Congratulations To Judge Bill Whitehill
(scroll down for full story)
Governor Abbott Appoints Bill Whitehill To New Court
Please join us in extending a big Congratulations to Dallas County's own William "Bill" Whitehill for being appointed by Governor Abbott to the new First Business Count Division in Dallas, which was created last year to provide an efficient mechanism for businesses to resolve complex commercial disputes in Texas. The Governor has appointed Bill Whitehill to be one of the judges of the First Business Court Division, effective September 1, 2024, for a term set to expire on September 1, 2026. The First Business Court Division is composed of the counties of Collin, Dallas, Ellis, Fannin, Grayson, Kaufman, and Rockwall.
Along with the new 15th Court of Appeals, the new Business Court Divisions were created to efficiently resolve complex litigation throughout the State of Texas. Currently, 30 states have similar business courts that have been established to assure businesses that they will have competent adjudication of their business disputes. They are an important tool in encouraging business giants to establish headquarters and regional offices in Texas. Additional courts are being established regionally throughout the state.
Bill Whitehill, a former justice on the Texas Fifth Court of Appeals and a member of the law firm of Condon, Tobin, Sladek, Thornton, Nerenburg, PLLC has been a strong supporter of conservative politics throughout the North Texas region for many years and will make an excellent Business Court Judge.
CONGRATULATIONS JUDGE WHITEHILL!
From Governor Abbott's Press Release:
William “Bill” Whitehill of Coppell is a member of Condon Tobin Sladek Thornton Nerenberg PLLC, where he is head of its appellate and special issues practice group, and is a former Justice of the Texas Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas. Before joining the Court of Appeals, he was a long-time trial and appellate partner at Gardere Wynne Sewell, LLP (n/k/a Foley & Lardner, LLP). He is the Chair of the Dallas Bar Association Appellate Section and former Chair of the State Bar of Texas Antitrust and Business Litigation Section and the Dallas Bar Association Antitrust & Trade Regulation Section. He is an adjunct trial advocacy instructor at the Robert H. Dedman, SMU Dedman School of Law; a National Institute for Trial Advocacy Deposition Skills Instructor; and a frequent continuing legal education speaker at State Bar of Texas, Dallas Bar Association, and other events. He is a Master of the Mac Taylor Inn of Court, sustaining life fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, and fellow of the Dallas Bar Foundation. Additionally, he is a former member of the Center for International Legal Studies, International Bar Association, Fifth Circuit Bar Association, Rockwall Bar Association, Dallas Association of Young Lawyers, and the Texas Association of Bank Counsel. He served as a judge for the Coppell Teen Court, is a homeless kitchen volunteer for Cornerstone Baptist Church, and is a former co-teacher and mentor at Cornerstone Crossroads Academy. Whitehill received a Bachelor of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin and a Juris Doctor from the SMU Dedman School of Law.
Last year, Governor Abbott signed House Bill 19 into law creating a new statewide specialty business trial courts to streamline resolutions of business disputes.
Also Join Our Social Media
Do you have a question?
Start an online conversation.
Do you have a question? Simply start an online conversation. It only takes a minute or two. Conversations are two-way threads and we will respond to all submissions.
Contact Us
Start a Conversation!
Latest Blog Posts
Since October 9, 2021, Jennifer, Susan and Bill have written regular blog postings on the dallasgop.org website. Since all of their postings are no longer being published on that site by the new DCRP team, we are republishing those posts written by those three authors (all are now members of the DCR United team) to provide continuity. Going forward, new blog postings published after June 15, 2024, will be shown here.
The Race for Texas House Speaker—What Is Next?
- 12/10/2024
- Matthew G. Patrick
- Commentary
As we reported last week, the House Republican caucus met to select their candidate for Speaker while we were in the middle of our SREC meeting.
What happened:
Caucus convened with all 88 members present.
First 2 votes were split, with Rep. David Cook in the lead but without a majority.
Caucus recessed, whereupon 2 dozen + members that were supporting Rep. Burrows left, in hopes of undermine the vote or possibly break quorum (didn’t happen).
Caucus voted and confirmed Cook as the official candidate.
Burrows announced, shortly after the caucus vote, that he was the ‘speaker elect’ (no such thing) with endorsements from 38 Republicans and 38 Democrats. This was false. Several of the Republican members he listed had endorsed Cook, others he listed without permission, and several of the Democrats declined having given him permission to list their names. Is someone that flat out lies like this the kind of person we want as Speaker?!?
BOTH of our Dallas Republican representatives were in the group that left the caucus and have endorsed Burrows.
If Reps. Button and Meyers vote for Burrows in the official Speaker election on January 14th, they will be in violation of caucus rules.
The SREC approved a 2nd resolution on this issue (see below), endorsing Cook and reminding the rogue Republicans that a vote for anyone else would be grounds for censure.
Election of Texas Speaker of the House -- UPDATE!
- 12/2/2024
- Matthew G. Patrick
- Commentary
As of today, December 6, 2024, Dade Phelan has withdrawn his bid for another term as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
Heading into a crucial GOP caucus meeting tomorrow on Saturday, at least two Republicans have emerged as candidates seeking the office.
All eight of our Dallas County SREC Members are in Austin today and tomorrow to attend the 4th Quarter Republican Party of Texas Executive Committee meeting. Of great interest is the hotly contested House of Representatives Speaker race. With the news of current Speaker Dade Phelan withdrawing his candidacy begins a whole new conversation. The Resolutions Committee, of which SREC Susan Fountain is a member, unanimously passed a Resolution to encourage the election of a new Speaker who will not appoint Democrats to critical Committee Chairmanships and promote Republican legislative priorities approved at the May State Republican Convention in San Antonio.
Texas Gets Redder, Again. Now, Let's Make Dallas County Redder!
- 11/12/2024
- Susan Fountain
- Commentary
Democrats have not won a state-wide election in many years, mainly due to statewide conservative rural areas, which offset the 5 largest blue counties. Yet they are vowing to get up again and get to work TODAY to work on turning Texas blue! This is how the Democrats turned Dallas County blue...slowly and surely over the last 25+- years. If nothing else they are very patient. There were some conservative victories. All eight of the Court of Appeals candidates recruited under Jennifer's leadership, including the new Chief Justice of the Fifth Court of Appeals, Justice JJ Koch won, and Republicans now dominate the 13 Panel Court. And Dallas County Republicans managed to keep its two incumbent Texas House Districts, District 108 and District 112, in spite of unprecedented opposition from members of the Dallas County Republican Party. God bless every one of you who put a sign in your yard, block walked for Republicans and helped in any way to get out the vote! We worked hard and put Trump back in, but not in Dallas County. In Dallas County, Democrats swept almost every race.
Punditry and Persiflage
The "Punditry and Persiflage" section will feature curated selections of the news of the day and social media. From serious to silly, these things simply require comments. You are invited to add your comments to the posting as well.
VP Harris bungles interview with influencer so badly he doesn't air it
- 11/4/2024
- Bill Anderton
- Reporting
See Fox News Article
