State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting – Day 1 Review

Today was the first day of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) and meetings for the State Bar of Texas. Here is my take on some of the events attended and topics discussed.

Today was the first day of the State Bar of Texas’ Annual Meeting, hosted in Fort Worth, Texas this year. Though the location rotates every year, this is the first time since 2010 that the conference has been held in Fort Worth. There were many great events and discussions on a wide variety of topics available to attend today. Here is the highlights of some of the major ideas shared during a small handful of the presentations today:

• Advertising Rules and Social Media Usage for Attorneys: Though one might think that the State Bar vets all attorney ads for “tastefulness.” That really isn’t their job. The State Bar actually seeks to ensure that ads are not misleading or fraudulent to the public.
• Legal Perspectives on Drone Regulation and Liabilities: This is an area to watch very closely. The FAA came out with proposed regulations in February 2015 and closed the comment period recently. We are still waiting to see what the new regulations will be for commercial (that includes government) and hobby/recreational Unmanned Aerial System (“UAS” aka “Drones”). Though some Fire, Police, and Emergency Management Departments might hope; there is skepticism that local governments will obtain a separate regulatory scheme apart from commercial business applications.
• Fit for Flight: A Critical Look at Mental Health in the Pilot Community, and the Science Behind the FAA’s Fitness for Duty Standards: This was interesting in the fact that an analogy could be drawn to first responders in the sense that they are similarly placed in high stress situations as part of their duties. (Sometimes what I call “complete and utter boredom interrupted by moments of sheer terror”) It is interesting that this same concept of mental fitness hasn’t completely parted over to the Police, Fire and Emergency Management professions, given some of the concerns over suicide and mental illness within some of the professions. I believe that it might be a matter of time before we begin seeing industry wide application of similar principals. It won’t be a carbon copy of the system (that would be somewhat inappropriate and economically infeasible for most small departments); however, some of the best practices might be ported over.
• Liability Insurance: Key Practice Pointers for Litigators: One of the major take aways is that there can be an additional counsel brought in during an insurance case to represent issues related to Insurance Policy coverage rates. The whole role of this attorney its to represent the actual policy (where the insured and insurer’s interest align). For example, if the insured and insurer both come to a conclusion in court on what the settlement ought to be, this third attorney would be the one to raise the red flag if the contract (insurance policy) will not cover the settlement reached.