Austin Bar Blog

This month we are honoring Women’s History Month with Spotlights of members of TCWLA. This week’s spotlight is Caitlin Haney Johnston.

Caitlin Haney Johnston of the Haney Law Firm assists clients in estate planning, probate administration, and many types of fiduciary litigation, including litigation involving executors and trustees. Caitlin joined the Haney Law Firm in 2013 when her mother, Susan Haney, was the managing member.

In June 2016, Caitlin cofounded the Cancer Law Clinic (CANLAW), which provides comprehensive pro bono estate planning services to cancer patients and their caretakers. She also serves on the board of directors for the Central Texas Chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and formerly served on the Austin Young Chamber Board of Directors. In 2019 she was named an Access to Justice Champion by the State Bar of Texas.

Every year since 2020 Austin Monthly Magazine has named Caitlin as a top attorney in Austin for wills and estate planning.  In 2021, she was awarded an Austin Under 40 Award by the Young Women’s Alliance and the Young Men’s Business League. In 2018, Caitlin was awarded the David H. Walter Community Excellence award by the Austin Bar Association and was named a Changemaker Finalist by the Austin Young Chamber that same year. Thank you Caitlin, for your passionate practice and commitment to the community!

Date: March 7, 2024

Time: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Location: Fareground Austin's Plaza Conference Center, 111 Congress Ave.

IMPORTANT: Attendance is free, lunch is provided, and CLE with ethics is available. RSVP required. Click here to save your spot and view the agenda!

The March issue of Austin Lawyer is now available! In this issue:

21st Annual Austin Bar Foundation Gala Raises Record $234,000

President's Column: How to Spring Yourself Out of a Funk

BE WELL: Improve Your Health by Setting Small Goals

March 2024 Briefs

AYLA Guest Column: Books Behind Bars - The Inside Books Project’s Impact on the Incarcerated in America

Introducing AYLA’s Freshquire Program - A Community for New Lawyers

Federal Civil Update March 2024

Third Court of Appeals Civil Update March 2024

Third Court of Appeals Criminal Update March 2024

Decriminalizing Mental Health in Travis County: Part 7

American Bar Association Launches Pilot Program to Help Afghan Legal Professionals

New Law Aims to Improve Access to AP Math Courses for Students of Color in Texas

Austin Bar Members Emerge Victorious in Toxic Mold Lawsuit as Plaintiff, Attorney

Houston Program Teaches Prisoners Speech and Debate

Anti-Defamation League Releases Texas Hate Crime Report

Bending the Rules: Texas Access to Justice Commission Recommends Allowing Paraprofessionals to Provide Limited Legal Representation

Entre Nous: The Bogeyman of Justice

Access the full article archive here.

The Austin Bar Association is cosponsoring a virtual CLE on AI considerations in litigation. The CLE will take place on Wednesday, March 27, from noon to 1 p.m. over Zoom and is cosponsored by the Dallas Bar, the Houston Bar, the San Antonio Bar, and the Tarrant County Bar associations.

Hon. Brantley Starr of the Northern District of Texas and Meghan Ryan, professor at Southern Methodist University's Dedman School of Law will speak, and Peter Vogel of Vogel IT Law will moderate.

Register here.

Clifford A. Brown received his BBA in Business Management & Finance from Adelphi University (New York). He earned a Juris Doctorate at The George Washington University- National Law Center (Washington D.C.).
 
Mr. Brown has extensive litigation experience, having worked as both a defense attorney and prosecutor. After law school he accepted a position as an assistant district attorney with the Bronx District Attorney’s Office in New York City, where he prosecuted a wide variety of crimes including child abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence, and robbery, as well as homicide cases.
 
In 1993 he entered private practice as a partner in the New York City firm of Jackson, Brown, Powell, and St. George. He represented clients in all phases of criminal defense and civil litigation. As a criminal defense attorney, Brown handled several high-profile cases involving both celebrity, as well as indigent clients. 
 
Mr. Brown and his family relocated to Austin in 1999, where he accepted a position with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, prosecuting the most serious cases in Travis County including homicide, aggravated robbery, and sexual assaults. In 2004 Mr. Brown was selected to serve in a newly created position as a community prosecutor in the north-central area of Austin. This position was that of a non-traditional prosecutor, where he served as a liaison working in partnership with various community residents, groups, organizations, and the Austin Police Department seeking to help facilitate solutions to local problems. In January 2007, Mr. Brown was selected to serve as the City of Austin police monitor and in November 2010, Mr. Brown was elected to serve as a state district court judge of the 147th District Court in Travis County. He took the bench in January 2011 and now presides over the most serious felony cases, ensuring that all participants in the criminal justice system are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect. He is presently the presiding judge of the Travis County criminal courts.
 
Judge Brown is very active in the Austin community through his church (Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church) where he serves as a member of the Deacon’s Ministry. He has been a volunteer board member and coach with the Lake Travis Youth Association. He is a regular facilitator at the monthly Harvest Foundations African American Men and Boy’s Conferences, is a past board member of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE), co-chair of the Austin Do the Write-Thing anti-violence and bullying program, and serves as a board member of the Bakari Foundation. He is co-chair of the American Bar Association - Judicial Function Committee, a member of the Texas Center for the Judiciary - Curriculum Committee, and the National Bar Association - Curriculum Committee. If all that is not enough, Judge Brown is a founding member of the Barbara Jordan American Inn of Court, a member of the Child Advocacy Center of Texas - Child Justice Act Task Force, a member of the Malik Fraternity, and the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. He also routinely speaks at various church, community, and civic conferences. Judge Brown and his wife, Tammie, have two adult daughters. Thank you, Judge Brown, for your continued service to the profession and the community! 

