Behind the Lines: The Houston Lawyer Podcast

New Bar Year, New Goals: Elevating Civility and Encouraging Wellness

August 31, 2022 Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, Judge Tiffany Hill, Chris Popov, Alicia Freeman, Colin Pogge Season 3 Episode 1
Behind the Lines: The Houston Lawyer Podcast
New Bar Year, New Goals: Elevating Civility and Encouraging Wellness
Show Notes Chapter Markers

Welcome to Season Three of Behind the Lines: The Houston Lawyer Podcast!

This episode highlights the new HBA Presidents goals for the 2022-2023 Bar Year.

First, Behind the Lines host Anna Archer interviews HBA President Chris Popov, who introduces listeners to his goals for the bar year.  This sets the scene for the remainder of the episode as well as some of the underlying themes for Season Three of the podcast.  The three segments each address one of Popov's goals.  Popov also discusses how to get the most out of your HBA membership. 

Segment One: Elevating Civility in Litigation

This segment consists of two interviews conducted by new interviewers for the podcast - Mark Yablon and Anietie Akpan.  Mark interviews Fifth Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, and Anietie interviews Harris County Felony Associate Judge Tiffany Hill.  Both judges address why Popov's goal of elevating civil discourse is important in the litigation context and provide advice for lawyers on how to elevate civil discourse in their practices. 

Segment Two: Overcoming the Impact of Vicarious Trauma

In this segment, Anna Archer interviews Alicia Freeman, who is the TLAP Clinical Professional for Texas Lawyer Assistance Program at the State Bar of Texas, about how vicarious trauma impacts lawyers and what to do about it.  This segment is inspired by Popov's goal of increasing wellness without our profession. Ms. Freeman prepared a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this interview that provides significant additional information. The PowerPoint can be found on The Houston Lawyer Committee's page of the hba.org website. 

Segment Three: HLRS: One of the Best Kept Secrets of the Bar

In our final segment, Anna Archer interviews Colin Pogge, the President of the Board of the Houston Lawyer Referral Association (HLRS) about how this organization partners with the HBA, what services it provides to Houstonians in need of legal assistance, and the ways in which being a member of HLRS is beneficial to Houston lawyers. 

We are looking forward to providing Houston lawyers and the Houston community with more content about elevating civil discourse, attorney wellness, and the HBA's partnerships with its ancillary organization during this season, as well as our usual fantastic content that focuses on the theme of each issue of the HBA's The Houston Lawyer magazine.  Be sure to check out the interesting articles available in the July/August issue, available at www.thehoustonlawyer.com, or in your mailbox if you are an HBA member.

The biographies of our guests can be found on The Houston Lawyer's HBA webpage, hba.org/thehoustonlawyer.  Thank you to all of the guests for joining us Behind the Lines.

HBA members are eligible to receive 1 hour of Texas CLE credit, including 30 minutes of ethics credit.  Find out more on the CLE page of hba.org. 

For full speaker bios, visit The Houston Lawyer (hba.org). To read The Houston Lawyer magazine, visit The Houston Lawyer_home. For more information about the Houston Bar Association, visit Houston Bar Association (hba.org).
*The views expressed in this episode do not necessarily reflect the views of The Houston Lawyer Editorial Board or the Houston Bar Association.

Elevating Civility in Litigation: Interview with the Hon. Jennifer Walker Elrod
Elevating Civility in Litigation: Interview with the Hon. Tiffany Hill
Overcoming the Impact of Vicarious Trauma
HLRS: One of the Best Kept Secrets of the Bar