The Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee will meet this Friday and Saturday in Austin. Below is the email notice about the meeting and the agenda. One topic that has already generated a lot of discussion is uniform forms for divorce cases. Another topic is instituting word limits for appellate briefs, which would bring Texas appellate courts in line with the federal appellate courts.
-- Scott Stolley, Thompson & Knight
Texas Supreme Court advisory
Contact: Marisa Secco, rules attorney
512.463.1353 or click for email
For Friday, April 13, and Saturday, April 14, 2012
SUPREME COURT ADVISORY COMMITTEE AGENDA:
COURT-APPROVED FORMS FOR SIMPLE, UNCONTESTED DIVORCES
9 a.m. Friday and Saturday
Texas Law Center, 1414 Colorado, Room 101, Austin
512.427.1463
WELCOME
Advisory Committee chair Charles L. “Chip” Babcock
Statement outlining the meeting
STATUS REPORT
Committee liaison Justice Nathan L. Hecht
Justice Hecht will report on Supreme Court actions and those of other courts related to the
Supreme Court Advisory Committee since the January 2012 meeting. Justice Hecht may
refer new issues for the committee’s study.
PROTECTIVE ORDER KIT UPDATE
Advisory Committee member Richard Orsinger
September 2003 Order Appointing Protective Order Task Force (Misc. Docket No. 03-9146)
February 2012 updates to Protective Order Kit
Protective Order Task Force chair Stewart Gagnon will participate.
UNIFORM FORMS: DIVORCE FORMS
Richard Orsinger
January 25 referral letter from Justice Hecht to Chip Babcock
March 2011 order creating Uniform Forms Task Force (Misc. Docket No. 11-9046)
January 25 letter from Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson to State Bar President Bob Black
January 11 report from Uniform Forms Task Force to the Supreme Court
Divorce Kit (no minor children, no real property): Instructions and forms
April 6 report from the Texas Access to Justice Commission
Access to Justice Commission brief on Court’s authority to promulgate pleading forms
State Bar of Texas Solutions 2012 Report
Family law groups’ response to the proposed forms
Family law groups’ ideas for pro se litigants
In addition to Stewart Gagnon, Patricia McAllister, executive director of Texas Access to Justice Commission; Tom Vick and Tim Belton of the State Bar of Texas Solutions 2012 Committee; and Steve Bresnen and Harris County District Judge Judy Warne, representing the State Bar’s Family Law Section, will participate. Laurel Holland, staff attorney at the Travis County Courthouse Law Library self-help center, will attend as a resource.
WORD-LIMIT AMENDMENT (TRAP RULE 9)
Rules Attorney Marisa Secco and Court Clerk Blake Hawthorne
Proposal
Any person may comment on rules proposals before the Supreme Court of Texas or the Supreme Court Advisory Committee or offer suggested changes to the Texas Rules of Court, including the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure, the Texas Rules of Evidence, the Rules of Judicial Administration and the Parental Notification Rules.
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