Vote Now (and Vote No)

You, being a Defending People reader, have probably already voted in the bar referendum, but there are apparently many Texas lawyers who haven’t. If you haven’t (or if any of your friends or associates haven’t), here’s the link:

State Bar of Texas 2011 Referendum

When asked to justify the changes, the State Bar’s argument has been that a) the rules have not changed in twenty years; and b) the committee spent seven years working on the amendments; so c) Texas lawyers should approve the amendments.

I disagree.

The status quo has worked pretty well, both for lawyers and for our clients. They might be improved on, but “they haven’t changed in 20 years” is not a reason to change them, and “we spent seven years working on this” is not evidence that the amendment is an improvement.

If and only if you are convinced that a particular amendment is needed, and will not cause more mischief than it will prevent, please vote “Yes.”

Otherwise, please vote “No.”