Family Protection Panel Presentation – Today at Noon, Collier Classroom 109– Lunch Provided
Working in family protection representation provides attorneys with an interesting and complex working environment that is not found in many areas of the law. The practice of child welfare law is a collaborative experience. Often, the ultimate goal is to help a family in crisis resolve issues and re-unify. Attorneys who provide family protection representation must become adept at counseling their clients who are often in the worst moments of their lives, working with multiple attorneys and other professionals collaboratively, understanding trauma and how it affects their clients, and zealously advocating for their clients both inside and outside the courtroom. Most attorneys providing family protection representation are private attorneys, allowing them to run their own businesses. This work requires strong courtroom skills and provides frequent opportunities to make oral arguments and examine witnesses at multiple hearings, bench trials, and jury trials. Family protection representation also requires strong negotiation skills in mediation and other meetings.
The panel will discuss the complex work of a court-appointed attorney representing children and indigent parents in child welfare cases in Texas (family protection representation). Panelists include a judge, family representation attorneys, and an attorney from the Department of Family and Protective Services. Join us to learn more about how to get involved in family protection representation!
Speakers:
Judge April Propst, Child Protection Court of Taylor County, Texas Tech Law Alum
Mark Briggs, Private Attorney, Chair of the Child Protection Law Section of the State Bar of Texas
Courtney Pardue, Private Attorney, Texas Tech Law Alum
Michele Surratt, Attorney for Department of Family and Protective Services, Texas Tech Law Alum
Moderator:
Crystal Leff-Pinon, Director of Family Protection Representation, Texas Indigent Defense Commission
Lunch provided!
