Executive Director’s Page
Lend Me Your Ears
One of my top priorities as executive director is ensuring you
receive timely and relevant information from your State Bar. Our mission
statement includes a commitment to enable our members to better serve
their clients and the public. In part, that means State Bar leadership
and staff are dedicated to providing practical information in a variety
of formats, so you can consume it in whatever way is most useful to
you.
In 1938, we printed the first
Texas Bar Journal, bringing the State Bar (then called the
Texas Bar Association) to your mailbox. In 1996, we launched texasbar.com, bringing the bar to your
desktop. On June 20, we premiered the State Bar of Texas
Podcast, bringing the bar to your earbuds.
The monthly podcast, hosted by Dallas attorney Rocky Dhir, features
news and discussions relevant to the legal profession, from the latest
industry trends and caselaw to practice tips and State Bar programs.
Rocky, the CEO of Atlas Legal Research, also hosts our Texas Bar TV
coverage at the State Bar Annual Meetings. If you’ve seen any of these
videos on our YouTube channel, you know that Rocky is smart, witty, and
thoughtful. I’m confident that you’ll enjoy his company.
We’re making the podcast in partnership with the Legal Talk Network,
the leading producer of legal-related podcasts. The network’s 20-plus
programs include shows by the American Bar Association, the ABA
Journal, and the Florida and Michigan state bars. We’re excited to
showcase Texas lawyers on this national stage.
Why a podcast? Research shows that the audience is large and growing,
with listenership especially strong among the millennial generation.
Overall, nearly one in four Americans now listens to a podcast at least
monthly—and nearly 40 percent of that audience is interested in
educational podcasts, according to research compiled by Concordia
University.1 And the success of Legal Talk Network podcasts
such as Lawyer 2 Lawyer, the Kennedy-Mighell Report,
and The Digital Edge shows that demand is strong among
attorneys.
The first three episodes of the State Bar of Texas Podcast
are available to stream or download now at texasbar.com/podcast.
They feature Bryan A. Garner on legal writing and his unique friendship
with the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia; Brian Cuban and
Texas Lawyers’ Assistance Program Director Bree Buchanan on recovery and
the importance of lawyer wellness; and exoneree Anthony Graves on what
the legal profession can learn from wrongful convictions.
Even as we increasingly expand our mass communications, I remain
committed to communicating with you one-on-one or in small settings.
I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to a number of groups in my seven
months as executive director, including several State Bar sections, the
LeadershipSBOT class, the boards of directors of the Austin and
Galveston County bar associations, members of the Dallas and Comal
County bar associations, and the Texas Access to Justice Commission. And
this past February, I had the honor of giving the keynote address at the
Texas Board of Legal Specialization induction ceremony for 194 lawyers
and 30 paralegals from across the state.
In short, you can expect to hear from us in one form or another. Let us
know how we are doing. If you have ideas for ways we can communicate
better, please reach out to me.
Sincerely,
Trey Apffel
Executive Director, State Bar of Texas
Editor-in-Chief, Texas Bar Journal
(512) 427-1500
@ApffelT on Twitter
Have a question for Trey? Email it to trey.apffel@texasbar.com and he may answer it in a future column.
