UHLC Nota Bene

The O'Quinn Law Library collection now includes Fundamentals of Texas Trial Practice: Civil and Criminal (5th ed.) by Judge Robert Barton. Fundamentals of Texas Trial Practice seems intended for law students, but attorneys might also enjoy the book as a review of the basic elements of trial practice.  In addition to in-trial actions such as examining witnesses and addressing the jury, this book reviews subjects such as jury selection and exhibit preparation that new law students may be less familiar with despite being equally critical to success as an attorney.  This fifth edition includes updated legal authorities for subjects addressed in previous editions. Fundamentals of Texas Trial Practice is currently available on the New Books shelf at the far end of the law library reference desk.  This book's call number is KFT 1738.B37 2018 .

The Handbook of Texas Lawyer and Judicial Ethics is a three-volume set published annually by Thomson Reuters as part of their Texas Practice Series. The Handbook comprises volumes 48, 48A, and 48B of the series. (In the interest of full disclosure, I should also mention that one of the authors, Robert P. Schuwerk, is a professor emeritus here at the Law Center.) This unique resource covers three bodies of Texas law: attorney tort liability, attorney discipline, and judicial discipline. It is designed to help lawyers and judges find answers to their ethical questions, but it may also be useful to law students and non-lawyers. For those interested in doing further research, the book contains frequent references to relevant West’s Key Numbers and C.J.S. sections. Discussions of case law, statutes, and ethics opinions in this edition have been updated through January 2017.     The work is divided into six parts. Part I deals with the standards of attorney tort liability. I...

The second edition of Mastering Professional Responsibility by Grace M. Giesel has been recently published by Carolina Academic Press and is now available in the library ( KF306.G547 2015 ). The first section of this book begins with an overview of the different sources of professional responsibility law such as the ABA model rules and ethics opinions and explores the attorney discipline process. The Lawyer-Client relationship is explored fully as issues ranging from competence to malpractice are discussed. Confidentiality, with a entire chapter devoted to the attorney client privilege and the attorney work product doctrine, and conflict of interest matters are also covered. This book is ideal for those desiring a background in professional responsibility, materials to supplement exam preparation, and could be helpful for preparation for the MPRE (Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam) The library has several sources for those interested in professional responsibility incl...