19th Annual Symposium on Legal Malpractice & Ethics
Bexar County Courthouse, Double Height Courtroom
January 24, 2020 from 8:00 am to 4:15 pm

The purpose of the 19th Annual Symposium on Legal Malpractice & Ethics is to discuss practical issues that attorneys and judges face daily, as well as forward-looking trends in the legal malpractice and ethics fields.

8:00 am to 8:30 am Registration and Breakfast

8:30 am to 8:35 am Legal Malpractice & Ethics Editor in Chief Robert Derner Welcoming Remarks and Invocation by Deacon Jack Nichols

8:35 am to 8:45 am Dean Vincent R. Johnson Opening Remarks

8:45 am to 9:25 am Speaker 1: Joshua L. Sandoval, Ethical Considerations for Prosecutors: How Recent Advancements Have Changed the Face of Prosecution

Joshua Luke Sandoval received a bachelor of arts from Texas A&M University in 2009 and a juris doctor from SMU Dedman School of Law in 2012. Since then, he has worked as a prosecutor with the Bexar County Criminal District Attorney’s office in various divisions, serving as a supervisor for misdemeanor attorneys, a trial prosecutor, and most recently, a court prosecutor in the office’s juvenile division. He also has extensive experience handling matters regarding competency to stand trial. Additionally, he served as an Adjunct Professor at St. Mary’s University School of Law for five years, helping future attorneys to learn and hone trial skills.  His greatest professional fulfillment is having had the opportunity to see countless young minds transition from students to professional colleagues.


9:25 am to 10:05 am Speaker 2: Hon. Henry J. Bemporad, Ethics, Civility, and Advocacy

Hon. Henry J. Bemporad has been a United States Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Texas in the San Antonio Division since 2012. He was the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Texas from 2007–2012. He previously served as Deputy Federal Public Defender from 1998–2007, as a Supervisory Assistant Federal Public Defender from 1993–1998, and as an Assistant Federal Public Defender from 1990–1993. From 1988–1990, he clerked for United States District Judge Edward C. Prado, who now serves as the United States Ambassador to Argentina. Judge Bemporad is the author of An Introduction to Federal Sentencing (13th ed. 2011). His other published works include articles in the St. Mary’s Law Journal and Voice for the Defense, and as a contributing author to Defending a Federal Criminal Case (2010 ed.). Judge Bemporad received his B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin in 1985 (with highest honors), and his J.D. from Stanford University in 1988 (with distinction).

10:05 am to 10:20 am Networking Break

10:20 am to 10:50 am Speaker 3: Jeffrey W. Stempel, Legal Ethics and Law Reform

Jeffrey W. Stempel is the Doris S. & Theodore B. Lee Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada Las Vegas where he teaches Insurance Law, Civil Procedure, Contracts and Professional Responsibility. Before joining the UNLV faculty in 1999, Prof. Stempel was the Fonvielle & Hinkle Professor of Litigation at Florida State University College of Law and Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School. Prior to becoming a law teacher, he was a civil litigator. In addition to being co-author (with Randy Maniloff) of General Liability Insurance Coverage: Key Issues in Every State (4th ed. 2018), Prof. Stempel is the author of Stempel and Knutsen on Insurance Coverage (4th ed. 2016) (with Prof. Erik Knutsen), as well as co-author of Principles of Insurance Law (4th ed. 2011) and three books on civil procedure: Learning Civil Procedure (3d ed. 2018); Fundamentals of Pretrial Litigation (10th ed. 2016) and Motion Practice (7th ed. 2016). Prof. Stempel received his B.A. degree from the University of Minnesota in 1977 and his J.D. degree from Yale Law School in 1981.

10:50 am to 11:20 am Speaker 4: John Browning, To Not Embarrass the Future: The Need for a Judicial Duty of Tech Competence

John Browning views his role as a trial lawyer at Spencer Fane LLP to be that of a problem-solver for his clients. Whether it’s analyzing a case’s potential for early resolution through a dispositive motion, working with a client to develop a defensive trial strategy, or putting his extensive writing and media experience to use in helping a client protect its brand in the public eye, John brings a pragmatic, problem-solving approach. As a national thought leader in the area of technology and the law, John helps clients across a broad array of industries with the demands of doing business in the Digital Age. He is the author of numerous articles and several books on social media’s impact on the law and is frequently sought out by national and international media, appearing on television, radio, and podcasts. John earned his B.A. from Rutgers University in 1986 and his J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law in 1989.    

