Button Law - December 2020

Take a look at our newsletter this month.

DECEMBER 2020

4315 W. Lovers Lane, Suite A, Dallas, TX 75209 | 1900 W. Illinois Avenue, Suite 101, Midland, TX 79701 www.buttonlawfirm.com | 214-888-2216 HOT-BUTTON ISSUES

GUESS WHAT? I’M AN UNCLE!

Why Meeting My Niece Changed How I See My Cases

This October, I met a girl who took my breath away. She had dark brown hair, bright blue eyes, and was just a few hours old. As you might have guessed, this isn’t a story about a first date — it’s about becoming an uncle! My baby niece, Aria, was born just a few months ago, and meeting her was a life-changing experience. I’ll never forget the day when my sister, Roxana, and her husband, Dom, shared the news to my family that they were having a baby. It all started when cards arrived for me, my mom, and my dad before Mother’s Day with instructions to wait before opening them. My sister also asked us to FaceTime her at 3 p.m. that day. To me, this all seemed really random — why on Earth would Rox send me a card on Mother’s Day? When the moment arrived, my mom, dad, and I got together and huddled around my phone to FaceTime them. My sister said, “Mom, why don’t you open Russell’s card first?” She did, and before my dad and I could even see what was in it, she started screaming and hurled my phone across the room! Looking back, I know that was a shriek of happiness, but at the time I was panicking, chasing my phone down and wondering what the heck could have been in that letter. By the time I got my phone back, everyone was crying. Rox asked me, “Russell, how do you feel?” And my answer was, “Confused? Mom just threw my phone!” Eventually, my mom calmed down enough to show me and my dad the sonogram photo that was in my card. She’d been overwhelmed with emotion because just a few days before, she’d written a letter to my sister telling her how happy she was for her and how excited she was to have grandkids someday. It’s crazy how perfectly the stars aligned. On Friday, Oct. 16, my parents and I drove from Dallas out to Lubbock for Aria’s birth. Rox was supposed to be induced early on Saturday morning, but like everything else in 2020, that didn’t quite go according to plan. The hospital was short on nurses,

so they sent her home with orders to come back in at noon and get started. The second time was the charm, and 16 hours later, little Aria was born. Meeting her was incredible. I got to hold her and talk to her right there in the hospital room and even watched the nurses give her her first bath. It was an honor to help Rox out and to see another amazing woman come into the world. I was raised by a strong mom, and my sister has followed

in her footsteps. I know Aria will continue that legacy and keep pushing the fight for equality forward with role models like the late RBG, her mom and grandma, and even our BLF leaders, Ashley and Rosie, who really exemplify those values. (You can read more about that on Page 2.) During the process of welcoming Aria, I also learned something that has helped me understand my clients better. I truly felt how much effort and planning goes into bringing a child into the world. Becoming an uncle really drove home how important it is that we have safe daycares and nurseries for these precious kids. After that experience, I feel like I can empathize better with the betrayal my clients feel when their children are hurt in a place they thought was safe. Here at The Button Law Firm, we handle a lot of daycare injury cases, so Ashley and I helped Rox find a safe daycare for Aria. Not everyone has friends with that background to draw from, but she did, and so do you! If you’re struggling to find a reputable daycare or are concerned about whether your child is safe, give my office a call. We’re here to help.

–Russell Button

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THE NOTORIOUS RBG LIVES ON IN ME HOW THE LATE JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBERG CHANGED MY LIFE

I was sitting at home on my couch when I got the news. A Google alert popped up on my phone, and when I made the mistake of clicking on it, I read that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg was dead. There was no holding back the floodgates — I started sobbing hysterically. Still, the news wasn’t sinking in. I couldn’t believe it! Not only had one of my idols passed away, but she’d also gone at the most heartbreaking possible moment: right before the 2020 presidential election. I never met Justice Ginsberg personally, but I still felt like I knew her. I’ve looked up to her for as long as I can remember. My admiration really solidified in college, when I was getting my undergraduate degree in political science and American political theory at Florida International University and took a course all about the U.S. Supreme Court. Every student in the class was assigned a Justice to “be” for the semester. We had to follow all of the Supreme Court rulings, and when our Justice wrote an opinion or a dissent in real life, we had to share it with the class and defend it in the first person, as though we really were that Justice. We got the opportunity to pick the Justice we wanted to be, and, of course, I picked RBG. Unfortunately, so did pretty much everyone else! We all wanted to be the famous pioneer for women’s rights and equality, even though she wasn’t a pop culture icon yet. In the end, I was assigned Chief Justice John Roberts. Justice Roberts and Justice Ginsberg are on the opposite ends of the political spectrum, though, which meant that almost every time I went online to read one of Justice Roberts’ opinions for my assignment, Justice Ginsberg had written the dissent, and I had to read that, too. For months, I was hyper-focused on all of the things she wrote. Only when I put her under a magnifying glass like that did I realize what a sharp, inspiring litigator and judge she really was. Her fight for women’s equality had translated into a fight for equality on all fronts. My admiration went through the roof, and when the movie “On the Basis of Sex” came out years later, a friend and I saw it in theaters wearing matching RBG T-shirts. We split a bottle of wine and cried through the ending of her inspiring story about beating back sexism, cynicism, and tragedy to become an amazing lawyer. On Sept. 18, 2020, we lost an icon, a champion of Justice, and a wonderful soul. It was heartbreaking for me, and even more so when I realized that her legacy might be at risk. Today, though, I’ve realized that nothing can take away RBG’s accomplishments. They live on in legal history, in me, and in all of the other lawyers and women who have been inspired by her work.

I ordered a judicial robe and some silver paint for my hair, then added big fake glasses to match hers, along with chunky stud earrings and a collar like the one that she wore. As a final touch, I slipped on a pair of Converse dyed in neon rainbow tie-dye. Looking in the mirror made me want to cry a little, but I also felt proud. RBG may be gone from the Supreme Court, but she’s still with me, and she always will be.

When it came time for me to pick a Halloween costume this year, there was no question who I would dress up as.

–Ashley Washington

www.buttonlawfirm.com

OUR TEAMVOTED! DID YOU? BLF Made Sure Our Voices Were Heard!

One of our core values here at The Button Law Firm is to “Educate,” and another is to “Make a Difference.” This November, we did both with the BLF Votes initiative! In the months leading up to Election Day, we had multiple team meetings where we discussed the power of voting and how it can reshape our community. We made sure every single person in our office registered to vote. “I’m super involved and present politically, and like many people, I’ve felt an overwhelming burden to not just vote, but to also bring others along with me to vote, too,” says Ashley, who came up with the idea of getting the team on board. “One vote is one vote, but if you can drag five more votes with you to the polls, you’ve made an even bigger impact!”

historic voter turnout and actually broke our state’s previous record five days before Election Day , thanks to early voting and mail-in ballots. We’re happy to say that our team contributed to that! “Thankfully, our team showed up 100%, and I was really excited about it. I was really proud,” Ashley says. For Russell, the initiative was about much more than the presidential election. As the big day approached, he reminded our team that our state’s representation in the house and senate were at stake, as were judge appointments, which are very important to our firm. We see the winning judges in court regularly, so we have more of a stake in those elections than most Texans. “We definitely believe in protecting our rights and the rights of our community moving forward, but we also believe in

a better country overall and in a better world. In order to make that happen, we need to be part of the solution and part of the change. We have a say, and our voices matter!” Russell says. Hopefully you made your voice heard during this election, too. If you did, we’re proud of you, regardless of who you voted for!

Here in Texas, it seems a lot of people were thinking like Ashley this year. We had

The Button Law Firm team helped me with everything start to finish and they were very responsive and great with communicating and helping me understand everything. They were also very sympathetic to our situation and treated us as close friends rather than just a client. They even reach out just to check in on us and give updates without me having to call for any. If you’re questioning the right firm for your case, look no further. This is the best team you’ll find! –Leighann Martin REVIEW

BLF HIGHLIGHT REEL Thanksgiving Potluck

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4315 W. Lovers Lane, Suite A Dallas, Texas 75209

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Russell Is an Uncle! Meet His Niece, Aria

2 3

Ashley’s Halloween Tribute to RBG

We Voted! Did You? Highlight Reel Review

BLF Joins Forces With a Friend to Fight Type 1 Diabetes

How a Fellow Attorney Inspired Our Team to Participate in the JDRF One Walk JOINING FORCES TO CURE TYPE 1 DIABETES

When Ashley shook hands with attorney William Hagans for the first time last year, he had already been living with Type 1 diabetes for more than three decades. She didn’t know that, though. They’d met in a continuing education course, and she simply saw a fellow trial attorney from Houston. Soon, the two became friends, and William filled Ashley in on his condition and his advocacy work through the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). “JDRF’s mission is threefold: looking for a cure, looking for ways to deal with the disease, and education,” William says. JDRF has been helping William and his family since he was diagnosed at age 12. Soon, they started giving back to the organization in thanks. William estimates that over the last 20 years, his family

and the team at the firm where he and his father work, Hagans Montgomery Hagans, have donated and raised $3–$3.5 million for the cause. Today, he’s president-elect of the Southern Texas Chapter of JDRF and chairs its annual fundraising gala. He also helped promote the chapter’s JDRF One Walk, a charity walk that normally brings out 15,000 Texans. “I had been receiving a bunch of William’s emails and motivational text messages trying to get people to get involved with the JDRF One Walk,” Ashley remembers. “I told Russell about it, and we decided as a firm to join the team!” The JDRF One Walk took place virtually on Nov. 1, and thanks to everyone who participated, the Southern Texas Chapter raised more than $1.4 to put toward

JDRF’s mission. For Russell, getting BLF involved in the walk was a no-brainer.

“My dad is a diabetic, and it runs in my family tree,” Russell says. “Diabetes is also

an important issue for a lot of other people on our team. It was great to get out there, give

back, and connect with a fellow lawyer on the path to making our community better.”

William was touched when we turned out on the big day.

“We were very lucky to have BLF want to take on this work with us and help raise money,” he said. To learn more about JDRF, its goals, and how you can help, visit JDRF.org/ SouthernTexas.