Former Chief Justice Ann Crawford McClure to Receive Annual Honor for Ethics and Professionalism
The Texas Center for Legal Ethics is pleased to announce that former Chief Justice Ann Crawford McClure of the El Paso Court of Appeals will receive the 2021 Chief Justice Jack Pope Professionalism Award.
Each year, the Texas Center for Legal Ethics presents the Pope Award to a judge or attorney who personifies the highest standards of professionalism and integrity in appellate law. The Pope Award is named for former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jack Pope, one of the Texas Center for Legal Ethics’ founders and the first individual to receive the Award in 2009.
Chief Justice McClure served on the committee that drafted the Texas Standards for Appellate Conduct, the first set of ethical guidelines in the United States that applied specifically to appellate lawyers. She was the only sitting appellate justice on that committee and played an active role in the drafting process. Under her leadership, the El Paso Court of Appeals was the first court to adopt the Standards, and she authored the first appellate opinion to cite the Standards.
“Chief Justice McClure exemplified the highest standards of professionalism as a practicing lawyer and as an appellate justice. In both roles she made immense contributions to legal ethics in Texas,” said appellate attorney Kevin Dubose, Immediate Past Chair of the Texas Center for Legal Ethics Board of Trustees.
The Pope Award will be presented to Chief Justice McClure by Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht at the Annual Texas Supreme Court Historical Society Dinner on December 3 in Austin.
Founded in 1989 by Chief Justice Pope and two other retired Texas Supreme Court Chief Justices, the Texas Center for Legal Ethics promotes the values contained in the Texas Lawyer’s Creed and fulfills its founders’ vision to be the leading center of knowledge and resources for ethics and professionalism in Texas. For more information, visit the Texas Center for Legal Ethics website at legalethicstexas.com.
For more information on Chief Justice Ann Crawford McClure receiving the Pope Award, please contact Jonathan Smaby, executive director of the Texas Center for Legal Ethics, at 512-427-1477 or jonathan.smaby@texasbar.com.