FROM THE EDITOR

By PATRICE PUJOL Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy LLP

More Substance, Less Form

As I mentioned in the July/August issue, one of our goals for The Houston Lawyer is to provide our readers with compelling, intelligent and timely legal articles. In this issue, we seek to achieve — and surpass — that goal in presenting two pairs of companion pieces.
The first pair examines federal sentencing guidelines. Professor Paul E. McGreal of South Texas College of Law has written an excellent article on the amended organizational sentencing guidelines that examines the history of the guidelines, and offers an informative, yet concise explanation of the ten most pertinent issues with which all lawyers should be familiar. The companion piece to Professor McGreal’s article is Terry W. Yates’s study that examines recent case law on federal sentencing guidelines for individuals. There, Yates dissects two U.S. Supreme Court decisions issued last year, and reviews how the Fifth Circuit interprets and applies those decisions.
In addition, this issue offers two articles on construction defect law. The first piece explores the history of mold litigation in Texas. Written by Shawn Cox and associate editor Brad Allen, the article also identifies critical issues in construction defect cases, and predicts how Texas courts will analyze and determine those issues in the future. The second, written by solo practitioner Anthony Spaeth, addresses the inner workings of the Texas Residential Construction Commission and examines how the Commission resolves conflicts between new home buyers and residential builders.
Fitting four legal articles in one issue is somewhat new for The Houston Lawyer, but I hope that it’s the beginning of a trend to provide more substantive information that will help you improve your law practice. As always, we welcome your articles, comments and insights.

< BACK TO TOP >