State Bar proposals go down in flames

The results are in and the leadership of the State Bar is still trying to wipe the egg off their faces after suffering a humiliating defeat in their attempt to revise the ethics rules in Texas.

Of course State Bar President Terry Tottenham, ever gracious in defeat, intimated that the Supreme Court would revisit the issue in the future.

“Texas lawyers elected not to adopt these rules. We expect that this will not be the end of the Supreme Court’s interest in making revisions to these rules.” -- State Bar of Texas President Terry Tottenham.

Interesting how after the lawyers of Texas rebuked his attempt to ramrod the changes down their throats -- using their dues money as added insult -- Mr. Tottenham now says the Supreme Court was behind the revisions.

Mr. Tottenham, the emperor has no clothes. Your arrogance, and the arrogance of the rest of the leadership, demonstrates that you are unfit to run this organization. You spent our money to advance your agenda. You could offer no compelling reason for any lawyer in this state to support the proposed rule changes. You grouped them together as a way of trying to manipulate the vote.

Our ethics rules might not be perfect, but they have served us for the past 20 years. There is case law interpreting the rules and most attorneys in Texas have a basic understanding of what we should and should not do. Change for the sake of change is bad policy and exposes the moral bankruptcy in the leadership of the State Bar of Texas.