I’d Buy That for a Dollar: If Sharon Keller Wants to Keep Her Job, It’ll Cost Her

Chip Babcock‘s representing Judge Sharon Keller in her fight with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which last week alleged five violations of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct that could lead to her removal from the bench following a public hearing. And he’s plenty upset about how much this is going to cost the former Dallas County prosecutor and hamburger heiress who still owns plenty of Dallas rental property: “several hundred thousand dollars in legal bills,” according to today’s Austin American-Statesman. Which wouldn’t be so bad, says the Jackson Walker attorney, except for one thing:

The state agency that charged Keller will pay $1 for the services of Mike McKetta, a highly regarded trial and appellate attorney from Austin who will present the case against Keller during a still-unscheduled trial.

That is “monumentally unfair,” said Chip Babcock, Keller’s lawyer and a leading Texas attorney in his own right.

“I would do it for a dollar, too,” Babcock
said. “McKetta and I could duke it out for just a buck. That would be
fun. The problem is that if the [Texas] Ethics Commission is correct
… I can’t.”