Glassmeyer, Joe Hodnicki, John Joergensen, John Palfrey, Rob Richards, Roberta Shaffer, David Whelan, Judith Wright