Culture can make or break your law firm, and it is absolutely essential to nurture a positive, supportive environment to truly have a successful firm. Senior law firm leaders Holly Draper, Hannah Hembree Bell, Brian Hall, and John Meredith discuss their session from the annual meeting focused on ways to improve your law firm culture. They share experiences from their firms and emphasize the importance of developing vision and values, being flexible enough to recognize changing needs, and striving to live out and support your cultural vision at all levels of your organization. 
Holly Draper is CEO and managing partner at The Draper Law Firm and host of the Texas Family Law Insiders podcast. 
Hannah Bell is the founding attorney of Hembree Bell Law Firm, where she specializes in family law, divorce, and estate planning.
Brian A. Hall is a member of Traverse Legal, PLC and the managing partner of its Austin, Texas office.  
John Meredith is the Chief Operating Officer for Chamberlain Hrdlicka law firms with offices in Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia and San Antonio

Radical Ways to Improve Law Firm Culture (State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting 2023)

The State Bar of Texas Podcast is a monthly show featuring news and discussions relevant to the legal profession, from the latest industry trends and caselaw to practice tips and State Bar programs. Host Rocky Dhir, attorney and CEO of Dallas-based Atlas Legal Research, invites thought leaders and innovators to share their insight and knowledge on what matters to practitioners.

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The State Bar of Texas Board of Directors approved the nominations of Denise Scofield, of Houston, and Santos Vargas, of San Antonio, as president-elect candidates at its meeting on September 30, 2023. Texas lawyers will vote for the president-elect and district directors from April 1 to April 30. The winner will serve as president-elect from June 2024 to June 2025 and as president from June 2025 to June 2026. For more information, go to texasbar.com/elections. 

[The content for this episode was recorded as a live webcast video on March 26, 2024, at the Texas Law Center in Austin, TX.]

State Bar of Texas 2024-25 President-elect Candidate Forum

Since its inception in 2017, the Committee on Disciplinary Rules and Referenda has been charged with the examination of Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct and Rules of Disciplinary Procedure to determine rule adequacy and necessary changes. After extensive evaluation of existing rules, the committee proposed 12 new rules between 2021 and 2023 which Texas attorneys will now have the opportunity to vote on from April 1-30, 2024. 
Rocky Dhir talks with committee members Lewis Kinard (Chair), Judge Phyllis Martinez Gonzalez, and Scott Brumley, and former member Claude Ducloux about the proposed rules to help Texas legal professionals gain a better understanding of the purpose and implications of the suggested changes. For more information, including links to background information on each rule proposal, go to texasbar.com/rulesvote.

Rules Vote 2024: 12 Proposed Changes to the Texas Disciplinary Rules

Should our criminal courts exist to punish or reform those who have broken the law? Every case is unique, but in those involving mental health, a rehabilitative approach is often most beneficial. Rocky Dhir talks with Judge Brent Carr about his long years of service in the Tarrant County Mental Health Court, which had the overarching goal of improving outcomes for mentally ill people impacted by Texas’ justice system. They discuss the efforts of the Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health, the Specialty Courts Advisory Counsel, and the programs that address mental health issues in many areas of the law, including cases involving sex trafficking, drug offenders, family law matters, veterans, and more.

Texas’ Mental Health Court Programs

The Texas legislature recently enacted the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, which goes into effect on July 1, 2024. Lawyers have an urgent need to understand this new legislation and its coming impacts on their practice and clients. Rocky Dhir talks with Shawn Tuma, a widely recognized expert in cybersecurity and data privacy law, to help Texas attorneys understand the elements of this act and best practices in security for compliance with new regulations. 
Shawn Tuma is a partner at Spencer Fane LLP in Cyber Risk Management, Cyber Incident Response, and Cyber Security, Hacking and Data Breach Litigation.

Demystifying the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act

AI has been around for a very long time, but 2023 was its renaissance, with ChatGPT and other AI technologies suddenly speeding forward with exponential growth. Attorneys and paralegals should be focused on learning and adapting to this quickly evolving technology to ensure competence in a world where AI is taking greater precedence. Rocky Dhir talks with paralegal Megan Goor-Peters and attorney Joshua Weaver about responsible AI use and its current impacts in legal practice. They address common concerns and discuss the hopeful merging of human and AI elements for greater efficiency and success in the future of our justice system. 
 
Megan Goor-Peters is a senior paralegal and property manager at Brender Law Firm in Fort Worth. Goor-Peters is the current State Bar of Texas Paralegal Division liaison to the Texas Bar College and a member of the State Bar Task Force for Responsible AI in The Law.
 
Joshua Weaver is Director of the Texas Opportunity & Justice Incubator (TOJI), a flagship program of the State Bar of Texas focused on supporting attorneys as they build sustainable solo practices serving low-income and modest-income communities.

Radical Ways to Improve Law Firm Culture (State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting 2023)

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