Remember the Good Ole Days

I was in the Lawyers Lounge last week getting my usual cup of coffee before heading off to court at the Denton County Courthouse. Several of the attorneys were having a conversation lamenting the fact that much of our law practice has changed radically just within the past 5 to 10 years.

While I agreed with some of what they said, that change is usually a mixed bag, I generally disagreed with my fellow lawyers. We have to realize that change is the only constant in the universe. Sometimes that change does not come fast enough, is confusing and not always welcome. But change will inexorably come regardless of whether we want to see change or not.

I for one look forward to the changes that are coming. Electronic filing has made easier access to the filing of the Courthouse. Technology has made the law more illustrative and work better in real-time. The change we have seen in the law recently, due to shortsighted elected officials, has not been without its bumps, lurches and starts. Nevertheless, we should embrace the change. After all the good old days were not necessarily good, but they were certainly old.

One should not change though is our sense of justice. In Texas, and particularly the judiciary of Texas, the idea of patient, thoughtful, deliberative Justice has been replaced by the groveling for a paycheck on Friday. This is largely due the authoritarian one-party control of the judiciary for the past 20 years. It is time that the lawyers who appear before the judiciary of the State took their ethical and dutiful role in seeking justice instead of just the next fee. A law license never promised that you would be rich, but it should guarantee a sense an understanding of fundamental fairness and justice.