Volume 9, Issue 2
TCAA 2014 Summer Conference in South Padre Island – DATE CHANGE
The TCAA 2014 Summer Conference at the Isla Grand Resort in South Padre Island was originally scheduled for June 4-6, 2014. THAT DATE HAS CHANGED. The conference will now be held on June 18-20, 2014. We apologize for any inconvenience. Agenda and registration information will be available soon!
Call For Award Nominations: Galen Sparks and Susan Rocha Awards for Outstanding Public Service by an Assistant City Attorney
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 by an Assistant City Attorney is intended to recognize and honor a current or former 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 assistant city attorney from Texas’ eight largest cities (Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, or San Antonio).
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 by an Assistant City Attorney is intended to recognize and honor a current or former assistant city attorney for significant and distinguished career achievements in the field of municipal law. Because of her work with smaller cities, the TCAA board grants one award each year for an assistant city attorney from any city other than Texas’ eight largest cities (Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, or San Antonio).
The recipients of these awards will be honored at the TCAA Summer Conference in South Padre Island. In addition, TCAA will waive the recipients’ seminar registration fee and reimburse the recipients up to $500 for transportation and lodging for the meeting. The deadline to apply to receive the award at the 2014 summer meeting in South Padre Island on June 18-20 is April 4, 2014.
For downloadable criteria and a nomination form, please go to the Awards/Certifications link on www.texascityattorneys.org.
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 recently 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, for example: (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 Semi-Annual Meeting in South Padre. In addition, TCAA will waive the recipients’ seminar registration fee and reimburse the recipient up to $500 for transportation and lodging for the meeting. The deadline to apply to receive the award at the 2014 summer meeting in South Padre Island on June 18-20 is April 4, 2014. For downloadable criteria and an application form, click here.
FREE CLE! The 2013 TCAA Fall Conference is Available Online
The TCAA Online Seminars are FREE, allowing TCAA members who are city attorneys, assistant city attorneys, or attorneys who regularly practice municipal law to view videos of past seminars in a single–session format. Viewing of the session allows attorneys to receive participatory CLE credit with the State Bar. To view available seminars, please visit www.tcaaonlineseminars.org. (Use the case-sensitive password “FreeCLE” to gain access to the sessions.)
2014 TMCEC Prosecutor Conference
The Texas Municipal Courts Education Center will hold it annual prosecutors conference in San Marcos March 24-26 and in Houston June 23-15. The conference covers procedural and substantive law issues that are essential to prosecuting in municipal court. More information about the conference is available here: http://www.tmcec.com/public/files/File/Prosecutors/ProsecutorsBrochure-March2014.pdf
State Bar Government Lawyers Section: 2014 Outstanding Government Lawyer Award
Nominations Deadline: March 15, 2014
There are many outstanding government lawyers out there, and three years ago, the Government Law Section began honoring the achievements and hard work of such lawyers with an annual award. The Government Law Section encourages you to consider the government lawyers you know and work with, to forward this on to others, and nominate the best for this award. The award will be presented at the State Bar of Texas “Suing and Defending Governmental Entities Course, Government Law Boot Camp,” to be held on July 30, 2014, in Austin, Texas. For a nomination form, go to: http://www.txgovernmentlaw.org/Govt%20website%20scripts%20-%20do%20not%20touch%20!!!!/2014_Outstanding_Govt_Lawyer_nomination_form.pdf