FAMILY LAW PANEL SOGII Section Program

Transcription

1 FAMILY LAW PANEL SOGII Section Program Moderator: Karen Langsley Dripping Springs, Texas Panelists: Hon. Dennise Garcia Judge 303 rd District Court Dallas, Texas Stephanie Hall Attorney at Law Dallas, Texas Robert B. Luther Law Offices of Robert B. Luther, P.C. Austin, Texas Pete Schulte Schulte & Apgar, PLLC Dallas, Texas Friday, June 11, :45 p.m. 3:15 p.m.

2 KAREN J. LANGSLEY PO Box 62, Dripping Springs, TX PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY Lawyer practicing general family law with significant emphasis on child welfare litigation in Central Texas. Dedication and experience in Continuing Legal Education both as presenter and as facilitator. Excellent communication and writing skills. Extensive work with non-traditional family law issues on individual and Texas State Bar level. Advocacy for improvement in child welfare law in Texas including work with State Legislature. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Attorney, Solo Practitioner 2004 present Law Office of Karen J. Langsley (Dripping Springs) General family law practice with extensive emphasis on child welfare law and family law issues for non-recognized family relationships Extensive pro-bono practice; member of the Pro-Bono College of the State Bar of Texas Consultant Towers Perrin (San Francisco) Member of team of attorneys performing reviews for large clients to ensure compliance with Federal regulations under ERISA and HIPAA guidelines. Supervised ERISA Appeals Team for large employer in the context of a massive data cleanup. Extensive contact with insurers, participants and health care providers. Oversight of a two-year, multi-state benefits alignment project for a major utility, on both the regulated and non-regulated side of the business. Developed materials for and conducted train-the-trainer programs. Training Educator, Administrator Institute for Community Health Outreach (San Francisco) Advised staff and nonprofit board members on legal issues; taught supervisors and administrators of public agencies in employment law and legal issues for state workers. Responsible for contract compliance and financial administration at non-profit health care organization. Oversaw all aspects of program audits and supervised financial audits. Attorney, Acting Managing Attorney Hyatt Legal Services (Concord and San Francisco) Management responsibility for several hundred cases. Extensive hearing and trial experience, primarily in family law. Conducted trainings for other staff attorneys in family and landlord-tenant law. Paralegal Supervisor Hall, Henry, Oliver & McReavy (San Francisco) Trained and supervised staff of 63 paralegals in a large-scale document screening (for privilege and relevance) and production project for asbestosis litigation. EDUCATION J.D., Golden Gate University (San Francisco) 1982 B.A., Grinnell College (Iowa) 1978 Mills College (Oakland, California) undergraduate work

3 ADMITTED TO PRACTICE State of California (SBN ) 1983 Northern District of California 1984 Eastern District of California 1986 State of Texas (SBN ) 2004 AFFILIATIONS San Francisco Bar Association (volunteer Family Law attorney) AIDS Legal Referral Panel (founding attorney member) Pacific Graduate School of Psychology (former IRC member) Austin Bar Association s CAFA (Court Appointed Family Attorneys) Section (former CLE Chair and at-large member) Texas State Bar SOGII (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identification Issues) Section (past Chair, past Treasurer, past at-large member; current council member) National Association of Counsel for Children (member) National Center for Lesbian Rights (member, National Family Law Advisory Council) Attorney General of Texas Parenting Order Legal Clinic (volunteer attorney) Equality Texas (member) Austin Bar Association s Adoption Day Committee (member since 2004) Lambda Legal Youth in Out-of-Home Care Project (national advisory network) Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin (member; former member of DRE search committee; former co-chair of annual pledge drive) Dripping Springs Middle School (former member, School Improvement Team) Dripping Springs Band Boosters (member) Dripping Springs Independent School District Board of Trustees (candidate 2010) RECENT PRESENTATIONS ALI-ABA Webcast (September 24, 2008): Estate Planning for Non-Traditional Families TexasBarCLE Webcast (June 16, 2009): Family Law Strategies for Same-Sex Couples State Bar of Texas SOGII Section Annual Meeting (June 26, 2009): GLBT Family Estate Planning Panel National LGBT Bar Association Family Law Institute (September 2009): Divorce in Non-Recognition States Panel Austin Bar Association CAFA Section (April 28, 2010): Representing Unknown and Unlocatable Fathers Texas Advocacy Project (April 30, 2010): Family Law and LGBT Issues Casey Family Foundation (May 3, 2010): Low-Cost Resources for Kinship SAPCRs State Bar of Texas SOGII Section Annual Meeting (June 11, 2010): Family Law Panel TexasBarCLE Webcast (June 17, 2010): Recent Developments in Family Law for Same Sex Couples PERSONAL Married to Jill Wilcox. Children Zach (age 17) and Kim (age 15). Zach will be attending Denver University s Lamont School of Music in the fall; Kim will begin her Junior year at Dripping Springs High School. Extracurricular interests include skiing, gardening, longdistance bicycle rides, cooking and travel.

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6 Stephanie Hall, attorney at law, private practice Highland Park Place 4514 Cole Ave., Ste. 600 Dallas, Tx PRIMARY AREAS OF PRACTICE: family and probate EDUCATION: B.A. Texas Christian Univ., Ft. Worth (psychology ) 1971 M.A. Texas Christian Univ. " psychology 1975 Juris Doctor - Southern Methodist Univ Licensed in Texas since 1986 After 3 years with John Diggins and Associates, LLP, in North Dallas, I went solo. Through private hire cases as well as court appointments, I continue to practice in the juvenile courts taking both JD and CPS cases. My private family law practice has focused more on contested child custody cases as opposed to large property disputes. BAR ACTIVITIES: Multi years of service on the Dallas Bar. Association Fee Dispute Committee. Prior years of service on the Peer Assistance and other committees : 5 years as a member of the Board of Directors of Dallas Women's Bar Association I remain active in providing Pro Bono legal services to the poor mainly through Dallas Legal Aid/North Texas Legal Services and the Dallas Bar Association. Past President (1993) of Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers. This organization provides Support for impaired attorneys, actively intervenes to protect the community and get impaired attorneys into inpatient treatment (whether for depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, or other mental health impairment), and supervises attorneys who are in recovery but whose licenses have been placed on probation by the State Bar Association. CIVIC WORK: Irving League of Women Voters - Board Member ( )

7 ROBERT B. LUTHER Law Offices of Robert B. Luther, P.C. 919 Congress Avenue, Suite 450 Austin, Texas Telephone: (512) Facsimile: (512) Beginning on May 22, 2010: 1800 Rio Grande Austin, Texas EMPLOYMENT

8 Peter A. Schulte Attorney at Law Schulte & Apgar, PLLC Attorneys at Law 4131 N. Central Expwy, Ste 680 Dallas, Texas office: Peter A. Schulte, a Dallas native, brings experience unmatched by the vast majority of attorneys in Texas. Pete has seen the legal system on all sides he s been a police officer, a prosecutor, and a defense attorney. Pete has become widely recognized as an expert in 4th Amendment law, specifically as it relates to policing, and continues to teach area police officers arrest, search, and seizure law at police academies across the state. Pete also continues to maintain both his Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education (TCLEOSE) Instructor License and his Peace Officer License. This background allows Pete to have a very different perspective on many cases that other attorneys with only prosecutor experience may overlook. Pete's practice focuses in the areas of Criminal Defense, Personal Criminal History Information Management (Non-Disclosures, Expunctions), and Family Law. The firm also offers experienced attorneys with practice areas in Wills/Probate and Civil Litigation.