Achievements and Accolades

Added July 30, 2010

San Antonio takes home honors from State Bar Annual Meeting

The San Antonio Lawyer magazine and the Subpoena newsletter received Stars of Texas Bars Awards for Best News Article, Best Human Interest Story and Best Feature Story.  The award winning articles were: Thoughts of Ralph G. Langley upon the Dedication of Langley Elementary, written by Sara Murray and published in the November-December 2009 issue of the San Antonio Lawyer magazine (Best News Article); Robin Teague’s president’s column My Mentors in Immigration Law: Home Will Never Be the Same, published in the April Subpoena newsletter (Best Human Interest Story); and Ethics Follies: Lee Cusenbary’s Brainchild by Amanda Reimherr Buckert, published in the January-February 2009 issue of the San Antonio Lawyer magazine (Best Feature Story).

In the award notification letter, Michael Truncale, Local Bar Services Committee Chair, wrote “You should feel proud of your accomplishment, because the quality of the submissions from local bar associations was extremely high this year.”  We are!  This is a tremendous honor to the SABA Publications Committee and editorial staff.  CONGRATULATIONS to the authors, editors, photographers and all the wonderful volunteers who contribute to our publications!

The SABA publications committee weren’t the only members of the San Antonio legal community being honored at the State Bar Annual Meeting.  Maria “Lulu” Villanueva was also honored as the first recipient of the State Bar of Texas 2010 Pro Bono Coordinator Award for her outstanding work with the Community Justice Program in San Antonio.

The Pro Bono Coordinator Award is given to an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the delivery of, and access to legal services for the poor, while serving as the pro bono coordinator for a volunteer attorney organization or group, local bar association, law firm, law school, corporate legal office, governmental law department or legal services organization.

Lulu Villanueva and the San Antonio Bar Association were honored at the Bar Leaders Recognition Luncheon at the State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting in Fort Worth on June 10.

Added February 16, 2010

Resolution honoring SABA, Mark Unger & John Carroll
San Antonio Bar Association members lauded for pro bono service in attorney’s misconduct

Whereas the San Antonio Bar Association, throughout a long and distinguished history, has provided dedicated service to the community and the profession and remains strongly committed to that purpose and to that purpose and to the pursuit of equal access to justice for all citizens,

Whereas members of the San Antonio Bar Association generously gave if their time and skills to provide pro bono legal assistance to their community in a time of need,

Whereas members of the San Antonio Bar Association under the directorship of Jimmy Allison answered the call to help their fellow San Antonio citizens who were victims of a single attorney’s misconduct,

Whereas in 2007 and 2008, hundreds of clients of one San Antonio attorney were facing possible arrest and fines when it became known that the attorney had used deceptive practices in dealing with clients, who had paid in good faith for legal services to handle traffic offenses,

Whereas the hundreds of citizens’ cases that should have been disposed of by that attorney, and their resulting appearances and complaints before the San Antonio municipal courts, substantially burdened the court system, judges and staff,

Whereas in January 2009, Presiding Municipal Judge John Bull contacted the San Antonio Bar Association about the situation and asked for the bar’s assistance,

Whereas members of the San Antonio Bar Association, led by John Carroll and Mark Unger, quickly volunteered to take these cases pro bono,

Whereas over a six-week period, members of the San Antonio Bar Association resolved more than 500 cases, ensuring that many of the attorney’s former clients received the legal assistance they needed,

Whereas because the San Antonio Bar Association attorneys effectively assisted the citizens of San Antonio, claims presented to the State Bar of Texas Client Security Fund related to the attorney’s misconduct have been substantially minimized,

Be It Therefore Resolved that the State Bar of Texas takes great pleasure in recognizing the outstanding pro bono efforts of the San Antonio Bar Association and expresses its sincere gratitude to the organization’s dedicated service to the profession, to the public, and to the State of Texas.

Presented this 28th Day of January 2010 by the State Bar of Texas.

