1 TML is an association of more than 1,150 cities that provides training, legal services and legislative advocacy to municipal officials. Due to the large number of member cities and our limited staff, we do not directly represent your city in legal matters. We also cannot visit your city for individual advice on concerns. The Texas Municipal League Legal Department consists of five attorneys who serve 1,157 TML member cities. We provide general legal information in response to telephone and email inquiries, participate in training seminars, provide support services to TML`s legislative department, represent cities in specific administrative and judicial proceedings, and prepare a variety of written materials on urban issues. You can read more about our services here: www.tml.org/legal_guide. You can contact TML Legal Services at 512.231.7400 or legalinfo@tml.org. Our task is to answer your general questions under municipal law. If the answer depends on complex local facts, documents, or the specifics of local ordinances or regulations, we recommend that you contact your local legal counsel. If we know that your lawyer is working on an issue for your city, we will ask you to direct your questions to that lawyer. Others she attributes include Janis Hampton, whom she hired during her first “internal” job with the Town of Bryan; Christy Drake-Adams, a former TML lawyer who now sits on the prestigious Attorney General`s opinion committee, who has shown that a lawyer can excel professionally while being fully present for his or her family; Evelyn Njuguna, TML`s first female Director of Legal Services; and the prosecution of President Sylvia Borunda Firth, who served as El Paso City Attorney and mentored countless lawyers in the field, including myself. When it comes to coordinating with city attorneys, our legal guide explains this: Crawford`s real conclusion is that while women still face prejudice and stereotypes every day, they also demonstrate their legal skills every day at TML, the Metroplex and beyond.
Our most common interactions with our members are by phone and email. We receive about 1,200 calls per month and send approximately 500 emails per month. We respond to inquiries from elected and appointed officials and employees of our member cities who call or email legal matters as part of their official responsibilities. Those who call or email with personal concerns are asked to contact their private legal counsel. We do not share information about local legislation with individuals or our associate members, as their interests may conflict with those of our member cities. In addition, TML`s constitution prohibits us from responding to requests involving conflicts or disputes between member cities. When I was licensed in 1999, women seemed to be the norm in this profession. I was General Counsel and Director of Legal Services at TML for much of my 20 years there. Most of my mentors were women. My admiration for Susan Horton (the league`s first female general counsel) and her successor, Karen Kennard (who later served as Austin City Attorney), is boundless.
I never thought about her gender when I asked her for advice. However, I didn`t understand the challenges they still faced. One of them was Analeslie Muncy, who was 3L at the University of Texas School of Law in 1969. The career office called when they finally found a company that could hire a woman. The lawyer interviewed told him that they would replace a lawyer who used a wheelchair and that the company was looking for “a woman or a crippled” to replace him. She politely declined. Our office is open Monday to Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Just over a decade ago, Lauren Crawford, a young lawyer with the Texas Municipal League (TML)1, wrote an article in Texas Town & City about the pioneers of municipal law. The article is available on texasbar.com/womenmunicipallaw and is worth reading. We have worked with Dav and the TML Solicitors, Leicester team on several occasions and have always received exemplary service. We first approached them about selling and buying our home and their advice and support was invaluable. A fantastic service with constant updates and information on the progress of our sales. By far a level of service that was head and shoulders above any other we had when selling a home. I will recommend them to anyone I know who needs a lawyer in the future. For example, if you just look at the Dallas-Fort Worth area where Crawford practices, the top positions in Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano, Grand Prairie, Lewisville, Carrollton, and North Richland Hills are filled by top lawyers who also happen to be women.
Many other metropolitan areas, such as Addison, Cleburne, Terrell and New Hope, are also represented by outside counsel. Eventually, Muncy would find a job as one of four assistant prosecutors for the city of Dallas. A Dallas Morning News2 article said they were “quicker in detail” than the men, but warned that they were “too worried and upset” for the courtroom. Ten years later, she became the city`s first female prosecutor. Crawford has been our law clerk for much of his time at UT Law. A vacancy opened up when she graduated, and her dedication to municipal law made her a no-brainer. Crawford eventually left the league to practice as a private lawyer (a common phenomenon for TML lawyers), and she is now senior assistant prosecutor for the City of Lewisville. I recently talked to her about what has changed for women in municipal law since she wrote her article.
Always optimistic, she said, overall, things are better. To support this, she pointed out how many Dallas-Fort Worth city lawyers are women, including her and her city`s attorney — Lizbeth Plaster. In addition, almost every municipal law firm in the area has multiple partners.3 I naively assumed that 50 years after Muncy`s misogynistic experience, a young lawyer would not expect to experience something similar. I was absolutely wrong. Crawford did what she argued against an official`s initiative. The officer rudely said that he would continue anyway. Borunda Firth has also served as President of TCAA, an association affiliated with TML that provides continuing education and networking opportunities for those interested in Community law. Of the approximately 500 members, at least 200 are women.
Crawford told me how lucky she felt to be involved with the band since the beginning of her career. Prior to leaving TML, she was appointed Assistant General Counsel of TCAA. She has seen the community support her (and each other) professionally and personally. The members showed him how to become a good person in all areas. Another force of nature is the late Susan Rocha. Rocha worked for TML, founded the now-defunct Department of Municipal Affairs at the Texas Attorney General`s Office, served as an assistant district attorney for the city of San Antonio, and later worked with a San Antonio law firm. She has served as president of the Texas City Attorneys Association (TCAA) and the International Municipal Lawyers Association, where she has advocated on behalf of women and minority lawyers across the country and beyond.
