20th Anniversary

In celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Board of Disciplinary Appeals, past chairs of the Board were asked to reflect upon their time in service to the Board.  The following is the result:

Once upon a time in a time a long time ago, there was no Board of Disciplinary Appeals. Approximately 20 years ago, one of the members of the Texas Supreme Court called me up and said the Court wanted me to be the first Chairman of the newly created Board of Disciplinary Appeals.  I would need to write the rules and hire staff.  My paralegal, Cathy Werner, and I started writing rules. We did not have much to go on so we just sort of made them up as we went along.  The best thing we did early on was to hire Chris McKeeman who helped us finalize the Board’s official rules.  Cathy and I were talking about this not too long ago and decided that hiring Chris may be the most successful and long-lasting hire we have ever made. The first official meetings of the Board of Disciplinary Appeals were in the conference room at the old Hilgers and Watkins law firm, and appeared very informal.  As each case was called, the party and his or her lawyer would join us in the conference room and sit around the table for their hearing. 

Over the years, it has been very interesting and gratifying to watch the Board progress, grow and become more sophisticated.  The Board now functions as it was intended in providing some consistency to the grievance process state-wide.  I want to thank Chris McKeeman for her tireless efforts during the past 20 years, the rest of the BODA staff and all current and former BODA Chairmen and Board members for helping the Board of Disciplinary Appeals with its important functions over these past 20 years. 

Tom Watkins
Chair, 1992-1994

I was privileged to serve on BODA during the years 1992-2000. During the years 1994-1999, I had the additional privilege of serving as BODA’s second Chairman.My service as Chairman followed that of Tom Watkins of Austin. Given his vast experience in State Bar matters, and his many papers and speeches on the subject of legal ethics, Tom was the obvious choice of the Supreme Court to be BODA’s first Chairman. It was under Tom’s able leadership that BODA established the framework for its operations, wrote its initial internal rules and procedures, defended its right to operate and deliberate free from intrusion of the other bodies involved in the new grievance process, and began the work for which it was created.

When I reflect on my service on BODA, two subjects immediately come to mind. They are, first, the members with whom I served, and second, the staff of BODA, who provided the organization and direction that BODA needed for its success. As to the members with whom I served, I am able to say they were each ethical, intelligent, dedicated, dependable, fair, and deserving of great praise for the gift of their service. They each worked very hard to reach a fair and unbiased decision in each matter in which they were involved. Although they each are deserving of mention by name, I would be remiss if I did not specifically mention Gaines West of Bryan and Ben Selman of Waco, who each served as Vice Chairman during my tenure as Chairman. Their contributions to BODA during that time were substantial, and have not been forgotten by me.

As to the staff of BODA, I have only the greatest praise and admiration. Chris McKeeman, the Executive Director/General Counsel of BODA, will soon mark her twentieth anniversary in that position. Gayle Vickers, Chris’ able Deputy Director/Counsel, has been with BODA for seventeen years. Both Chris and Gayle have been ably assisted by Jackie Truitt, who has served as BODA’s Executive Assistant for 12 years. The success of BODA is largely due to the leadership skills, consistent approach, organizational abilities, and unswerving dedication of Chris, Gayle and Jackie. Because of their efforts, the members of BODA have been granted the luxury of concentrating for the most part on matters pending for decision. If there is a better team of managers in all of Texas State government, I would like to meet that team. I just don’t think that team exists.

In conclusion, I believe it is accurate to state that, as to BODA, the Public and the Bar truly received the fair, independent, decisive and well organized body to which they were entitled.

