Final Friday Docket Call
Houston Legal Community Bids Farewell to Historic Civil Courthouse

On February 24, 2006 the Harris County Civil District Courts in cooperation with the Houston Bar Association held a Final Friday Docket Call at the Civil Courthouse on 301 Fannin. This ceremonial event recreating the once common Friday Docket Call was both a farewell to the old civil courthouse, and a time of gathering and remembrance by the bar. The Ceremonial Courtroom and two overflow courtrooms were packed with a crowd of current and retired judges, attorneys, court personnel, and even litigants. In March, the civil courts are scheduled to move into the new Harris County Civil Courthouse at 201 Caroline.
The following are excerpts from three of the keynote speakers who eloquently and artfully summarized this once in a lifetime event.

When we become lawyers, we take the oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of this State and of the United States. When our judges – including those who have ruled over these courtrooms since 1910 – take office, they swear to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of this State and of the United States. It is without question that for the last 96 years, the battlefront for the preservation, protection and defense of the Constitution in Harris County, Texas, has been in this very building we sit in here today. On this historic day, for most of us, it will be the very last time we sit in this majestic house of justice called the Harris County Civil Courthouse.
The Houston Bar Association was organized in 1870 and was here for the opening of this courthouse in 1910. For 24 years of its existence, the HBA actually officed here in this building. One of the primary objectives of the HBA is certainly to promote the administration of justice, and the HBA has been proud to have a close working relationship with the judges and administrators of this courthouse. Next month will be the time to thank and praise all of those who helped put the new civil courthouse literally on the map. Today, on the other hand, is the day to celebrate and commemorate a weekly tradition, an institution if you will, that was embedded deep in the courthouse culture of Harris County litigators for many, many years. A tradition that some thought long outlived its usefulness and purpose. A tradition that others thought steered the wheels of justice towards the goal of truth better than any other system. But, there is no doubting one thing: this Friday docket call was an institution that brought lawyers together in one room to cuss and discuss their cases. This was an institution that developed friendships and cemented them for a lifetime. It was an institution that brought some of the best of times – and some of the worst of times, depending on your assignment – to lawyers who were frequent visitors to Friday docket call. Today is the day to look back, recall and to reminisce about years past. …

Many younger lawyers ask why docket call holds such nostalgic symbolism. After all, docket call was nothing more than the plaintiffs and defense lawyers meeting face-to-face each Friday morning for the call of the docket. However, because trial lawyers were compelled to meet together on a weekly basis, friendships developed and personal relationships were established. Docket call promoted a camaraderie and sense of fellowship among the members of the trial bar. Being accepted as a bona fide member of the trial bar was deemed a privilege and was much coveted. Professionalism was never much of an issue because it was difficult to get personal or to disparage or denigrate opposing counsel or to engage in ethically inappropriate conduct at trial because of the relationships formed at the docket call. After all, when a trial was completed, the lawyer knew that there would be continued face-to-face meetings with opposing counsel at future docket calls; and no trial lawyer desired to be ostracized from or to sully his or her reputation with his colleagues of the “trial bar.”
This is not to suggest in any manner that once trial commenced, the collegiality and camaraderie shared by the trial lawyers ever interfered with the representation of their clients. The courtrooms in this courthouse have been witness to epic battles fought by a magnificent breed of trial warriors zealously and with intense passion representing their clients. Many of these titanic struggles are the stuff of legends. Believe me, blood was spilled on the courtroom floors — I know, because I left more than my fair share in the courtrooms of this courthouse. Cases were fiercely contested, and, much like a magnificent football championship playoff, the battle on each side was total. The advocacy was fierce. No quarter was asked and none was given. And yet, the lawyers, for the most part, conducted themselves with ethical propriety. Of course tempers flared periodically, but the hard discipline of the trial lawyer generally prevailed. At the end of the case, win or lose, ecstasy or agony, lawyers routinely shook hands and parted company with a mutual respect for one another.
The record established by the trial bar during the last half of the 20th century in this courthouse is a legacy upon which to continue building for future generations of trial lawyers yet to come. …

Long after lawyers have passed, the things that they did in this courthouse, this courthouse remembers. Building codes change, technology needs upgrading, but the integrity of this structure remains intact – as solid as the integrity of the thousands of members of my profession who have been privileged to work, to practice, and to serve inside this building. …
We were a kinder and gentler profession in the days of the Docket Call, and I think the Docket Call was one of the things that kept us that way. It kept us challenging but dignified, and above the fray. I think the young ones should pray for the return of Docket Call because it was a fun time. It was a time when lawyers talked and eyeballed each other. They actually had coffee or they had a Bloody Mary at the Inns of Court on Main at Rusk. In the days when lawyers talked professionally, they didn’t need mediators to settle their cases. …
It was a time when most lawyers walked to the courthouse. I personally loved to walk up those beautiful marble stairs that I would have hated to see them destroy. …
It was a time when a case was continued without the necessity of a sworn motion for continuance. On the few occasions a motion for continuance was required it was almost always agreed to. Granting an agreed motion for continuance was automatic. Best of all, in those days, an agreed motion for continuance was never denied. …

Text is punctuated without italics.

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