Legal Grounds | Conversations on Life, Leadership & Law
After over three decades in the legal-trenches, Mike Bassett has learned to appreciate two things: good conversation & good coffee.
Legal Grounds is an ongoing series of interviews with the people who are shaping our world - legal or otherwise. Witty, irreverent, & always thoughtful, these brief discussions fall somewhere between “Night Court” & Hopper’s “Nighthawks At The Diner”.
With that in mind, we promise your coffee will still be warm when the podcast is done.
(Legal Grounds was written, recorded, and produced by Dust Devil Press)
Legal Grounds | Conversations on Life, Leadership & Law
Legal Grounds | Judge Tonya Parker
Behind the bench of my guest this week hang the words, “We Who Labor Here Seek Only The Truth.”
They are so prominent that you would have to actively try to not see them.
Judge Tonya Parker of the Dallas County 116th Civil District Court was the first black woman elected to a Civil District Court in the history of the county.
Respected by attorneys & the clients they represent, Judge Parker has enjoyed some of the highest favorable ratings of any sitting Judge I have known since she was elected in 2010.
And having tried cases in her court room, I can report that the distinction is well-deserved.
While I’ve gotten to chat with Judge Parker before & after trial, to finally get to sit down & have this conversation was more rewarding & thought provoking than the already high-hopes I had going into it.
We discuss her journey to the civil district bench, the emotional toll that a trial takes on all parties involved, and some incredibly timely & necessary topics such as her work on implicit bias and the benefits & dangers of labels – a topic on which she gave a wonderful TED Talk.
So, sit back & enjoy the return to our regular format with Judge Tonya Parker.