Notices and Announcements

Volume 16, Issue 4

Last Call for Award Nominations: Galen Sparks and Susan Rocha Awards for Outstanding Public Service

Galen Sparks served as an assistant city attorney and dedicated public servant for the City of Dallas for over 27 years. He distinguished himself in a variety of areas of municipal law and generously shared his time and expertise in a way that substantially enhanced the professionalism of his fellow municipal lawyers. The TCAA “Galen Sparks Award for Outstanding Public Service” is intended to recognize and honor a current or former city attorney or assistant city attorney for significant and distinguished career achievements in the field of municipal law.

The TCAA board grants one award each year for an in-house city attorney or assistant city attorney.

Susan Rocha served as an assistant city attorney for the City of San Antonio early in her career, and went on to be a trailblazer in municipal law. She served as president of both the Texas City Attorneys Association and the International Municipal Lawyers Association, and was a mentor and role model for many attorneys in the field due to her hard work, many achievements, and – of course – irrepressible personality. The TCAA “Susan Rocha Award for Outstanding Public Service” is intended to recognize and honor a current or former city attorney or assistant city attorney for significant and distinguished career achievements in the field of municipal law.

The TCAA board grants one award each year for outside counsel serving as a city attorney or assistant city attorney.

The recipients of these awards will be honored at the TCAA Summer Conference. In addition, TCAA will provide complimentary registration for the conference. The deadline to submit a nomination is extended to April 30, 2021. The criteria and the nomination form are available HERE.

Last Call for Award Nominations: TCAA Outstanding Mentor Award

Just about every lawyer has a mentor who guided his or her career. In an effort to recognize the efforts of a special municipal law mentor, the TCAA Board of Directors created the TCAA “Outstanding Mentor Award.” The award is intended to recognize and honor a municipal attorney for his or her significant and distinguished mentoring achievements related to young attorneys and their practice in the field of municipal law.

The nominee must have demonstrated the qualities of a mentor to one or more young municipal attorneys by: (1) serving as a role model to young municipal lawyers in his or her community; (2) fostering the development of young municipal lawyers; and (3) significantly contributing to the profession and/or the community.

The recipient of this award will be honored at the TCAA Summer Conference. In addition, TCAA will provide complimentary registration for the conference. The deadline to submit a nomination is extended to April 30, 2021. The criteria and the nomination form are available HERE.

2021 TCAA Summer Conference: New Dates and In-Person!

The Texas City Attorneys Association (TCAA) is proud to announce the 2021 Summer Conference is rescheduled for August 4-6, 2021, at the Omni Barton Creek Resort and Spa in Austin. You can find the safety protocols for the Omni on their website here.

In response to current events, the TCAA Board voted to move the originally scheduled June virtual conference to an in-person conference in August. Please watch your inbox for more details in the coming weeks!

SAVE THE DATE – UPCOMING TCAA EVENT!

The 2021 TCAA Fall Conference will take place on October 7, 2021, in Houston, and will be held in conjunction with the TML Annual Conference.

2021 TCAA Fall Conference: Call for Speakers

TCAA invites all attorneys interested in presenting at the 2021 TCAA Fall Conference in Houston, to submit your ideas to Christy Drake-Adams at christy@tml.org by June 1, 2021. This year’s conference will be held on October 7, 2021. Questions? Contact Christy Drake-Adams at christy@tml.org or 512-231-7400.

87th Legislative Session

The 2021 legislative session began on January 12. Stay informed by checking TML’s Legislative Update weekly for summaries of city-related bills and associated articles.

TCAA Online Membership Directory

Looking to find the contact information for a fellow TCAA member? You can find it using the TCAA membership directory, available here.

IMLA Membership

Membership with IMLA doesn’t just mean discounts to their events. It’s much more than that. Click here to view a quick video about IMLA membership.

Continuing Legal Education

2020 TCAA Fall Conference and 2020 TCAA Summer Conference
These TCAA online seminars are FREE, allowing TCAA members who are city attorneys, assistant city attorneys, or attorneys who regularly practice municipal law to view each video from the conference in a single-session format. Viewing a session allows attorneys to receive participatory CLE credit with the State Bar. To view available seminars, please visit tcaaonlineseminars.org. (Use the case-sensitive password “FreeCLE” to gain access to the sessions.)

If you would like to have an article considered for publication in the TCAA newsletter, please send your request to Evelyn Njuguna at evelyn@tml.org.