General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section of the State Bar of Texas
Our section devotes its energies primarily to the interests of lawyers who practice as solos and in small firms. We have been active for more than 40 years. Our section publishes a Digest and co-sponsors an annual Institute for general practitioners as well as other CLE programs. Our section has played a leadership role in several State Bar initiatives. Members of our Council are active on State Bar Committees, Task Forces, and the State Bar Board of Directors. We are active and serious advocates of policies and practices important to small firms, and we report on issues important to all lawyers.
We show up. Join us.
Go to this page, follow the instructions and links and sign up online. Or download this form from the State Bar and send it in.
Updates
2021 General Practice Institute is ONLINE
From Family Law, including the effect of a change in domicile on property, to uses for the Public Information Act, to the traps of representing multiple parties. This has been one of our signature CLE events, and at $110 for 6.0 hours of credit with 1.25 hours of ethics, it's a serious bargain. This event was formerly held in Waco at Baylor Law School, but, like last year, this spring it is online only. The course is being presented through CLEOnline. Go to the course subjects and sign-up page here - https://cleonline.com/seminar/seminar_detail/13870/44th-annual-general-practice-institute It's available now.
Lexology
You may have received a "legal news" email from an outfit that calls itself "Lexology." It purports to be affiliated with our Section. It is not.
Practicing in the age of COVID-19
Practicing from home or with a reduced staff? There are programs to help and you can get CLE credit. Here are two: On Wednesday, March 18, there was a free Texas bar CLE presentation on Force Majeure Clauses in the age of coronavirus. The clauses are more important than you think. It was first rate. Be on the lookout for a replay. The presentation is already archived. On Friday, March 20 there will be (or was, depending on when you are reading this) a replay of an earlier webinar called, "Practicing Law in the Shadow of COVID-19." It is also free. If you miss it on March 20, look for another replay. Both programs are moderated by Claude Ducloux, a colleague who practices in Austin and who is a member of the Section.
GPSolo CLE event at the Annual Convention
Coming to our Continuing Legal Education Event developed for the Texas Bar Convention is easier than ever this year. It will be online. Watch from announcements from the State Bar.
Transparency Task Force: there is more than rhetoric involved
You should have received Tom Vick's notice that the Bar Board has engaged an accounting firm named Weaver to evaluate and recommend "transparency" measures for the activities of the Bar. This springs in part from a contentious report to the Board at its April meeting concerning Joe Longley's Transparency Task Force. A video of the Board meeting can be found here; the relevant and interesting part of the video starts about 1:31:44 into it. Longley's Task Force responded by the report it filed with the Board on June 6, which can be found here. It will be interesting to see what the accountants have to tell us and what we paid them.
Section Directory
You said you wanted it, so we've done it. Members have indicated that they would like to know others in the Section so they can link to particular practice areas, interests and expertise or make reliable referrals in places where they may not know anyone. It's completely voluntary to participate and the information confidential to other Section members. The Directory is currently down for maintenance, but will be back up soon better than ever.
Document Bank
We have implemented a document bank. If you have a pleading, brief, form or checklist that you would like to share with the other members of the GPSolo Section, post it here. You will also find papers presented at April's General Practice Institute at Baylor Law School.
Special notice about email
Distribution of our Digest is exclusively online. We send you an email notice when a new Digest is published, so that you can review it or download it on your time and we don't fill your email box with a large PDF. Remember, when you paid your dues, you agreed to receive email from us unless we hear from you to the contrary. Every once in a while we get a spam complaint from one of our members. Please don't do that. Just notify the webmaster and he'll take you off the list. If you complain that we are spammers to your ISP, you simply jeopardize the notice to others, and we will remove you from the website database.
Contact Us
Questions about GPSolo? Contact the Chair:
Questions about the website? Contact the webmaster: