A plaque is awarded to an author of an outstanding CLE article presented during the year. All articles must be submitted no later than December 31 of each year in order to be considered for the Best CLE Article Award. The award is named in honor of Franklin Jones, Jr. of Marshall, Texas, a co-founding father of the College.
The Franklin Jones Best CLE Article Award
2021 Recipient – Brandon Marc Draper
For 2021, the award goes to Brandon Marc Draper for And Justice for None: How COVID-19 Is Crippling the Criminal Jury Right.
Brandon Marc Draper is an Assistant County Attorney for the Harris County Attorney’s Office in Houston, TX, where he defends state and federal civil rights, employment, and tort cases. Brandon is also the Assistant Director of Interscholastic Mock Trial and an Adjunct Professor for the University of Houston Law Center, where he teaches Advanced Trial Advocacy and helps run their mock trial program. He also volunteers for the Texas Young Lawyers Association (TYLA), where he is the Co-Chair of the National Trial Competition (NTC) and created Court the Vote, a voting rights project to increase voter registration and turnout in Texas in advance of the 2020 election.
Brandon graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law and magna cum laude from Binghamton University. He was the Co-Captain of Maryland’s National Trial Team and served as an Associate Editor for the law school’s Journal of Business & Technology Law. As a practitioner, he has published articles in the fields of criminal law and election law, and recently spoke at the Elon University School of Law for their election law symposium.
Brandon thanks Professor Max Stearns of the University of Maryland School of Law for his guidance in helping to publish this CLE Article (which was published by the Boston College Law Review), his wife Mary and daughter Reese for their support, and the Texas Bar College for promoting legal education.
Past Recipients
2020
Michael J. Ritter, San Antonio
Texas’s Transitioning Judiciary: A Few Appellate & Ethical Considerations
2019
Matthew Kolodoski, Dallas
Eliot Shavin, Dallas
Private Prisons: Constitutional Litigation Against Non-State Defendants
2018
Hon. Mike Engelhart, Houston
Sarah Kathryn Foster, Houston
Procedure for Enforcing Foreign State, Federal and Foreign Country Judgments in Texas
2017
Shelly L. Skeen, Dallas
State of Rights Post – Obergefell
2016
Justice Jane Bland, Houston
Laura Prather, Austin
Bullies Beware: Bullies Beware: Safeguarding Constitutional Rights through Anti-SLAPP in Texas
2015
Clyde J. “Jay” Jackson, III, Houston
Texas Supreme Court Update
2014
Richard R. Orsinger, San Antonio
170 Years of Texas Contract Law
2013
Lawrence M. Doss
Jeremy C. Martin
Chris Nickelson
Georganna L. Simpson
Rebecca Tillery
Jimmy Vaught
Appellate Practice From Every Angle
2012
John G. Browning, Dallas
Social Media in the Jury Box
2011
Pamela Stanton Barron, Austin
Supreme Court Docket Analysis
2010
Richard R. Orsinger, San Antonio
Practicing Family Law In a Depressed Economy Part I: Your Law Practice and
Your Clients – Part II: The Economy
2009
Byron F. Egan, Dallas
Director Duties: Process and Proof
2008
Hon. Patrick J. Garza, San Antonio
Police Interaction with Juveniles
2007
James N. Hidgon, San Antonio
Stehanie J. Bandoske, San Antonio
War and Peace-Military Benefit Issues in War Time
2006
Thomas M. Featherston Jr, Waco
What a Spouse Can Do To Unilaterally Protect That Spouse’s ‘Estate” From the Other Spouse and the Other Spouse’s Creditors and Heirs
2005
David B. Young, Austin
Selected Consumer Bankruptcy Issues
2004
Steve Akers, Dallas
Trustee Selection; Retaining Strings Without Getting Strung-Up
2003
Thomas P. Goranson, Dallas
What Every Family Lawyer Should Know About the Civil Practices & Remedies Code, Property Code, and Business & Commerce Code
2002
James E. Brill, Houston
Dealing With The Death Of A Solo Practitioner
2001
Paula Sweeney, Dallas
Valerie Mosman, Dallas
Hon. John M. Marshall, Dallas
2000
Eric E. Sigsbey, Midland
1999
David H. Pace, Dallas
1998
David B. Young, Austin
1997
Kathryn Hinkel, Dallas
1996
Scott Rothenberg
1995
Walter P. Wolfram, Amarillo
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