Texas Lawyers: Making the Case
The resources below are designed to help you talk with a community group about the role of lawyers and the judicial system in our society. It may take time to open minds, but it is a challenge worth undertaking.
Resources for Speaking to Civic/Community Groups
Lawyers Leading the Way
These profiles highlight some of our outstanding lawyers who have helped change the legal landscape in Texas and throughout the nation. Check back often as more profiles and resources are added.
• Carlos C. Cadena
Carlos C. Cadena helped end the exclusion of persons of Mexican
descent from juries and the segregation of Mexican-American children in
Texas’s public schools.
Click
here for the full story.
Read the Texas Bar Blog story featuring Carlos
Cadena.
• Mary Joe Durning Carroll
Mary Joe Durning Carroll helped bring about open government in Texas.
She drafted the legislation that became the Texas Open Meetings Act
and the Texas Open Records Act.
Click
here for the full story.
Read
the Texas Bar Journal "Rough Road to Justice" article
featuring Mary Joe Durning Carroll.
• Tom C. Clark
Tom C. Clark is the first and only Texan to serve on the U.S. Supreme
Court. President Harry Truman’s appointment of Clark to the
Supreme Court in 1949 dismayed liberals and conservatives alike.
Click
here for the full story.
• Reynaldo G. Garza
Reynaldo G. Garza, who served as a judge on a federal district court
and on the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, knew as a child that he
wanted to be a lawyer.
Click
here for the full story.
• Joe Greenhill
One of Joe Greenhill’s biggest cases was one he ultimately
lost. In April 1950, Greenhill, then first assistant attorney general
for Texas, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in Sweatt v.
Painter, a lawsuit brought by an African-American man denied
admission to the University of Texas School of Law.
Click
here for the full story.
• Sarah T. Hughes
Sarah T. Hughes is best remembered as the federal judge who swore in
Lyndon B. Johnson as president aboard Air Force One following the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, in
Dallas.
Click
here for the full story.
Read
the Texas Bar Journal "Rough Road to Justice" article
featuring Sarah Hughes.
• Barbara Jordan
Born in 1936 in Houston’s Fifth Ward, Barbara Jordan grew up
unconscious of the limitations that segregation placed on her and other
African-Americans.
Click
here for the full story.
Read
the Texas Bar Journal article on Barbara Jordan.
• William Wayne Justice
U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice knew early in life that he
would have a legal career. Justice was seven years old when his father
changed the nameplate above the door of his office to “W.D.
Justice and Son.”
Click
here for the full story.
Read
the Texas Bar Journal article featuring William Wayne Justice.
• Louise B. Raggio
Frustrated because her husband had to sign bail bonds for her
clients, Louise B. Raggio decided to do something about it. She helped
draft the Texas Marital Property Act of 1967.
Click
here for the full story.
Read
the Texas Bar Journal article on Louise Raggio.
• Joe Reynolds
Joe Reynolds saw his first action in World War II on Guam in 1944. In
February 1945, he landed with the 3rd Marine Division on Iwo Jima, site
of some of the fiercest fighting in the war. “I saw them raise
the flag at Iwo Jima.”
Click
here for the full story.
View an interview
with Joe Reynolds.
Read
the Texas Bar Journal "Texas Legal Legends" article featuring
Joe Reynolds.
• Barefoot Sanders
Prior to President John F. Kennedy’s fateful visit to Dallas on
Nov. 22, 1963, Barefoot Sanders, then the U.S. attorney for the
Northern District of Texas, warned administration officials that the
visit could put the president in danger.
Click
here for the full story.
Read
the Texas Bar Journal article on Barefoot Sanders.
• Robert S. Strauss
Dubbed by one journalist as the “insider’s
insider,” Robert S. Strauss used his people skills to
reinvigorate the Democratic Party in the wake of its disastrous 1968
national convention in Chicago … but presidents from both parties
turned to him for advice.
Click
here for the full story.
• Heman Sweatt
Heman Marion Sweatt failed to achieve his goal of becoming a lawyer.
But Sweatt’s courage in pursing a lawsuit after he was refused
admission to the University of Texas School of Law paved the way for
other African-Americans to receive a legal education in Texas.
Click
here for the full story.
Read
the Texas Bar Journal article on Heman Sweatt.
• Hortense Sparks Ward
In 1910, Hortense Sparks Ward became the first woman admitted to the
Texas state bar. Fifteen years later, Ward was one of three lawyers who
became the first women to serve on the Texas Supreme Court.
Click
here for the full story.
Read
the Texas Bar Journal article on Hortense Sparks Ward.
• Sarah Weddington
Before she turned 28, Sarah Weddington twice argued the same case
before the U.S. Supreme Court and won a decision in the case, which
changed the legal landscape on abortion.
Click
here for the full story.
View an interview
with Sarah Weddington.
Read
the Texas Bar Journal article on Sarah Weddington.
Video Resources
Texas
Legal Legends
This oral history series preserves and shares the perspectives of
legendary Texas lawyers.
State Bar of Texas YouTube Channel
View videos related to our justice system and the legal profession.
Choose Well: A Series on Justice in Texas —
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Part of our Let’s Do Justice for Texas public education initiative, this programming was created to highlight the importance of the rule of law in our everyday lives.
Making the Case is all about civic engagement, which means that you are becoming more aware of and actively involved with your community and helping to foster a greater understanding of the civic responsibilities we all share. These tools will help you reach out to your community and get you on your way to making the case for the liberties Texas lawyers protect.
The Civic Engagement Toolkit covers:
• Ideas for Speaking to Civic/Community Groups
• Possible Speaking Venues
• How Do I Get Started?
• Speaking Tips and Techniques
Feedback
Talked with a community group? Email us about it at statebarpresident@texasbar.com.
