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14th Annual Eastern District of Texas Bench Bar Conference

By Michael C. Smith

The Eastern District had its 14th annual bench/bar conference in Plano on October 20-22, 2010. The actual seminar events started the morning of October 21 with introductions by ED bar president Larry Phillips, conference chair Clyde Siebman, and Chief Judge David Folsom, who welcomed James Brookshire, executive director of the Federal Circuit Bar Association.  Attendance was in the mid-400's, which once again is a record.

The frst panel was on local rules, followed by a panel on expense and delay reduction. Next was "What Do Law Clerks Know That Lawyers Should Find Out?" which I unexpected got to moderate, and enjoyed very much. Aftre the morning break there was a fascinating panel on the interface between social media and the law, featuring Judge Caroline Craven, followed by the blockbuster of the conference "The Heterogeneity of ED Texas. Exposing the Myth of a Homogenized District," featuring presentations by Larry Phillips, Jennifer Doan (not the one at www.jenniferdoan.com), Andy Tindel, Marshall Wood, and an outstanding presentation on the history of the district, literally beginning with trees by Michael Truncale of Beaumont. The lunch speaker on day 1 was Fifth Circuit judge Catharina Haynes.

In the afternoon the conference split into three tracks, patent, civil and criminal. The patent track had sessions on non-practicing entities and alleged infringers, speed and expense, which I enjoyed participating in, a judges' panel, a panel on Twombly, and a presentation on ED patent statistics. The civil track had panels on federal jurisidction, a judges panel, and discovery, and the criminal track had a judicial panel, and panels on sentencing, detention hearing practices, caseloads & trends, CJA forms & payments procedures, and a joint session with civil on "When and Where Criminal and Civil Law Collide". We then had a nice dinner with recognition of retiring judges Earl Hines of Beaumont and T. John Ward of Marshall, followed by the traditional outstanding band.

Friday morning started way too early with a present on venue and mandamus, a panel with all the Eastern District judges in attendance, and a panel on local counsel practices. The conference ended as is traditional with a short business meeting at which Glenn Thames of Tyler was elected to follow Larry Phillips as president.

Full post as published by Eastern District of Texas Federal Court Practice on November 08, 2010 (boomark / email).