Impact Players — Family Law Forms: Stewart Gagnon
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Home › This Week”s Issue › Impact Players — Family Law Forms: Stewart Gagnon
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Impact Players — Family Law Forms: Stewart Gagnon Texas Lawyer December 17, 2012 Like
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Though he faced personal criticism, managed a sometimes "exhausting" debate, and volunteered his time for nearly two years, Stewart Gagnon never wavered in his devotion to creating pro se divorce forms for indigent Texans. "It's never hard to stand up for a principle you believe in," says Gagnon, a partner in Fulbright & Jaworski in Houston. "I won't tell you it was always fun, but it was a good year."
Stewart W. Gagnon, a partner in Fulbright & Jaworski
Gagnon says he's proud of the results he obtained as chairman of the Texas Supreme Court's Uniform Forms Task Force, which drafted a set of pro se divorce forms for couples with no children or real property. The Supreme Court approved them on Nov. 13, noting, "These forms will be a useful tool in addressing the burgeoning population of litigants who cannot afford
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Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht says, "[W]ith respect to the concern for access to justice, I don't know any lawyer in Texas that walks the walk more than Stewart."
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The State Bar of Texas and the Bar's Family Law Section opposed the forms, saying pro se litigants would harm their own interests. But Gagnon says he thinks the forms will give people access to the courts and make the court system more efficient at dealing with pro se litigants. Pro bono lawyers can use the forms to help indigent clients, and Gagnon thinks the forms will impact other lawyers positively. "It will get lawyers more engaged in assisting these people who choose to not hire a lawyer to totally handle their case," he says, noting pro se litigants could hire lawyers for basic advice or help completing forms.
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Trish McAllister, executive director of the Texas Access to Justice Commission, which supported the forms and helped draft them, says chairing the forms task force took a lot of Gagnon's time because the group met each month for more than a year. "There are very few people who take the number of pro bono cases he takes and also [are] willing to spend the incredible amount of time he spends on this project to ensure people who are poor are getting access to the court system. He just believes deep in his soul it's the right thing to do and it's what being a lawyer is about," she says. Gagnon also volunteers with the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program, a legal-help telephone line, a veteran's legal clinic and more. In 2011, he took 50 cases pro bono, and he did a similar number this year. "Every day, I'm doing something on a pro bono case. Most of them are assisting people in getting divorced," he says. Continue reading 1
http://www.law.com/jsp/tx/PubArticleTX.jsp?id=1202581508143[12/17/2012 8:18:37 AM]
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