Steven J. Watkins
Chair 1994-1999

Twelve years of service through the Board of Disciplinary Appeals is one of the most rewarding times of public service I have been privileged to have.  The Board’s creation and activation in the early 1990s was a far-sighted answer to a pressing due process need within the Texas attorney disciplinary system for appellate over-sight specific to the unique rules and issues associated with self-regulation by the Bar.  The Board has, from the first, led the way in interpreting the disciplinary rules and procedures while facilitating access and over-sight for all persons interested in the ethical delivery of attorney services in Texas.  The culture and atmosphere of the Board in study, preparation, pre-hearing conference, and during hearings has been rewarding beyond measure.  The quality of legal thought, and the dedication of both members and staff to the missions of the Board produces an atmosphere in which decisions are made in the spirit of the disciplinary rules with meticulous and informed consideration.  While the personality of the Board evolves with each new member, the quality of the legal decisions based on the efforts of both the Board members and staff remains consistent with the best interests of all of the people of the State of Texas.

Ben Selman
Chair 1999-2001

My best memories serving first as a member of BODA, then Vice Chair and Chair, are of the dedicated lawyers who served voluntarily on this grievance body, striving to always -  get it right.  I was struck with the talent, energy and focus of fellow BODA members who respected victims/clients and attorney respondents throughout every review of every single matter.  Whether, as originally, we considered classification appeals of complainants and respondent lawyers, or serious issues in appeal en banc hearings, and later in deliberations, every discussion, every word written, was always aimed at serving our profession, and protecting the public. Looking back on those years now, I am surprised that I was surprised at the level of review, forthright discussions and efforts to evaluate every possible outcome.   I remember late nights preparing for classification appeal telephone hearings, and then equally late nights preparing for our regular en banc hearings.  But, every minute was worth the investment  in our system of self-regulation in the legal profession.  I also learned how dedicated, talented and excellent our staff was, especially as Chair.  I have found no equal, in my years of service to our profession, than Chris, Gayle and Jackie.   I also found that I became a better lawyer by really knowing and applying our Disciplinary Rules of Conduct and Procedure to some pretty unimaginable situations.  I learned that the simple things like staying in contact with a client and making memos to your file, make for the possibility of having the best client relationships.  Simple things all, but those are the things every lawyer can slip into the habit of not doing, sometimes with terrible results.  Lastly I remember reaching out to other States to identify grievance governance bodies like BODA.  Like looking for “life on other planets”, and then surprisingly finding friends in similar venues struggling with like problems.  Those contacts became the sounding board for new changes that made our system of self- governance even better.  It’s hard to imagine that 20 years has passed since I first served on BODA.  What a privilege it was for our Supreme Court to have allowed me the opportunity to participate in what I still believe is an awesome group of lawyers working hard to do the right thing!

Gaines West
Chair 2001-2003

I count my tenure as Chair of BODA as one of the highlights of my career, for many reasons. First, I followed Tom Watkins, Steve Watkins, Ben Selman and Gaines West in the Chair. What an honor. Each of these Chairs brought many unique qualities to the position, but they shared the traits one would expect in the Chair; excellent judgment, knowledge of and belief in the system, openness to and respect for the views of others, a fair and judicious leadership style, and the ability to seek consensus when appropriate. I tried to follow their example and was grateful for their leadership, as I am for the leadership of those Chairs who succeeded us.

Second, having the opportunity to work with so many talented and exceptional lawyers on the Board helped me become a better lawyer and made me a more effective Chair. Every member of the board exhibited complete and total dedication to the mission, and the diversity of backgrounds and legal specialties and perspectives allowed us to exercise our duties more fairly and effectively. Meetings were never rancorous, often collegial and always respectful.

And finally, the staff at BODA could not be more outstanding. Chris McKeeman, Gayle Vickers and Jackie Truitt are the true experts on the disciplinary rules and the many aspects of the Texas Grievance System. They are committed to the disciplinary process and serve all of us in the effort to make the legal profession better and improve its reputation with the public. We are all indebted to them for their service to the Board and to our profession.

