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News - Harris County
Democratic Lawyers Association
The details are confirmed so mark the date, time and location on your calendar. HCDLA’s 5th Annual Clarence Darrow Award honoring Texas political legend, Francis “Sissy” Farenthold will be held at Birraporettis’ Restaurant, downtown in the Theatre District, 500 Louisiana, Houston, Tx. 77002, on August 31, 2009. The festivities will begin at 6:30 p.m. and continue until 8:30 p.m. We have reserved the entire main floor of the restaurant for this event. Food will be provided by HCDLA and a cash bar will be available. There is no charge to attend this event.
HCDLA is accepting sponsors for this event. The sponsor levels are:
Bronze $100
Silver $250
Gold $500
Sponsors’ names will appear on printed materials and they will be recognized at the event. You can pay the sponsorship level fee by returning to the opening page of www.hcdla.com and clicking on the “LUNCH PAYMENT” tab on the far right hand side of the page. Then, click “MAKE A DONATION”; then click the $100 circle for Bronze Sponsors, the $250 circle for Silver Sponsors, or the Other circle and type in $500 in the blank space for Gold Sponsors. Alternatively, you can send your check payable to HCDLA c/o Lee Arellano, President, P. O. Box 130978, Houston, Texas 7219-0978.
October 2009. HCDLA will be hosting a free event to allow the Bar of Harris County meet the 2010 Democratic judicial candidates who are HCDLA members. Time and location to be announced.
June 2009. HCDLA Board of Directors unanimously selects Frances "Sissy" Farenthold as 2009 Clarence Darrow Award recipient.
August 2008. Diana Compton was elected to the HCDLA Board of Directors, taking the place of Tim Riley, who was elected to the position of Vice-President of HCDLA for 2008-2009.
July 2008. HCDLA is honored to announce the election of new officers and directors for 2008-2009. New members are:
George Barnstone, Director
Hon. Chris Bell, Director (former United States Representative, 2006 Democratic nominee for Texas Governor, and current candidate for Texas Senate, District 17)
John Odam, Director (former Chair Harris County Democratic Party)
Barbara Radnofsky, Director (2006 Democratic nominee for United States Senate)
Michael Skadden, Director
Tim Riley, Vice-President
September 6, 2007. HCDLA held the first monthly luncheon event of the 2007-2008 year at the Brownstone Restaurant in Houston. Introductions and short presentations were made by approximately 25 announced candidates for various judicial and administrative political races in Harris County. It was a very impressive slate of Democratic candidates. Beyond Harris County, Texas Supreme Court Democratic candidate Hon. Linda Yanez appeared in person. Democratic Texas Supreme Court candidate Hon. Susan Criss, who is a member of HCDLA, was represented by prominent Galveston Democratic attorney Neil Barron. Judge Criss was also represented at the event by her father, former State Representative and current Galveston County Democratic Party Chairman Lloyd Criss. In addition, Joe Jaworski, another prominent Galveston County Democratic attorney and candidate for the Texas Senate, appeared and addressed the audience.
August 30, 2007. HCDLA presented its third annual Clarence Darrow Award to Professor David Dow, at an evening event at the Brownstone Restaurant in Houston. The event was well-attended. The event was emceed by HCDLA President Lee Arellano. Board Member Tim Riley provided a short presentation on Clarence Darrow, in whose honor the award was named. Professor Dow's introduction was made by David A. Jones.
Professor David R Dow is perhaps best known as the founder of the Texas Innocence Network. The Texas Innocence Network serves prisoners who are wrongly-convicted or sentenced to death. As an established component of the University of Houston Law Center and partner of the University of Houston Innocence Project, the Texas Innocence Network investigates claims of actual innocence raised by inmates in Texas and throughout the United States. Since its creation in March 2000, the Texas Innocence Network has processed nearly 6,000 cases. It relies principally on law students to pursue factual investigation.
In addition to his duties with the Texas Innocence Network, Professor Dow also is the Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law School, where he teaches classes in Constitutional Law and Theory, Contracts, and Death Penalty Law. He has also been a visiting Professor of History at Rice University. Mr. Dow also remains active in the practice of law. He has handled over 60 appeals, including more than 40 death-penalty cases. As Director, he teaches an Innocence Investigations class at the University of Houston throughout the year, supervises both capital and non-capital investigations, and oversees the organization at every level. Mr. Dow received a B.A. at Rice University, where he graduated magna cum laude and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He then received a M.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Mr. Dow clerked for Judge John R. Brown and Judge Carolyn D. King of the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals. Professor Dow is also the author of numerous books and other professional publications.