By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com
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Local and area judges joined members of the Johnson County Bar Association on Wednesday for the official unveiling of the new law library and attorney conference center in the Guinn Justice Center.
The occasion marked the first meeting of the JCBA in the Guinn although the event was less a formal meeting and more a chance for area attorneys to visit and view the new facilities in an open-house setting, 413th District Court Judge Bill Bosworth said.
Bosworth credited former Johnson County Clerk Curtis Douglas with building the library fund through filing fees collected over the years to allow construction of the new library.
Bosworth also thanked County Judge Roger Harmon and the commissioners court and the JCBA for their donation of a 65-inch LCD Sharp television for use in the attorneys conference center.
“Actually, the commissioners court turned this project over to Judge Bosworth, and he’s done an outstanding job,” Harmon said. “He’s overseen the library, which I appreciate because, otherwise, I’d have to do that.
“But, we had you as attorneys in mind on this project. We wanted a nice place you could come visit, a place for reference materials and a place for continuing legal education.”
The library serves as a legal reference repository for all attorneys and residents.
The Attorney Conference Center gives lawyers an area in the courthouse to take a break, confer with fellow attorneys and hold monthly bar association meetings.
It will also serve as a site for continuing legal education classes, which is where the TV comes in, Bosworth said. Attorneys must take a certain number of classes each year.
“This will allow them to do a lot of those here and not have to go to a conference in, say, Houston for a couple of days and have to stay in a hotel and travel,” Bosworth said.
A class Sept. 24 on juvenile justice, required for attorneys wishing to be placed on the court-appointed list for juvenile defendants, will mark the first such class, Bosworth said.
About 50 area attorneys, including Johnson County District Attorney Dale Hanna and Johnson County Attorney Bill Moore attended the open house. Joining judges Bosworth and Harmon were 18th District Court Judge John Neill, 249th District Court Judge Wayne Bridewell, County Court at Law No. 1 Judge Robert Mayfield as well as 10th Court of Appeals justices Tom Gray and Rex Davis and 10th Court of Appeals Judge elect Al Scoggins.