Jack Balagia
Chair 2001-2003

I learned an incredible amount while serving on BODA.  The Board has been made up of some incredible lawyers, representative of many different types of practice (both in size of firm/entity and in subject matter) and of the Texas Bar’s differing demographic make-up.  These lawyers showed humor and compassion while struggling through the many, many cases involving lawyers who lacked ethics entirely or who fell afoul of the disciplinary system because they were overwhelmed and did not ask anyone for available help.  Considering the volume of work entailed and the relative lack of recognition given the Board by the vast majority of the Bar, the members’ humble willingness to donate their time to this endeavor is astounding.  The outstanding staff’s ability to deal with angry complainants and tense (and sometimes also angry) respondents FOR YEARS without losing their tempers or their sympathy for those involved is remarkable and, that this same staff would then take on most of the administrative work of the National Council of Lawyer Disciplinary Boards, is awe-inspiring.  It is not an exaggeration in any way to assess my service on the Board as the single most valuable professional experience in my 21 years of practicing law.

Karen Watkins
Chair 2006-2007

I believe that BODA’s hallmark, year in and year out, has been fairness, objectivity and consistency.  The composition of BODA changes regularly with the addition and retirement of new members, but the commitment to intellectual honesty and absolute fairness remains.  The Executive Director/General Counsel and Deputy Director/Counsel and staff of BODA perennially guide the 12 members of BODA through the labyrinth of different types of appeals and original jurisdiction cases.  Personally, it was an extraordinary benefit to work with such talented and dedicated Texas lawyers.  The camaraderie and esprit de corps of BODA’s volunteers and permanent staff remains a gift.  For 20 years, members of the Texas Bar who are the subject of disciplinary actions have received principled adjudication of their cases by lawyers whose sole commitment is to apply the substantive disciplinary rules and the procedural rules in a completely impartial and objective manner.

Paul D. Clote
Chair 2007-2008

I was appointed to the Board of Disciplinary Appeals by the Supreme Court on August 29, 2003.  I had previously served on the local grievance committee from 1993-1999.  Because of my prior experience, I believed I had a good understanding of the responsibilities of a member of the Board of Disciplinary Appeals.  I was clueless.  The changes in the system and the sophistication of the organization were significant. I got my first packet for the en banc hearing and was overwhelmed by the amount of preparation necessary to properly perform my job as a member of the Board.

That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the Board.  I have tremendous respect for the members with whom I served.  I was honored to serve as co-vice chair in 2007-2008 and chair in 2008-2009.  None of my service would have possible without the hard work of our excellent staff.  Chris McKeeman, Gayle Vickers and Jackie Truitt made my service on the Board very enjoyable.

Working with people of quality I had the pleasure of working with for my six years made my service to the Bar and the State is a worthwhile endeavor.  Even though we had moments to enjoy the camaraderie of the good people of the Board, this was a hard working group that did tremendous service to the State.  I am honored to have had the opportunity to serve on the Board and with these wonderful attorneys.  I would take nothing for the experience.

Finally, I enjoyed my experience with the Honorable Justice Dale Wainwright as I met with him during my term as the chair of the Board.  Justice Wainwright provided excellent support and guidance to me in my service in that capacity.

Thomas E. Pitts
Chair 2008-2009

Some say that armed conflict brings out both the best and the worst in people.  Although not at all like combat, my time on the Board of Disciplinary Appeals (“BODA”) has exposed me to behavior that has ranged from at best, deplorable, to some of the most thoughtful, kind and respectful conduct I have ever seen.  One might think the members of BODA alone occupy the positive end of what we see in the grievance system, but good people caught in extraordinary situations come before us.

The highlight of my service on BODA has to be the members and staff.  Never have I seen anyone lose sight of the fact that we deal with real people, both complainant and respondent.  Nor, have I ever seen a loss of appreciation for the fact that we deal with people’s livelihoods at the same time as we deal with the public’s trust in the profession.  The people who devote countless hours to BODA service have earned my respect and admiration.  What I admire most about BODA and what the members have constantly demonstrated over my time as a member and chair is the humanity which each individual brings to the task at hand.  I applaud the work that the members do and the manner in which they do it.  I am thankful for the opportunity to have been part of the process.  I am proud to participate.

W. Clark Lea
Chair 2009-present