11:20 am to 12:00 pm Speaker 5: Dru Stevenson, Ethical Issues with Lawyers Openly Carrying Firearms 

Dru Stevenson joined the faculty at South Texas College of Law Houston in 2003, and teaches Administrative Law/Regulation, Professional Responsibility, Nonprofit Incorporation, Legislation, and the Law & Economics seminar. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he served as an editor of the Connecticut Law Review. After receiving his J.D., he practiced as a Legal Aid lawyer in Connecticut for three years. He earned his Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the Yale Law School in 2002, and became an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Connecticut until leaving to accept his position at South Texas College of Law Houston. Professor Stevenson’s publications cover topics ranging from criminal law to civil procedure, with an emphasis on the intersection of law with economics and linguistic theory. His articles have been cited in leading academic journals and treatises, by federal and state appellate courts, and in recent briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court.


12:00 pm to 12:45 pm Lunch

12:45 pm to 1:15 pm Speaker 6: Vincent R. Johnson, The Importance of Doctor Liability in Medical Malpractice Law: China Versus the United States

Vincent R. Johnson is Interim Dean and Charles E. Cantú Distinguished Professor of Law at
St. Mary’s University. He teaches and writes in the areas of torts, professional responsibility, legal malpractice law, and government ethics. Dean Johnson has served as a Fulbright Scholar in Burma, China, and Romania. An elected member of the American Law Institute, he earned a B.A. at St. Vincent College, a J.D. at the University of Notre Dame, an L.L.M. at Yale University, and an L.L.M. at the London School of Economics. By appointment of the Texas Supreme Court, Dean Johnson serves as a member of the nine-person Committee on Disciplinary Rules and Referenda, which plays a key role in proposing changes to the Texas ethics rules. His books and articles have been quoted or cited in more than 60 court decisions and 210 law reviews.

1:15 pm to 1:30 pm Networking Break

1:30 pm to 2:00 pm Speaker 7: Jan L. Jacobowitz, In the Midst of Change, a Few Truths Remain— A Review of Trazenfeld and Jarvis’s Florida Legal Malpractice Law


Jan L. Jacobowitz is a Lecturer in Law and the Director of the Professional Responsibility & Ethics Program (PREP) at the University of Miami’s School of Law. Under Jan’s direction, PREP was a 2012 recipient of the ABA’s E. Smythe Gambrell Award—the leading national award for a professionalism program. Jan has presented at hundreds of ethics CLE seminars and symposiums throughout the country. She teaches and writes about legal ethics and technology issues, and is often quoted in the national media. Jan is the president of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL) and the co-chair of APRL’s Future of Lawyering Committee. She also serves as a Commissioner on the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics & the Public Trust. She has a J.D. from George Washington University and a B.S. in Speech from Northwestern University and is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Florida, and California.

2:00 pm to 2:40 pm Speaker 8: Cynthia L. Fountaine, Complicity in the Perversion of Justice: The Role of Lawyers in Eroding the Rule of Law in the Third Reich

Cynthia L. Fountaine is a Professor of Law at Southern Illinois School of Law. She was Dean of SIU Law from 2010 to 2017. Before that, she was on the faculty at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law (now Texas A&M University School of Law), and she served as Interim Dean of that law school for two years. She previously taught at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, and she was a visiting professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law. Professor Fountaine earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Economics & Public Policy from Indiana University Bloomington, Kelley School of Business. She holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, and she participated in the Harvard University Graduate School of Education Institute for Management and Leadership in Education.

2:40 pm to 4:00 pm Panel: The Voice of the Gods is Crippling: Law School for Helicoptered Millennials 

Katerina Lewinbuk joined the South Texas College of Law faculty in 2006. Prior to that, she taught at DePaul College of Law and School of Commerce in Chicago, Illinois, and was an Associate Attorney at the law firms of Baker & McKenzie and Hinshaw & Culbertson. On top of having numerous published articles, in 2019 the Second Edition of her course book Connecting Ethics & Practice: A Lawyer’s Guide to Professional Responsibility hit the shelves. She is currently working with a couple of academic institutions, as well as the Federal Chamber of Advocates in Moscow, Russia, her hometown, to have parts of her book translated into Russian and used as training material for practicing attorneys and law students. Professor Lewinbuk attended Moscow State University and Minnesota State University, and received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois Chicago (Cum Laude).