The Houston Lawyer at 40 Magazine Chronicles Legal Issues
for Four Decades

By TARA SHOCKLEY

On November 6, 1963, The Houston Lawyer made its debut stacked in bundles for HBA members to pick up as they entered the fall Harvest Party at River Oaks County Club. A small, 6-inch by 9-inch, 26-page digest with an unimposing yellow cover, that first issue was the beginning of 40 years of chronicling legal developments in Houston, the state and the nation. The Houston Bar Association has reprinted this historic issue in its entirety as a special pullout in this 40th anniversary issue.
Two weeks after the publication of that first issue, the nation was shocked by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas. Soon after, The Houston Lawyer published an article about the president of the Dallas Bar Association, who met with Lee Harvey Oswald in his jail cell to determine if he needed legal counsel. Throughout the years, The Houston Lawyer continued to reflect a Houston Bar Association membership concerned with events that shaped our culture and our nation, as well as the legal community.
In its 25th anniversary special issue, The Houston Lawyer examined in detail the highlights, important articles and changes the publication had seen in its first two and a half decades. This issue will consider highlights of the first 25 years, as well as the past 15.

1960s
Editor Quinnan Hodges and Business Manager Harold Lloyd produced the first issue of The Houston Lawyer and distributed it at the Harvest Party on November 6, 1963. The magazine was to be a monthly publication that would “keep pace with the growth of the Houston Bar Association and with our growing community,” according to Hodges’ first editor’s column.
Throughout the mid-60s, social issues were at the forefront of Houston’s legal community, as they were in the nation. Many pages of The Houston Lawyer were devoted to articles on the establishment of the Houston Legal Foundation, the forerunner of Lone Star Legal Aid. When the Foundation accepted a limited role in a desegregation suit against a Houston school district, the HBA was criticized by the public and in the press. The Houston Lawyer countered by publishing a full account of the Legal Foundation’s role in one issue. In 1969, HBA President Leroy Jeffers in his President’s Message called for “a return to reason, rationality and the rule of law” among lawyers as an antidote to “the moral and intellectual sickness that seeks to equate crime in the streets and crime on the campus.”

1970s
In May 1971, the Houston Bar Association celebrated its Centennial, and a special issue of The Houston Lawyer examined the association’s history and the grand Centennial Banquet held at the Astroworld Hotel to mark the event. The early and mid-70s saw the public’s perception of lawyers strike bottom as the Watergate scandal unfolded and lawyer after lawyer was called to testify before the Ervin Committee. The Houston Lawyer reported on efforts by the HBA, the State Bar of Texas and the American Bar Association to investigate illegal and unprofessional conduct among lawyers and to impose higher ethical standards on members.
In 1977, the pressures of monthly deadlines and increasing costs led to the announcement of a new bimonthly publication schedule. However, that schedule also proved unfeasible and the magazine became a quarterly publication for several years. Under the editorship of Judge Mary Bacon in 1978, The Houston Lawyer underwent a dramatic graphic change, going from the 6-inch by 9-inch digest format to the current 8 1/2 by 11-inch magazine format.

1980s
In 1980, the Houston Bar Association hired its first professional director of publications to coordinate The Houston Lawyer and the Houston Bar Bulletin. The magazine moved into the 80s with a dramatic refocusing on substantive legal articles written by Houston attorneys for Houston attorneys. Legislative updates, book reviews, opinion pieces and original cover art were among significant changes in the publication. In 1985, The Houston Lawyer made the transition to a bimonthly publication schedule. No longer strapped for good articles, the publication’s editorial board could effectively solicit and selectively choose articles from among the finest legal writers in Houston and the state.
In November 1988, The Houston Lawyer celebrated its 25th anniversary with a luncheon at the Inns of Court Club, attended by former editors. Quinnan Hodges, the first editor, posed for the cover seated at a grand piano, surrounded by many of the editors from the ensuing years, holding balloons and a birthday cake.

1990s
Although the Houston Bar Association began the expansion of its community service programs in the late 80s, the 90s were a time of increased emphasis on continuing legal education, public education and community service projects. The Houston Lawyer followed this direction with more articles about HBA members’ involvement in the community and the association, while continuing to publish practical, substantive legal articles. The 90s were a decade of self-reflection, and many lawyers began questioning whether their increasing workloads were leaving time for other important aspects of their lives. The Houston Lawyer often focused on “quality of life” issues, such as balancing work and family, career satisfaction and the importance of volunteering in the community.
In 1990, The Houston Lawyer also got a new look, when a professional designer developed a new logo and graphic style. Shortly after the adoption of the HBA’s “Professionalism: A Lawyer’s Mandate” in 1989, The Houston Lawyer began its “Profiles in Professionalism” series, featuring in each issue a personal statement of professionalism by well-respected attorneys and jurists. The editorial board also began to focus issues on particular topics and areas of the law, working in tandem with the HBA president, sections and other bar groups. Virtually every year since the mid-90s, one issue has focused on the contributions of HBA’s outstanding volunteers.
In 1995, the Houston Bar Association celebrated its 125th anniversary. A special issue of The Houston Lawyer featured articles on legal history, including a historical perspective on the role of women and minorities in the Houston Bar Association. The issue ushered in a renewed interest in articles that examined the association’s rich legal history. Judge Mark Davidson began a series of articles on the history of the Harris County courts, followed by a series on Harris County’s more memorable judicial elections. Robert L. Dabney wrote many articles about Texas legal history and some of the colorful characters in the state’s legal past.
With the January - February 1997 issue, The Houston Lawyer entered a new phase as a four-color publication with a professional publisher who handled advertising sales and graphic design. Although the HBA and the editorial board continued to maintain complete editorial control, outsourcing some of the production aspects of the magazine freed HBA staff to handle additional projects. Through the late 90s, the magazine continued to provide in-depth legal articles, while at the same time spotlighting individual members with the initiation of columns like “Off the Record,” which emphasizes interests, lifestyles, second careers and other non-legal talents of HBA members.

2000s
As The Houston Lawyer moved into the new millennium, it continued to evolve to represent a major metropolitan association that has grown from only 3,000 members in 1963 to over 11,000 members. With the September-October 2000 issue, The Houston Lawyer entered into a partnership with Quantum/SUR, the current publisher of the magazine. Quantum is responsible for advertising sales, for providing the publication’s outstanding four-color graphic design and for coordinating printing services with Earth Color Houston, where the magazine is printed on the Heidelberg press featured on the cover of this issue. All editorial content continues to be the responsibility of The Houston Lawyer editorial board, a diverse group that represents a variety of practice areas and affiliations.
As the Houston Bar Association’s involvement in professional and community issues has grown, the pages of The Houston Lawyer have focused on topics such as the association’s efforts in disaster recovery after Tropical Storm Allison, bond elections for new court facilities, judicial selection reform and controversial legislation. Over the past three years, The Houston Lawyer has twice been named the best local bar association publication in the state by the State Bar of Texas. In the coming months, the magazine will focus on topics such as civil rights and the insurance industry. With the support of the HBA board of directors, a dedicated group of volunteer editors and a membership that provides a steady stream of well-written, practical and sometimes provocative articles, The Houston Lawyer is positioned to age gracefully toward 50.

Tara Shockley is the communications director for the Houston Bar Association.

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