Texas Center for Legal Ethics Names 2011 Pope Awards Recipients

The Texas Center for Legal Ethics is pleased to announce this year's winners of the Chief Justice Jack Pope Awards: Federal Judge Will Garwood and Austin attorney William Hilgers. End Quote

Austin-San Marcos, TX (1888PressRelease) April 28, 2011 - The Pope Awards are given each year to one judge and one lawyer who epitomize the highest standards of professionalism and integrity. The awards honor one of the founders of the Texas Center for Legal Ethics, former Chief Justice Jack Pope, who was the recipient of the inaugural award in 2009.

Judge Garwood was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 after serving as an associate justice on the Texas Supreme Court. Prior to his service on the bench, Judge Garwood was in private practice for 20 years and served in the U.S. Army JAG Corps after law school. He also served as a law clerk to Judge John R. Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Mr. Hilgers is an attorney at the Austin law firm of Hilgers & Langham, where he practices estate planning, probate, business transactions, taxation, and nonprofit formation. He previously served as chairman of the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors and the Texas Bar Foundation. In 1989, he was instrumental in the founding of the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and served as chairman of its Board of Trustees.

"Judge Garwood and Bill Hilgers personify all that is good about the legal profession," says TCLE Executive Director Jonathan Smaby. "I'm very pleased that they are being recognized for their decades of ethical service and professionalism."

The Pope Awards will be presented by Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson at the Annual Texas Supreme Court Historical Society Dinner on June 3, 2011, in Austin. For more information, contact Bill Pugsley at tschs ( @ ) sbcglobal dot net dot

Founded in 1989 by three retired Texas Supreme Court chief justices, TCLE promotes the values contained in the Texas Lawyer's Creed. The group pursues the original vision of its founders as the leading center of knowledge and resources for ethics and professionalism in Texas. For more information, visit www.legalethicstexas.com.

For more information, contact Jonathan Smaby, Executive Director of the Texas Center for Legal Ethics, at 512-427-1477 or jonathan.smaby ( @ ) texasbar dot com.

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