Legendary Texas trial lawyer Jim M. Perdue draws on his forty-plus years of courtroom experience to show novice and veteran lawyers alike how to tell a powerful and motivating story.

This video is an excerpt from the Winning With Stories: Jim Perdue Live DVD.

Bankruptcy cases filed in federal courts for fiscal year 2009 totaled 1,402,816, up 34.5 percent over the 1,042,993 filings reported for the 12-month period ending September 30, 2008, according to statistics released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Even if you try to steer clear of bankruptcy court, you could still find yourself in need of information about bankruptcy issues. Family law practitioners, litigators and transactional attorneys occasionally run into bankruptcy issues that affect their clients.

The Bankruptcy Checklist from the Texas Collections Manual takes you through a list of questions you should be asking if you find that bankruptcy has become an issue for your client.

From Essentials of Texas Water Resources:

In Edwards Aquifer Authority v. Day, 274 S.W.3d at 742 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2008, pet. filed), the court reviewed, among other issues, a summary judgment in favor of the authority on Day and McDaniel’s claim that the operation of the Edwards Aquifer Authority legislation and its decision denying Day and McDaniel’s permit application constituted a taking under Tex. Const. art. I, § 17. The authority has argued that the takings claim failed because the landowner “did not have a constitutionally protected
vested interest in the groundwater.” Day, 274 S.W.3d at 756. The court cited its decision in City of Del Rio v. Hamilton Trust and held that landowners have ownership rights in the groundwater and therefore have a vested right therein. The court further held that the landowner’s “vested right in the groundwater beneath their property is entitled to constitutional protection.” Day, 274 S.W.3d at 756.

Either or both of these cases could be reviewed by the Texas Supreme Court. For now they represent the most definitive treatment of the nature of the real property groundwater right.

Edwards Aquifer Authority v. Day was reviewed by the Supreme Court of Texas last week. One of the Amicus Curiae briefs for this case was filed by Russell S. Johnson on behalf of the Texas Wildlife Association. Mr. Johnson is also the author of the chapter, “Groundwater Law and Regulation” found in Essentials of Texas Water Resources.

Read the history of the case.

Read the briefs.

The Texas Pattern Jury Charges—Family is written by a committee of volunteer attorneys and judges with expertise in family law cases. A new edition of Texas Pattern Jury Charges—Family is scheduled for release in the spring of 2010. But we’d like to give Texas practitioners a chance to preview changes to the commentary on an important area of the law: preservation of error.

The committee strives for objective, well-drafted charges and commentary that accurately reflect Texas law. Your comments on this draft will help the committee achieve that goal. Use the comments section below to give us your feedback.

Click here to view the Proposed Changes (PDF File).

The 2008 Edition of Texas Pattern Jury Charges—Family is still available. Purchase your copy today.

This week Casemaker announced CaseCheck+, a powerful new service that goes beyond the features of its current CaseCheck service. CaseCheck lets you know whenever your case has been referenced by another case, but CaseCheck+ gives you the precise manner in which a particular case affects the case you are reading. You can get a free 14-day trial of the service by clicking here.

Texas attorneys still have access to free legal research through Casemaker. This service, supported exclusively by TexasBarCLE and TexasBarBooks, gives you access to the laws of all fifty states, including Texas, plus to federal case law and statutes, all at no charge. And anytime you use the electronic version of a TexasBarBooks publication, like any of the Texas Pattern Jury Charges volumes, you’ll find links to the cases and statutes cited in the text. To give it a try, download this free excerpt from Texas Criminal Pattern Jury Charges—Intoxication and Controlled Substances.

There have been new and significant changes in disclosure content and timing requirements under the regulations for the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z) and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (Regulation X). Changes became effective either in 2009 or on January 1, 2010.  These charts summarize the disclosure requirements for each regulation.

Download the TILA Quick Reference Chart here!

Download the RESPA Quick Reference Chart here!

At the beginning of a new year and a new decade, Texas lawyers find themselves in the midst of a sea change in the way lawyers, law firms, and clients use technology. How do you navigate through the perils and make the most of the opportunities offered by social networking? Take a look at these posts for some ideas:

• Ten Ways to Improve Your Facebook Marketing Efforts
• Should your Firm Ban Facebook?
• Online social networking at work
• Firms should embrace social networking technology
• Ins and Outs of Social Networking for Lawyers: How Tough Is It to Cast Your Profile into Infinity?
• Ethical Issues for Lawyers, Judges Using Social Networking

With our instant download feature, you can download electronic versions of selected publications (including our Texas Pattern Jury Charges series) immediately upon purchase.

Simply make your online purchase, and then follow the easy instructions to download the electronic product, which contains the entire book in a fully hyperlinked and word-searchable PDF file. The download contains everything you need while you wait for your softbound book to be shipped to you, free of charge.

This feature is available when you purchase any of the following publications:

• Arbitration Road Map: A Guide to Clauses, Procedures, and Hearings
• Contingency Planning: The Texas Practitioner’s Guide to Powers of Attorney and Other Alternatives to Guardianship
• Essentials of Texas Water Resources
• Texas Criminal Pattern Jury Charges—Intoxication and Controlled Substances
• Texas Pattern Jury Charges—Business, Consumer, Insurance & Employment
• Texas Pattern Jury Charges—Family
• Texas Pattern Jury Charges—General Negligence & Intentional Personal Torts
• Texas Pattern Jury Charges—Malpractice, Premises & Products

By downloading any of the publications’ files, you waive refund privileges for the purchase.

Texas Pattern Jury Charges—Family is written by a committee of volunteer attorneys and judges with expertise in family law cases. The committee meets regularly to revise the pattern jury charges to reflect current changes in the law.

A new edition of Texas Pattern Jury Charges—Family is scheduled for release in the spring of 2010. But we’d like to give Texas practitioners a chance to preview the changes the committee plans to make to the charges and give us your comments.

Click here to view the proposed changes (PDF file)

The committee strives for objective, well-drafted charges and commentary that accurately reflect Texas law. To that end, the committee would appreciate your comments on how these drafts could be improved. Use the comments section below to give us your feedback.

Sherry Priest, Publications Attorney and Mary K. Sahs, Editor

On December 9, TexasBarBooks hosted a luncheon to honor and congratulate the more than 30 authors that contributed to Essentials of Texas Water Resources.