Dallas Bar Association
HEADNOTES
Focus Probate, Trusts & Estates Law
December 2014 Volume 39 Number 12
$600,000+
$550,000 $500,000
To Give: www.dvapcampaign.org.
the FLDS ranch in Texas. Once again, DVAP, the Dallas Bar and Legal Aid played significant roles in making sure that attorneys were recruited to represent the interests of children. In more recent years, DVAP has worked to address the legal needs of veterans returning from active duty military service. With the support and assistance of volunteer attorneys committed to serving veterans, a monthly Veteran’s Legal Clinic was created. DVAP continues to run the clinic today, refer veterans’ cases to volunteer attorneys, and work closely with the Veteran’s Subcommittee of the DBA’s Pro Bono Activities Committee. When people are in need of legal help, DVAP is steps in, but it isn’t just in these critical situations of responding to hurricane survivors, protecting children and families in possibly the largest CPS case ever, or responding to the needs of veterans. DVAP is there day in and day out. Even during these crises, DVAP continued to serve the Dallas
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Deborah G. Hankinson
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Financial supporters of legal aid programs want and need to feel comfortable that their financial support is being used wisely and making a difference in the communities that they serve. The Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program, a joint pro bono program of Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas and the Dallas Bar Association, is no different. Its donors want to know that their dollars are hard at work. And, they are. Last year, the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program referred over 1,200 new cases to volunteer attorneys, continued to oversee the nearly 1,300 cases that are pending with the program at any given time, coordinated over 100 legal clinics, conducted over 40 CLE trainings for volunteers and its volunteers established orders that should result in over $2.9 million in annualized benefits to DVAP clients. These measurable outcomes help assure everyone from DVAP management and staff to volunteers and donors that the program is effective and useful to the Dallas community. But, there are some additional ways that the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program has provided critical assistance to our community over the years that are a bit less measurable but demonstrate the important role DVAP plays in our community. During every situation over at least the last decade where lawyers are called upon to help, DVAP, the Dallas Bar Association and Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas have responded to the call to coordinate and support legal assistance to those in need. Nearly a decade ago when New Orleans and the Texas coast were decimated by a series of deadly hurricanes, DVAP rose to the challenge of organizing volunteers to meet with hurricane survivors in Dallas shelters. As the number of survivors grew and the level of long-term assistance and support they would need became apparent, DVAP developed clinics to specifically address their needs and recruited and trained attorneys to help them. In 2008, the Texas Department of Child Protective Services removed over 400 children from
community with its usual legal aid needs. DVAP is the Dallas legal community’s pro bono legal aid program and a referral resource for those in need. It helps ensure that the poor have access to our justice system, the support of legal counsel, and equality before the law. And none of this would have been possible without enthusiastic and committed volunteers and donors as well as the cooperation and commitment of Legal Aid and the Dallas Bar to making this work. Possibly no one understands the fight for equal access to justice and the importance of people working together to achieve these goals than Justice Deborah Hankinson. An arbitrator, mediator, appellate attorney, and former justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, Hankinson is nationally known for her efforts to bridge the justice gap in Texas and across the country. Appointed to the Supreme Court of Texas in 1997, Justice Hankinson worked with the State Bar of Texas, legal service providers, and the Texas Legislature to create the Access to Justice Commission, which seeks to improve the quality of justice in civil legal aid, increase access, and reduce barriers to the judicial system. Justice Hankinson efforts paved the way for the Texas Supreme Court, Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation, and Texas legislature, legal service providers and others to work together to address the legal needs of the poor and secure funding for legal aid throughout the State of Texas. Justice Hankinson has been a consistent voice and example for Texas lawyers since the 1990s, and she continues today to support legal aid to the poor in Dallas. She recently committed another $25,000 to the 2014 Equal Access to Justice Campaign benefitting the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program. Since 2003, she has supported the EAJ Campaign by contributing over $266,000. She is an arbitrator, mediator, appellate attorney, and former Justice, but we need to give her another title—champion of jus HN tice for the poor.
Equ al A c
by Alicia Hernandez
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Hon. Deborah Hankinson: Champion of Justice for the Poor
Alicia Hernandez is the director of the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program and the DBA director of community services. She can be reached at ahernandez@dallasbar.org.
$450,000 $400,000 $350,000 $300,000 $250,000 $200,000 $150,000 $100,000 $50,0000
THANK YOU TO OUR MAJOR DONORS
The Dallas Bar Association and Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas has kicked off their annual Equal Access to Justice Campaign benefitting the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program. A number of Dallas firms, corporations and friends have committed major support. Please join us in recognizing and thanking the following for their generous gifts to the Campaign*:
CHAMPIONS OF JUSTICE ($35,000) Kirkland & Ellis LLP
PLATINUM ($10,000) Jerry C. Alexander Deans & Lyons, LLP Exxon Mobil Corporation Fluor Corporation Godwin Lewis PC The Hartnett Law Firm Haynes and Boone Foundation Jackson Walker L.L.P. KoonsFuller Mike McKool, Jr. Norton Rose Fulbright LLP Robert L. Tobey Vinson & Elkins LLP
PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL ($30,000) Crain Lewis, LLP CHAIRMAN’S COUNCIL ($25,000) Anonymous Connatser Family Law Energy Future Holdings, Luminant & TXU Energy Hon. Deborah Hankinson Payne Mitchell Law Group L.L.P.
GOLD ($5,000+) Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP Anderson Tobin, PLLC Baker & McKenzie Bracewell & Giuliani LLP
DIAMOND ($15,000) AT&T *Donors as of press time.
GOLD ($5,000+) Cont. Business Litigation Section Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, L.L.P. Cheryl A. Engelmann Hasseena J. Enu Fish & Richardson Laura Benitez Geisler Greenberg Traurig, LLP Hartline Dacus Barger Dreyer LLP Mark L. Johansen Randy Johnston McKool Smith Koning Rubarts LLP Lewis Sifford The Mike and Barbara Lynn Philanthropic Fund Sayles Werbner Sommerman & Quesada Waters, Kraus & Paul, LLP Joel & Terilyn Winful
Law firms, corporations and individuals wishing to make a pledge will be prominently recognized beginning at the $5,000 level each month through January. To donate, contact Alicia Hernandez, ahernandez@dallasbar.org. For more information about the Campaign see www.dallasbar.org/dvapcampaign.
Inside 6 Dallas Bar Elects 2015 Officers 9 Selecting a Ready, Willing and Able Trustee 13 Representing Clients Who May Be Incapacitated 17 Evaluating Estate Sale Contracts
DBA MEMBER REMINDER – RENEW ONLINE TODAY! 2015 DBA DUES must be paid by December 31, 2014 to continue receiving ALL your member benefits. If you have not yet renewed, send in your payment or go online and renew your 2015 DBA Dues TODAY! Go to the DBA website and under the Membership tab, click on Renew Membership. Thank you for your support of the Dallas Bar Association!