TAC Risk Management Pool Defense Counsel Symposium

Hotel Restaurant: Brix & Ale

Speaker: Michael Shannon, Senior Director, TAC Risk Management Services

Speaker: Bala Rajaraman, Claims Manager, TAC Risk Management Services
This session addresses core ethical obligations under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct and examines the duty of competence, confidentiality and conflict avoidance within defense reporting, reserving and strategy planning. Attendees will explore how professional responsibility intersects with early case evaluation, mediation preparation, and cost-effective litigation management to uphold both strategic and ethical standards. The session also covers ethical considerations in communication and demand response timing, ensuring practitioners align with both TAC RMP standards and professional conduct rules. Counsel will depart with practical tools for ethically sound case planning and clear understanding of how TAC RMP integrates with professional responsibility mandates.

Speaker: Will Coates, Mediator
Public entities face escalating settlement expectations driven by social inflation and systemized persuasion. This session reframes mediation as the primary control point where defense can set credible anchors, challenge narratives, and protect taxpayer dollars. We’ll cover early positioning, evidence-backed value stories, mediator strategy, and measurable discipline — built for government counsel working under Open Meetings law, board authority, and public transparency constraints. Prompt mediations and value discipline align with TAC RMP's litigation philosophy.

Speaker: Grant Blaies, Blaies & Hightower, LLP
This session will discuss First Amendment retaliation claims arising from adverse employment actions or the censorship or withholding of detainee mail. Attendees will explore the legal elements of retaliation claims — protected speech, adverse action and causation — and how plaintiffs attempt to frame municipal liability under §1983. Practical guidance will focus on litigation strategy, evidentiary considerations, and effective approaches to reducing exposure during both pre‑suit evaluations and active defense of these claims.

Speaker: Arnold Aguilar, Aguilar & Zabarte, LLC
This session examines how governmental lawyers can evaluate general damages, including wrongful-death and survival actions. We will unpack economic components — such as funeral costs and lost earnings — and noneconomic harms, such as pain and suffering, loss of companionship, and emotional distress. The program will address how damages are calculated — using recent verdicts and methods such as the “multiplier,” “per diem” and pecuniary loss approaches — and the potential for punitive awards in cases of egregious misconduct. Attendees will gain insight into assembling persuasive damage evidence to assist litigation examiners with valuing claims.

Panel: Jon Mark Hogg, Jon Mark Hogg PLLC
Morgan Vaughan, Crenshaw Dupree & Milam, LLP
Leana Talbott, Psy.D., Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Every trial tells a human story. This session explores how defense counsel and psychologists can effectively communicate the experiences, decision-making and humanity of defendants while remaining sensitive to the profound loss experienced by plaintiffs and their families. Presenters will examine strategies for discussing suicide in an in-custody setting in a factual, respectful and psychologically informed manner — acknowledging that suicide is often the result of complex and interacting factors rather than a single cause or simple choice. Attendees will leave with practical guidance for presenting emotionally difficult evidence in a way that enhances juror understanding, builds credibility, and supports a fair evaluation of the evidence.

Speakers: Lindsay Nickle, Constangy Brooks Smith & Prophete, LLP
Adrian Senyszyn, Germer PLLC
County civil litigation defense attorneys encounter cyber-sensitive information more often than they realize, especially when handling discovery, personnel matters, or public information issues. This session will highlight how materials such as security camera layouts, network diagrams and operational procedures can create cybersecurity exposure if mishandled or improperly released under the Texas Public Information Act or without a protective order in litigation. Attendees will learn which TPIA exceptions protect this information and how to recognize when routine civil litigation work intersects with potential cyber risks. The presenters will explain how inadvertent disclosure can increase liability or create operational vulnerabilities for a county. Practical, nontechnical guidance will help attorneys spot red flags, advise clients appropriately, and strengthen overall risk mitigation. By the end of the session, participants will feel confident identifying cyber-sensitive issues without needing to be cybersecurity experts.

Speaker: Jadyn Allen, Underwood Law
This session examines three landmark federal rulings that have dramatically lowered the bar for employees to bring workplace discrimination claims under Title VII. Beginning with the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Hamilton v. Dallas County, attendees will learn how Texas courts eliminated the long‑standing “ultimate employment decision” requirement, opening the door to claims based on schedules, assignments, and other everyday workplace conditions. The session then explores how the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous rulings in Muldrow and Ames expanded this shift nationally by adopting a “some harm” standard and applying a single discrimination‑pleading standard to all employees. These changes have effectively erased decades‑old employer defenses and now require public and private employers alike to reassess routine personnel decisions for potential liability. Participants will leave with a clear understanding of how these rulings reshape risk, litigation exposure and employment practices across Texas organizations.

Speaker: Michael Pichinson, General Counsel, TAC