Court procedures are complicated. Attorneys and judges are specially trained in legal procedure and practice it every day. However, most people who appear in court have never done so before and are unfamiliar with the procedure. Many litigants, especially those without attorney representation (pro se litigants), feel as if the judicial system lacks transparency, accessibility, and clarity, and often perpetuates biases against racial and ethnic minorities and those with low income. Clerks, court staff, jurists, and judges must stay informed of these issues and find solutions to ensure fair and equal access to the judicial system to everyone. This concept is referred to as “procedural fairness” or “procedural justice.”
Read moreCiv Pro: How do I serve someone?
TexasLawHelp.org has several articles on how to serve someone with court papers, as briefly covered in a previous Ex Libris Juris post. For this post in the Civ Pro series, we would like to highlight frequently asked questions by pro se litigants who are serving court documents. TexasLawHelp and TexasCourtHelp are two excellent resources to start with when learning about civil procedure in Texas. For the complete procedure on serving someone in Texas, read Rules (99-124) of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.
Read moreFree Lexis CLE on 4/21/2022 - Diving Deeper Into Legal Research Potential: Advanced Online Legal Research Concepts
Title: Diving Deeper Into Legal Research Potential: Advanced Online Legal Research Concepts
Presented By: Marlene "Molly" Guth, Esq., Telephonic Solutions Consultant, State & Local Gov't. @LexisNexis
Event Type/Location: Virtual (Zoom)
Duration: 60 minutes
Date/Time: Thursday, April 21, 2022, at 2 p.m.
Cost: FREE
Earn: Texas - 1 hour of MCLE
Program Description: Hosted by the Harris County Robert W. Hainsworth Law Library in collaboration with LexisNexis. The goal of this course today is to harness the potential as attorneys to learn things about online legal research you didn’t think you could learn before. This course is going to be a deeper dive into online legal research. According to the model rules of professional conduct, attorneys need to maintain competency, and a component of maintaining competency is to keep abreast of the benefits and risks of relevant technology. By the end of this course you all will be made aware of advanced online legal research methods to harness your potential as a researcher and to maintain a standard of competency in the legal profession.
Latest & Greatest - Mental Health Law for Prosecutors
Defendants with an intellectual disability or mental illness present unique challenges for those involved in law enforcement, such as peace officers and prosecutors. As the number of defendants increases, the need for law enforcement to be educated and trained to manage those individuals becomes much more evident. Recognizing this need, the Texas District & County Attorneys Association has published Mental Health Law for Prosecutors, a manual addressing not only the laws regarding insanity and incompetency but also the availability of mental health resources.
Read moreHarris County Robert W. Hainsworth Law Library Wins Award for Virtual Presence Device
Earlier this week, the Harris County Robert W. Hainsworth Law Library received the O. James Werner Award for Distinguished Service to Persons with Disabilities for providing extended, remote access to justice during the pandemic via STAN (Synchronous Touchless Assistive Node), a virtual presence device that is stationed in the Law Library lobby during operating hours. This award was from the Government Law Libraries Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries.
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