William J. Chriss to Receive 2016 Pope Award
The Texas Center for Legal Ethics (TCLE) is proud to announce that attorney William J. Chriss of Corpus Christi will receive the 2016 Chief Justice Jack Pope Professionalism Award.
Each year, TCLE presents the Pope Award to a judge or attorney who personifies the highest standards of professionalism and integrity in the field of law. The Pope Award is named for former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jack Pope, one of TCLE’s founders and the first recipient of the Award in 2009.
Mr. Chriss practices in the Corpus Christi office of San Antonio-based Gravely & Pearson, L.L.P., and is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law and Personal Injury Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is the author of the acclaimed book The Noble Lawyer, which examines the history and current state of the legal profession.
“Bill Chriss is one of the most recognizable figures in the world of ethics statewide,” said Marc Gravely, a name partner at Gravely & Pearson. “He has devoted a huge amount of time to improving both the profession and its education, ethical and otherwise. In Texas, if you are a lawyer and you want to know what is the right thing to do, Bill Chriss is one of the handful of people that everybody knows to ask.”
The Pope Award will be presented by Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht at the Annual Texas Supreme Court Historical Society Dinner on September 9 in Austin.
Founded in 1989 by Chief Justice Pope and two other retired Texas Supreme Court chief justices, TCLE promotes the values contained in the Texas Lawyer’s Creed and is a leading provider of legal ethics and professionalism education in Texas. For more information, visit the Texas Center for Legal Ethics website at http://www.legalethicstexas.com.