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The latest from Texas Lawyer

• Businesses Sue Lawyer, O'Quinn Firm Seeking $110 Million
• Commentary: Obtaining the Benefits of Chapter 95
• Footing the Bill for H-1Bs
• Deadline Looms After End to Widow's Penalty
• Commentary: Keep Lawyering at the Office, Not at Home
• Practicing Crimmigration Law
• Discipline
• VerdictSearch
• Three Lessons From Two Trials for One Great Performance
• Should Firms Take Ownership in Patents?
• Commentary: 10 Ways to Make It Easy for Clients to Find You
• Commentary: Workplace Privacy Issues in Texas
• Commentary: Five Myths About Mediating Employment Disputes
• Differentiate Your Firm From Competitors
• Commentary: Objection, Your Honor: Hearsay in State and Federal Court
• Commentary: Ponder Sales Tax Issues in Corporate Planning
• Ten Key Supreme Court Decisions of the 2010-2011 Term
• Questions to Ask to Win the Next Hearing

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Businesses Sue Lawyer, O'Quinn Firm Seeking $110 Million	Top
Two businesses seek more than $110 million in damages in a negligence and breach of fiduciary duty suit against Russell T. Lloyd and his firm, John M. O'Quinn & Associates of Houston. They sued Lloyd and the firm on Oct. 13 after an allegedly "disastrous result" in underlying litigation in California and Alabama.
Commentary: Obtaining the Benefits of Chapter 95	Top
As part of tort reform, the Texas Legislature enacted Chapter 95 of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code to limit a property owner's liability for injuries to contractors and subcontractors, or their employees, under particular circumstances, writes Barbara S. Nicholas. It is the plaintiff's burden to establish that the defendant owner exercised or retained some control over the manner in which the work was performed and had actual, as opposed to constructive, knowledge of the dangerous condition that resulted in injury.
Footing the Bill for H-1Bs	Top
The H-1B is a nonimmigrant visa category employers typically use to hire foreign professionals to work on a temporary basis in the United States. Employers just starting to use the H-1B category often try to avoid the complex issues raised by these visas; they may tell employees that the immigration part of their employment is the employees' problem, says Kathleen Campbell Walker.
Deadline Looms After End to Widow's Penalty	Top
On Oct. 28, 2009, President Barack Obama signed legislation that effectively put an end to what had long been known as the "widow's penalty." Before the change, an immigrant widow of a U.S. citizen had to have been married for a period of two years prior to the death of the spouse in order to obtain legal resident status in the United States. The law changed that, but an important deadline is looming, and lawyers must advise their clients.
Commentary: Keep Lawyering at the Office, Not at Home	Top
The best tools deployed by lawyers are discourse and argument developed so arduously in law school and professional life: the ability to argue to a win, says James Dolan, a professional coach and psychotherapist. But there is a sad truth: There can be nothing more destructive to a marriage than the lawyer who comes home and practices law there.
Practicing Crimmigration Law	Top
Crimmigration law, the mixture of criminal and immigration law, is a hybrid created by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010, when it issued Padilla v. Kentucky, says Lance Curtright. The high court ruled that criminal-defense attorneys must provide accurate advice to their noncitizen clients about specific immigration consequences before advising them to plead guilty to an offense.
Discipline	Top
One lawyer was suspended for 12 months, another received a public reprimand, and one was placed on probation, the State Bar of Texas reported recently.
VerdictSearch	Top
Jury awards $1,800 to plaintiffs for past medical expenses. Plaintiff awarded $9,831 for cervical and lumbar strains. Jury sides with defendant's version of events. Boy who broke leg while rolling in barrel gets $15,000. Nursing home not liable for worker's fall. Derrick worker who suffered brain injury in fall gets $10.7 million.
Three Lessons From Two Trials for One Great Performance	Top
Perception is not reality, writes F. Daniel Knight. Sadly, Texas has experienced a sharp decline in civil jury trials over the past 20 years. According to an Office of Court Administration report, the percentage of cases resolved by jury verdict was 0.4 percent in district courts and 0.6 percent in county courts in 2010.
Should Firms Take Ownership in Patents?	Top
McKool Smith has declined opportunities to take an ownership position in the patents the firm litigates, write Mike McKool and Ryan Hargrave. While the law is unsettled as to the ethical boundaries, they say their firm has avoided such investments because of potential ethical concerns, as well as strategic considerations related to the attractiveness of the case to the jury.
Commentary: 10 Ways to Make It Easy for Clients to Find You	Top
Two immutable facts: You want clients and you are in the service business. Stacy West Clark, president of a firm that helps law firms grow their businesses, says that, in spite of these two well-known facts, she is constantly shocked at how hard firms and lawyers make it for clients to reach them. She offers some ideas on how to change that situation.
Commentary: Workplace Privacy Issues in Texas	Top
Despite the Texas Supreme Court's general recognition of the importance of privacy in Billings v. Atkinson, there is no specific statute relating to a private employee's privacy in Texas, writes Art Lambert, a director in Kane Russell Coleman & Logan's labor and employment section in Dallas. However, counsel should still be cognizant of when employee privacy claims are actionable and how to succeed in such cases.
Commentary: Five Myths About Mediating Employment Disputes	Top
A substantial portion of employment-related suits ultimately are resolved by settlement, typically during or soon after mediation. Despite the prevalence of mediation, several myths exist that disrupt the process and diminish the chances of resolving the case. Vianei Lopez Robinson, a partner in Buck Keenan, a litigation boutique in Houston, writes about five of those myths.
Differentiate Your Firm From Competitors	Top
For many lawyers, the world has never appeared to be as hostile, bewildering or unstable as it does today, says Joel A. Rose. These feelings result from the complexities and uncertainties of the changing economic, professional and competitive environment in which most law firms find themselves.
Commentary: Objection, Your Honor: Hearsay in State and Federal Court	Top
The definition of hearsay in Texas is complex. And complexity in the rules of evidence creates opportunities for effective advocacy, as it does in every other area of the law, says Tom Hagemann and Marla Poirot. Trial lawyers need to base their arguments on the core hearsay principles, such as evidentiary necessity, witness availability, the statement's intended use at trial and its indicia of reliability.
Commentary: Ponder Sales Tax Issues in Corporate Planning	Top
Attorneys advising clients on business organizations and reorganizations always should consider the state sales tax pitfalls and planning opportunities. Consolidated reporting on a single federal income tax return often eliminates federal tax issues. But for state sales tax purposes, transactions between related entities are usually recognized as taxable events.
Ten Key Supreme Court Decisions of the 2010-2011 Term	Top
Texas is among the nation's largest and most economically vibrant and diverse states. So it's no surprise the state's highest civil court enjoys a regular diet of significant legal controversies, write James C. Ho and Ashley E. Johnson. They chose 10 of those decisions to highlight from the 2010-2011 term.
Questions to Ask to Win the Next Hearing	Top
Though it should go without saying, judges are busy, writes James M. Stanton. They can spend only a fraction of the time attorneys do preparing for each hearing. To zero in on what the judge wants to know to resolve the dispute in a client's favor, counsel should be prepared to answer four questions, regardless of the type of motion or plea he is presenting.

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