Join us as Austin Bar members showcase their talents!

Date: April 3, 2024

Time: 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Location: Hilgers House East Lawn, 712 W. 16th St.

Suggested Donation: $25

All proceeds benefit the Austin Bar Foundation.

PERFORMERS: Contact Brad at brad@houstonfishlaw.com. Include your name, contact information, and a brief description of your act. Spaces are limited, so be sure to reserve your spot early!

Spectators and sponsors, register here.

Attorneys who wish to serve on the 2024/2025 Austin Young Lawyers Association (AYLA) Board of Directors have until March 1, 2024, to formally sign up to run. Serving as a Director on the AYLA Board is a great way to gain leadership experience, shape the local legal community, and meet other young attorneys who roam outside of the confines of your own office and legal field. 

To be eligible for a Board position, a candidate must be a current AYLA member and be 40 years of age or younger as of July 1, 2024. To be placed on the ballot, submit a nomination form signed by 10 current AYLA members to Debbie Kelly at debbie@austinbar.org by March 1, 2024. Don’t miss this chance to get plugged into—and lead—your generation of Austin attorneys. 

Nomination Form

Election Rules

Each year we present three awards for outstanding community and professional service, and mentoring. Know a deserving person in the community who should be recognized? Nominate someone today for one of our three awards: Liberty Bell (awarded to a non-lawyer), Outstanding Young Lawyer, and AYLA Mentor. Nomination forms are due Friday, March 1.

Click here for the nomination form for the Outstanding Young Lawyer and the Liberty Bell awards.

Click here for the nomination form for the Outstanding Mentor Award.

Dexter Gilford has been licensed to practice law since 1993, and with the exception of 5 years during which he returned to graduate school, has practiced law in Bexar and Travis County for 25 years.  Dexter has devoted the entirety of professional career to either the practice or teaching and writing about criminal law and procedure. Although primarily a trial lawyer, Dexter has represented scores of clients in transactional matters, criminal investigations, and administrative proceedings.

Dexter began his career in 1993 as a prosecutor with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office, where remained until 1995 when he resigned to go into private practice. Dexter located his office in Austin, Texas, practiced as a solo practitioner from 1995 until 2013, limiting his practice to the defense of criminal cases in both state and federal courts. As a practicing defense attorney, he tried cases involving charges ranging from class A and B misdemeanors to felony capital murder charges carrying the death penalty at a time when local Travis County juries were known to return death verdicts. By trial or plea, none of Dexter’s capital defendants were sentenced to death.

In 2005, Dexter was awarded Criminal Defense Lawyer of the Year by the State Bar of Texas after securing the acquittal of a young man he continues to believe was wrongfully accused of capital murder. During this period, Dexter proudly maintained membership in the College of the State Bar of Texas and the State Bar of Texas’s Pro Bono College. Dexter was an active member of his local criminal defense bar and served as Director of the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. Dexter also served as a Director with the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.

From 1999-2013, Dexter was a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the National Board of Trial Advocates. While practicing as a criminal defense lawyer, Dexter maintained Board Certification as a Criminal Law Specialist by the State Bar of Texas’s Board of Legal Specialization and was recognized as a Criminal Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. During this period, Dexter was a frequent presenter at CLE seminars on topics of interest to criminal practitioners both locally and statewide.

In 2012, Dexter took a hiatus from the practice of law and returned to his home of San Antonio, Texas to care for his mother prior to her death, while pursuing a graduate degree at Our Lady of the Lake University. While doing so, he taught criminal law and related courses locally at the community college and university level.

In 2017, Dexter was invited to return to the practice of law and joined the Travis County District Attorney’s Office where he was appointed as the Director of the Office’s newly formed Civil Rights Unit, which is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of law enforcement cases involving allegations of the unlawful use of force. Dexter has served in this capacity since 2017.

Dexter is the father of four children—Anicet, Talai, Ayo and Kali—ages eight to twenty-nine years of age, and two grandchildren ages 4 months and 22 months.

The 2024 Judicial Preference Poll has closed. The results are below. Of the 2,663 eligible voters, 482 participated.

District Judge, 353rd Judicial District:

Sherine Thomas, 62%, 299 votes

Susana Castillo, 18.3%, 88 votes

Madeleine Connor, 5.6%, 27 votes

Not answered, 14.1%, 68 votes

District Attorney:

Jeremy Sylestine, 41.7%, 201 votes

Jose Garza, 37.1%, 179 votes

Not answered, 21.2%, 102 votes

Justice of the Peace, Precinct 5:

Rick "Rico" Olivo, 22.4%, 108 votes

Tanisa Jeffers, 22.2%, 107 votes

Ornela DeSeta, 12%, 58 votes

Not answered, 43.4%, 209 votes

These results are strictly the opinions of the individual attorneys participating in the poll and are not intended as an endorsement of any candidate(s) by the Austin Bar Association or any affiliated organization.

The purpose of the preference poll is to allow the public to see how local attorneys evaluate their colleagues in the legal community.

For each race, Austin Bar members were asked to indicate which candidate they believed was best qualified to serve in the position for which he or she was running. Members did not have to vote in every race. Members cast their votes through BallotBox, an online polling system. Of the 2,663 eligible voters, 482, or 18.1 percent, participate in the poll.