Reflections - Texas Wesleyan School of Law - Texas Wesleyan ...

alumni
news & notes
Hon. Ralph Swearingin Jr. was
presented the Texas Association of
Counties 2009 Best Practices Award
in the category of Community
Improvement/Judicial Services for his
in-court pre-trial mediation program,
which was piloted in the Justice of
the Peace Court, Precinct 1, Tarrant
County. The program was created in
order to make cases move through
the court more efficiently, and to
save litigants both time and money.
Attorney mediators are present in the
courtroom as a resource for litigants
to use on the date of their first court
appearance, and more than 80 percent
of disputes are solved on that same
day. Mediators with the program
include Thomas Attebery ’95,
Texas Wesleyan law school adjunct
professors Dr. Sharon Greenstone,
Dr. James Greenstone and Kay Elliott.
More than 30 Texas Wesleyan School
of Law mediation clinic students have
participated in the court’s mediation
program. An article highlighting the
program was published in the October
2009 magazine publication of the
Texas Association of Counties.
Patti Gearhart Turner, assistant
dean of student affairs and director
of the Equal Justice Program, was
appointed to the board of trustees of
the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and
Professionalism by State Bar of Texas
President Harper Estes for a three-year
term ending May 2012.
1995
Stephen Mosher’s article titled
“Patenting an Invention” was
published in the July 2009 issue of Fort
Worth Basin Oil & Gas magazine in
the Legal Landscape column. Stephen
is a member of the alumni association
board of directors, chairs the Bylaws
Committee, and serves on the 20th Anniversary Committee.
Stephen S. Mosher ’95
Work on Early Computers Leads to an Accomplished Career
in Patent Law
A native of West Branch, Iowa, Stephen S. Mosher earned his
B.S. in electrical engineering from Iowa State University in
1970. He joined the Tandy Corporation’s computer research and development division,
eventually becoming manager of computer development. After several years, his
work evolved into patent litigation support and management of the company’s patent
portfolio, working closely with the law department.
One day, the head of the Tandy law department’s intellectual property section
suggested Mosher go to law school – so Mosher enrolled in 1992 at Texas Wesleyan
School of Law.
After graduating in three years, Mosher continued at Tandy for another year and a half,
then joined a patent law boutique firm in North Dallas. In 2003, he was recruited by
the Whitaker Chalk firm in Fort Worth seeking a patent attorney with strong experience
in electrical technologies. Mosher is now an associate attorney with Whitaker, Chalk,
Swindle & Sawyer, LLP. He is also in his seventh year of service on the Texas Wesleyan
School of Law Alumni Association board of directors.
What do you like best about being a lawyer? About your job?
The law mirrors so much of human activity and provides for an orderly society and a
system of justice that we rely on in the conduct of human affairs. Its study and practice
brings to bear a body of knowledge and understanding of the world we live in that I
never would have acquired otherwise.
The things I like best about the work are serving the needs of and obtaining a good
result for my clients. Patent prosecution, that is, writing and prosecuting patent
applications in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, is like handling a case
because it requires substantial work, it takes a long time to complete, and the end result
— a grant of patent to the inventor — provides legal protection of the inventor’s rights in
an intellectual property asset. Every patent granted is a win for my client.
What is your favorite memory of Texas Wesleyan School of Law?
It has to be hearing my name called out during the graduation ceremony and seeing
my boss at Tandy Corporation in the audience to witness the event. He is the one who
persuaded me to attend law school and who saw to it that the company did not place
obstacles in my way. In addition, every now and then as a law student I said to myself,
as a person who entered law school in his 50s, “I can’t believe I am so privileged to be
here, studying the law.” The experience was so interesting, so enriching, and as it turned
out, so useful to me in the years thereafter.
What is a fun fact about you or favorite thing you like to do in your spare time?
I enjoy traveling to our national parks to be immersed in and photograph these natural
wonders. Most recently I produced a series of photographs of some of the landscapes in
Big Bend National Park that were well received, some of which hang in a gallery in the
Stockyards here in Fort Worth.
1996
Heath Hyde was selected as a 2009
Texas Rising Star.
Scott H. Palmer was selected as a 2009
Texas Super Lawyer.
1997
Chrysti Bryant has announced she is
a candidate for judge of Collin County
Court at Law Number 4. Chrysti will
be running in the March Republican
primary. She is currently a civil
litigation attorney with the Law Office
of Henderson, Smith, Black and Bryant.
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alumni
profile
Lori A. Spearman was installed
as a 2009-2011 Tarrant County Bar
Association elected director, Place
1, in July at the TCBA membership
luncheon. Lori is also on the alumni
association board of directors.
1998
Tamera H. Bennett was elected
in 2009 to serve on the board of
governors for the Texas Chapter of the
Grammy® organization. Tamera cohosts
a monthly podcast on all things
entertainment law with California
attorney Gordon Firemark. You can
find out more about the podcast at