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| Wallace Jefferson |
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| "I wouldn't trade this
job for anything." |
| Editor's note: Gov. Rick Perry appointed Wallace
Jefferson as chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court on Sept. 14, 2004 |
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An engaging public speaker, Texas Supreme Court Justice Wallace Jefferson
is frequently asked to give speeches, which he delivers to three general
audiences.
The first group, Jefferson’s favorite, consists of schoolchildren.
“A wonderful part of this job is that you have a platform, which other
lawyers and judges in the state don’t have, that you can use to do
good,” he said. “I enjoy speaking to kids and serving as motivation
for them to work hard and make the right choices.” Full
Profile
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| Peter, Anna, and Michell Bradie |
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| "We're not your typical
law firm." |
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Anna Bradie, Michell Bradie, and
Pete Bradie may not practice family law, but they do practice law as a family.
“We practice with partners in whom we have implicit trust,”
said Pete Bradie,senior partner of Bradie, Bradie & Bradie.
Pete, his wife Anna, and their daughter Michell established Bradie, Bradie
& Bradie in 1991 in northwest Houston. The firm handles a little of
everything, from business litigation to mediation to wills, trusts, and
probate. Full
Profile |
| Roger Neil Moss |
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| "I was in law school the first night
and I knew I did the right thing and was in the right place," |
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Roger Neil Moss is the
type of guy you want to sit next to on a bus, socialize with at the next
party you attend, or take with you on your next road trip. He's fascinating,
a great storyteller, and a nice guy.
These days Moss, 63, can be found practicing criminal law as a sole practitioner
in Lufkin, a "big small town" a few miles northwest of the geographic center
of Angelina County in the heart of the Piney Woods of East Texas. Full
Profile |
| Scott Atlas |
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| "Lawyers have a responsibility to [serve]
people who can't afford counsel. I don't see anything unusual about that." |
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Ask Scott Atlas
about representing indigents in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, being
honored with many awards, including the Mexican Bar Association of Texas’
1996 Lawyer of the Year, the Houston Bar Association president’s Award
in 1999, and the 2002 Karen Susman Juris Prudence Award from the Anti-Defamation
League, or about being listed in Who’s Who in America dozens of times,
and he will heap kudos on the firm where he is a partner — Vinson
& Elkins, L.L.P.
“The thing that’s always troubled me about pro bono work is
that lawyers getmore credit than we deserve,” Atlas said. Full
Profile |
| Norma Trusch |
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| "I absolutely love practicing family
law." |
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Norma Trusch
has volunteered her time at Houston Volunteer Lawyers, a nonprofit group
which provides free legal assistance to people without money, for more than
19 years. Having served on and off the board during that time (she is now
an ex officio member), Trusch trains other attorneys in family law so they
can act as mentors on such cases, and she leads sessions to teach people
how to represent themselves in court.
And in a warm voice sounding just like a mother's, she said, “Don't
make me sound too virtuous. I'm not. But I love — absolutely love
— practicing family law.” Full
Profile |
| Sherman Swartz |
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| "Give me a plate of fried pickles." |
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| Although Denton attorney
Sherman Swartz is a member of the Pro Bono College, he is likely
the only member to have accepted a case for the price of a plate of fried
pickles.
For the past 17 years, Swartz’s childhood friend, Ken Willis, has
been the proprietor of a downtown eatery called Ruby’s Diner on the
Square. In February, a California-based company, the Ruby Restaurant Group,
which operates a chain of Ruby’s restaurants, notified Willis that
he had 24 hours to change his restaurant’s name or face legal action. Full
Profile
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