Looking Back and Looking Forward

Judge Lora Livingston Speaks on Her Career, Accomplishments, and Retirement

BY JUDGE LORA J. LIVINGSTON

When I first started practicing law, a lawyer’s word was a lawyer’s bond, a handshake was as good as a written contract, and civility was a practice, not an aspiration. These were some of the golden rules “back in the day.” I know, I know—that was a long time ago and things have certainly changed. I can only hope that the bar finds its way back to these golden principles.

Over the past few decades, the law has undergone significant changes. Consider changes in tort law (reform is in the eye of the beholder, so I won’t use that descriptor here) and workers’ compensation law. It’s amazing how the laws designed to compensate an injured or deceased human being have changed over time. I learned years ago that the purpose of civil remedies—and civil courts, for that matter—is to put injured parties in their rightful position. Perhaps some concessions have been made since then. Now it makes me wonder how, or if, our society values human life. Recent gun legislation continues to confront me with this question. Consider, also, changes in family law. When I first started practicing law, most divorces involved only two parents and their joint offspring. Not so today! The family tree has been replaced by the family flow chart since the branches no longer have marriage at the root.

The creation of the Travis County Self- Help Center, located in the Travis County Law Library, stands out as one of the things I am most proud of during my tenure on the bench. … I leave with a sense of accomplishment. I leave feeling that I fulfilled a great purpose. And I leave with enormous pride. It has been an honor to serve this community.

And then there is the Texas Citizens Participation Act. I’ll just stop there and say, “no comment.”

This is to say many substantive areas of the law have changed drastically during my career. Of course, significant changes have been made to procedural rules and practice as well. I remember when the discovery rules were still called “new.” These new rules were designed to stem the unprofessional conduct of the “Rambo” lawyer and yet, some might argue that these cumbersome rules supplied Rambo with additional ammunition.

I have been absolutely amazed by the number of self-represented litigants we encounter each year. I can’t remember more than a handful of cases in which even one side was self-represented when I began to practice law. Today, many cases involve self-represented litigants on both sides, even in jury trials. Rather than debate the many facets of this phenomenon here, I’ll simply say that I am extremely proud of the way in which the local legal community has stepped up to meet the challenges this reality presents. The creation of the Travis County Self-Help Center, located in the Travis County Law Library, stands out as one of the things I am most proud of during my tenure on the bench.

Judge Livingston and her husband, Eric Kennedy, on the set of the Stephen Colbert Show.

I learned about this idea while attending a program sponsored by the American Bar Association (yet another reason to participate in bar association activities at the local, state, and national levels). My idea to replicate this idea in Travis County was initially met with skepticism but—eventually— the team I convened was able to persuade all the right people, and we were given the green light to proceed and to succeed.

And succeed we did! Thousands of individuals and families have been served by the Self-Help Center. While the Center does not represent anyone, it does provide legal information to individuals, which allows them to make informed decisions. I appreciate that so many get this information with the help of the dedicated public-interest lawyers and other professionals committed to this cause. The Self-Help Center is celebrating over twenty years in operation, and I could not be prouder of this access-to-justice initiative.

Considering all that has changed over the years, I still believe COVID-19 has by far forced the most profound—and most exciting—changes. To be sure, the practice of law will never be the same. Moving out of the courthouse and turning my home office into a courtroom was an amazing experience. Many were terrified that the rule of law would suffer and that our increasingly fragile justice system would suffer a terrible blow. Instead, it was the faith in our justice system and our adherence to the rule of law that made remote court proceedings work so well.

Remote proceedings allow attorneys to multitask in new and more efficient ways. Remote proceedings also allow clients to realize significant savings in attorney fees. Before the pandemic, I could not imagine a remote jury trial and now, I cannot imagine why we didn’t implement that option earlier. Jurors appreciate the convenience of serving on a jury in a remote proceeding. I have yet to be convinced (and few have tried to persuade me) that any summary-judgment argument needs to be in person. The benefits are enormous for litigants who face transportation and childcare challenges as well as those who have trouble taking time off work. Many of our dockets have experienced better participation and more engagement than ever before. Remote proceedings are not optimal in every situation, but they must be included among the options in any robust legal-services delivery system.

The transition to remote proceedings was almost seamless for the courts. The technology was new to many but not new to the marketplace. I was using Zoom well before the pandemic for national conferences and meetings, so the platform was not unfamiliar. Many lawyers were already familiar with Webex and other videoconferencing applications, so their transition was easy as well. These applications were easy to navigate, and training the unfamiliar user was a relatively simple task. No system is perfect, but we have proven that our justice system is adaptable, resilient, and fair.

As a lawyer, and especially during my tenure on the bench, I have literally dreamed of a new courthouse in Travis County. The civil and family courts and the public they serve are long overdue for new and improved court facilities. Finally, thanks to the leadership of Judge John Dietz, (ret.) the Travis County Commissioners Court, and countless others, that dream will soon be a reality. The construction of the new Civil and Family Courts Facility (CFCF) is proceeding apace and will be completed by the end of this calendar year (2022). Working on this project has been a labor of love (think childbirth: After the labor pains, it’s nothing but love!).

The new building will be worthy of the work conducted within, and it will feature several amenities not currently available in the historic courthouse. It will feature a child drop-off center for parents with short-term childcare needs while conducting court business. Private and appropriate “mothering rooms” will be available for nursing mothers. Attorney-client conference rooms will be available for private conversations during recesses, and additional conference rooms will be also available to support the work of the courts. A large special-proceedings courtroom will be a feature in the new building, along with a large multipurpose room on the ground floor. The building will boast amazing art installations, and the hope is that the building will serve the wider community once court sessions conclude. Imagine a public court facility that is “alive after five.” I am extremely proud of the new courts’ facility, and I’m confident you will enjoy working there. Enjoy!

Though I acknowledge these exciting developments in the practice of law in our community, I’m personally looking forward to spending more time with my family. I am blessed to still have my parents and in-laws (all in their nineties), and I want to spend as much time with them as possible. I’m also looking forward to spending more time with my grandsons (ages one and three, so you know I’m in for some fun!). My husband and I also want to travel and visit other parts of the world. I hope retirement will suit me, and I’m looking forward to giving it a try.

I love my work, and I’m going to miss the full-time practice of law. I leave with a sense of accomplishment. I leave feeling that I fulfilled a great purpose. And I leave with enormous pride. It has been an honor to serve this community, and it has been a pleasure to work with everyone involved in the legal profession throughout my career, including lawyers and other legal professionals. I am so, so grateful to one and all for your trust and confidence in me over the years, and I wish nothing but the best to each of you. Thank you for making my time on the bench so interesting, so engaging, and— despite the difficult issues—so uplifting at times.

The legislative branch has been entrusted to create substantive laws. The judicial branch has been entrusted to interpret, apply, and enforce those laws. However, the practice of law, a true art form, is left to the lawyers. For almost three decades, you have entrusted me to do my part as a judge; I now leave it to you to continue to play your part to serve your clients, to serve the general public, and to make our justice system the best in the world. AL

Judge Lora Livingston has been a judge for 27 years. Judge Livingston says what she loves most about her work is getting to be the one person in the room who is 100% focused on a just and fair solution. She grew up in the Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles, Calif. and went to Oregon State University for two years before transferring to UCLA. Judge Livingston holds both a B.A. and J.D. from UCLA.