Connatser, Patton Efforts Commemorate Polygamist Raid (VIDEO)

Sunday, April 12, 2009

DALLAS -- What could possibly inspire Aubrey Connatser and Ramsey Patton to drive across West Texas on a sunny spring day in 2008? Of course, it was to act in the best interest of children, and more than 400 of them were seized in a raid on the polygamist ranch near Eldorado, Texas.

This massive use of attorneys ad litem, perhaps the great pro bono effort in Texas legal history, took place one year ago on April 3.

To commemorate the raid, Texas Super Lawyers magazine ran a cover story featuring Aubrey and Ramsey describing the unusual gathering of Texas attorneys in their issue on the top young attorneys in the state. What they saw were hundreds of attorneys crammed into Tom Green County Courthouse in San Angelo and a city hall auditorium a couple of blocks away for the first big hearing.

As Koons Fuller attorneys, Aubrey and Ramsey are well acquainted with the rules of family court. They spent much of their time explaining procedure to some of the many oil-and-gas and real estate lawyers who saw a need and helped to fill it. At the heart of things was Aubrey and Ramsey’s concern for children.

Jim Johnson, a longtime San Angelo attorney who worked with the two young women and gave them a place to stay when they couldn’t find a room in town, was quoted in the magazine piece about his young colleagues.

“They went out of their way to not just be a guardian ad litem for the children, but demonstrated an interest and a concern for that child. These two Dallas ladies are not just great attorneys, but great human beings. Anytime they want to come back, they’re welcome.”

A year after the seizure, most of the children have been returned to their parents, and the consensus among the attorneys involved and the courts is that the state acted rashly and probably could have found other means to make the children safe. But they believe the laws of the state worked in the end.

Aubrey and Ramsey were featured in the magazine piece on the anniversary of the raid, took part in several radio interviews, commented in a news segment distributed to stations all across the country by Associated Press Television, and were quoted in Texas Lawyer.