The State Bar of Texas (the Texas Bar) is an agency of the judiciary under the administrative control of the Texas Supreme Court.[1] The Texas Bar is responsible for assisting the Texas Supreme Court in overseeing all attorneys licensed to practice law in Texas. The state bar is headquartered in the Texas Law Center at 1414 Colorado Street in Austin.[2][3]
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The Texas Bar is composed of those persons licensed to practice law in Texas and is an "integrated" or "mandatory" bar, as each Texas attorney is required by law to join the Texas Bar by registering with the clerk of the Texas Supreme Court. Membership in the State Bar is generally required for the practice of law in Texas.[4][5]
The purposes of the State Bar of Texas are:[6]
The organization provides avenues for citizens to file grievances against attorneys and provides continuing legal education (CLE) courses for attorneys.
The Bar is run by an executive director, currently Michelle Hunter, and a board of directors made up of volunteers. The current president of the State Bar of Texas, Roland Johnson of Fort Worth, took office in June 2009.
Although lawyers have had statewide organizations in Texas since the 19th century, the State Bar of Texas began its formal existence on April 19, 1939, when Governor W. Lee O'Daniel signed House Bill No. 74, titled the State Bar Act of 1939. From that point, membership in the State Bar of Texas became a prerequisite for the practice of law in Texas.
In October 2005, President George W. Bush nominated the State Bar's former president Harriet Miers to be an associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. She later withdrew herself from consideration.