I Would Not Want To Be A Tarrant County Lawyer Right Now

The Tarrant County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association might be in dire straits.

For years the only way you could get the files from the Tarrant DA's office electronically (the DA's office always had an in person open file policy) was to become a member of the association for a fee. That's insane. (I don't practice there so I never cared.)

But due to Texas prosecutorial corruption, the Michael Morton Act was passed requiring prosecutors to turn copies of their files over for a free. (Shocking! Shocking I tell you!) But that new law apparently has caused the membership in that Tarrant County association to plummet. (Go figure.) 

But this is what prompted this post: Check out this email that the association sent which was forwarded to me by more than one person: "You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you have not renewed your membership for 2016. Our association no longer has a monopoly on electronic discovery. However, there are many reasons why membership in TCCDLA is worth the cost. Over half of last year's membership have not renewed, so please take the time and go to our website and renew for the year. When you go to the website, do not log in the main login. Log in the TCCDLA store only. Once logged in, you should be able to renew. If you have any problems, call Storm's Edge at (817) 284-[xxxx]." (Emphasis added.)

Monopoly? Good lord. Words have meaning. Why didn't they just say we can no longer rob you because you had no other option? Then throw in the "many reasons" why membership is important without listing what they are causes a question mark to form over every reader's head. And, just for fun, let's make it complicated to renew online. And, finally, use the the very seductive phrase of "half of last year's membership have not renewed", and this causes me to think the email needs to be taught in every marketing class in America. 

(Side note: Storm's Edge is some for-profit IT company. It will also be the name of my next dog. But then that would make my dog sound like a stripper.)