Added Janaury 19, 2010

San Antonio legal community comes together in support of local soldiers

Attorneys from across San Antonio are teaming up with the San Antonio Bar Association to support local military units deployed overseas.  Spearheaded by 285th District Judge Michael Peden in early 2007, the program began modestly with a number of law firms and individual attorneys adopting Lt. Christopher Knecht and the 31 soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry stationed in Ambar Province, Iraq.  The response from the legal community to support these local soldiers was exceptional.  Over the course of 11 months, the Fourth Court of Appeals (organized by Karen Vowell Sales) and the District Attorney’s office (organized by Sally Uncapher) collectively sent over 250 boxes to the battalion.  The San Antonio Young Lawyer’s Association organized a massive baked goods drive to send to their soldiers, and many law firms rose to the challenge, sending countless packages and letters to the battalion.  In an email to Judge Peden, Lt. Christopher Knecht wrote: “Generally, morale is good right now.  We are still just a month or so into our tour, and things are going well for the Battalion so far.  We appreciate your support and prayers.  Your words of encouragement and support make what we do here easier and more bearable.  Thank you for all that you do.  You should be very proud of your soldiers.”

The 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry is now safely home, but with additional friends and family of the San Antonio legal community being stationed overseas, the San Antonio Bar Association Adopt-a-Soldier program is back in business.  In the short time since the original plea for volunteer adoptees went out, the response from the San Antonio legal community has been overwhelming.  Over 75 individuals and law firms have adopted soldiers, and many of the law firms have taken on entire squadrons.

Participating attorneys and legal staff are enthusiastic about the program and have all contributed in their own way to send items to their soldier(s), writing letters and collecting “luxury” items otherwise unattainable by the soldiers.  Typical care packages include items such as snack foods, books, pre-paid phone cards, personal hygiene items, gag gifts and most importantly, thank-you cards and letters of support.  By all accounts, it is the letters of support that the soldiers treasure beyond all else.

Attorney Rick Reyna and the attorneys of Brock Person Guerra Reyna, P.C. have sent an incredible 125+ boxes (including at least one DVD player) to two local squadrons — Charles T. Cate and the 120 airmen (50 from San Antonio) of the 455th Expeditionary Aerial Port Squadron stationed in Bagram, Afghanistan and SPC Ian MacDiarmid and the 37 soldiers of the 1st Corps, 2nd Infantry, 3rd Brigade, Alpha Company, 2nd Platoon (AKA the Tomahawks) stationed in Diyala, Iraq) over the holidays alone!  Charles Cate writes in an email to Rick Reyna: “It is a great feeling knowing that people back home that you’ve never met — and likely will never meet — will open their hearts, pantries and wallets to support those they will likely never meet or speak to in their lives.  Without men and women like you and those in your office, the country that we live in isn’t worth fighting for, and your actions show precisely why it is worth risking everything.”

Cox Smith Matthews Incorporated has also been very active in the adoption program.  Recently Marty Truss, a lawyer from Cox Smith, donated over 150 DVDs to the Fourth Court of Appeals to be included in future packages mailed to the troops.  These DVDs were owned by his father, who recently died.  In an email to the Fourth Court, Marty wrote, “My dad was a wonderfully sweet-hearted and extraordinarily generous man who identified very strongly with the stoic, heroic archetype figures like John Wayne, Lee Marvin.  He liked to think he was the gruff old soldier with a heart of gold but he really wasn’t all that gruff.  My dad would have tripped over himself to pack these off to the troops on his own.”

CPT Michael Hudson, son of local attorney Cindy Sue Hudson and whose unit of twelve soldiers were recipients of many of the Fourth Court of Appeals’ generous shipments (postage generously donated by the McQueeney Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9213 and its Ladies Auxiliary), writes in a handwritten letter to the Fourth Court, “In those few moments when our thoughts wander to the comforts of the states, they will forever include you as the manifestation of all that is good about the United States: selfless service and the devotion to a cause greater than yourself.”

The San Antonio Bar Association is continuing to collect names of local soldiers in need of adoption for this ongoing project.  If you know of other San Antonio soldiers who need letters and care packages, please let us know!  Contact San Antonio Bar Association Executive Director Jimmy Allison at 210.227.8822.  Thank you, San Antonio Legal Community, you make us proud!