Dustin Paschal and Paul Simon Elected to DAYL Board

Election results for the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers Board of Directors were announced last Wednesday. We are pleased to announce that Dustin Paschal was re-elected to the Board of Directors for a second term and Paul Simon was elected to his first term on the Board of Directors. Congratulations to both.

Paul Invited to Join Dallas Bar Foundation Fellows

We here at The Coles Firm P.C. would like to congratulate Paul Simon on his recent invitation to join the Dallas Bar Foundation (DBF) Fellows. The Dallas Bar Foundation provides financial support for law related research, publications, and forums, provides law related scholarships and education, and provides charitable and legal aid for the impoverished. Since 1981, the DBF has awarded more than $4.1 million.

DBF Fellows are attorneys who have demonstrated a high ethical standard and a commitment to the cause of justice and the welfare of the community. Election to the Fellows constitutes a high professional honor and we congratulate Paul on this great accomplishment.

Welcome to the Coles Firm Blog

The Coles Firm traces its origin back to March 2004. That's when Firm founder, Mike Coles, left Winstead Sechrest & Minick in pursuit of success as a small law firm. Five years later, we now launch the Coles Firm Blog. "We" means The Coles Firm as a whole. That includes Mike Coles, Dustin Paschal, and Paul Simon as Attorneys and Keitha Berringer and Erica Wills as Legal Assistants. As we blog during the next few weeks you will learn more about us as individual lawyers and as a law firm. And hopefully you will learn a bit about the law we practice.

Two main questions immediately come to mind when starting a blog for our law firm. First, what topics do we plan to include in our blog (also known as "Why should I read this?") and why start a blog now (also known as "What took you so long to get here?").

To answer the first question, we plan to blog about our practice. Readers should expect to see employment- and immigration-related posts. We also will include information on upcoming events, including speeches and seminars. Also, expect to find key updates, including legislative and administrative changes as well as important court cases that impact our clients. In addition, we have vowed to post one Coles Corner Winning Wines entry each month where we highlight a recent wine find by The Coles Firm. Fair warning: we are neither sommeliers nor wine snobs. We just know what we like and we hope you will agree.

To answer the second question, March 2009 is a great time to start a blog because late March and early April seem to be an important time at The Coles Firm. Maybe it's the Spring air, maybe it's the feeling of rejuvenation, but whatever the reason, early Spring is a great time to start a new project or a new venture. Over our history the following events have occurred from March 15 - April 15:

2004 - Mike leaves his prior law firm to start his own
2006 - Dustin joins The Coles Firm

2007 - The Coles Firm Immigration Practice expands to meet record demand for H-1B visas

2008 - Paul joins The Coles Firm
2008 - The Coles Firm moves to its current location
2009 - The Coles Firm launches its blog

When I (Mike) left the large firm life and embarked on this journey a smart lawyer told me the critical date is 5 years. The first 5 years can be full of ups and downs. But if you can make it 5 years you can make it forever. I hope he was right. Actually, at least as far as this law firm is concerned, I'm almost certain he was.