Having a Judge that is not intimidated by powerful government agencies and who takes his gatekeeping role seriously is a benefit to all of our families. Constitution and the Bill of Rights to the Texas Constitution. In this case, he rendered a scathing sanctions order in which he ordered CPS to pay nearly $30,000 in fees and ordered all CPS personnel associated with the case to read the U.S. Judge Schmude demonstrated clearly his gatekeeping role in 2016 after it was apparent that a father’s constitutional rights had been grossly violated by an illegal removal. In other words, it’s important to have judges that act quickly to protect children from abuse and neglect while at the same time protect the constitutional rights of parents from illegal removals, which can decimate families and traumatize children. CPS cases disproportionately affect minority families, and it is extremely important to have judges that take their gatekeeping role seriously. This User-Friendly Court has won the overwhelming respect of the family law bar as Judge Schmude was rated as either “Excellent” or “Above Average” by nearly three-quarters of family law practitioners in the most recent HBA Bar Poll in every single judicial evaluation category.Īlso, Judge Schmude, and his Associate Judge, Paula Vlahakos, have done an impressive job in presiding over CPS cases. He has also implemented a strong mediation policy – to encourage amicable solutions for families – and has allowed litigants to prove up settlement agreements any time during the day that the court is in session and available. This has resulted in a reduction in the number of cases heard during the main docket and has allowed lawyers and litigants with matters of short duration to get in and out of court quickly, thereby reducing costs and promoting efficiency. In accomplishing this objective, Judge Schmude implemented several innovative measures to promote efficiency, including the launch of an express docket, which allows any lawyer or litigant with a matter that requires five minutes or less of the court’s time to be heard before the call of the main docket. This was an impressive accomplishment for a new Judge that was criticized by many within his own party for lacking the experience necessary to preside over this very important Court.

After his first year in office, the 247th District Court disposed of more than 4,000 cases, more than any other family court in Harris County! The 247th District Court was repeatedly recognized in 2015 by the District Clerk’s Office for being the most efficient court in Harris County for electronic filing. Here are some interesting facts to keep in mind in determining whether or not this Judge deserves your vote for re-election.įirst, when Judge Schmude took office in January 2015, he inherited a court with a tremendous backlog of cases. Judge Schmudewas elected in 2014 and is currently asking for your vote as he runs for re-election in 2018. Also by having this shot, it shows the audience that the characters are clearly talking to each other, and also shows exactly where the character is looking.District Court. In our preliminary, we found that the 'shot, reverse shot' was effective at showing emotions so we chose to use it again in our final product. The image on the left is from our preliminary task, and the image on the ring from our final product. The above shots are a shot, reverse shot. For our final product we decided to use a few over the shoulder shots, for example at the beginning (screen grab on the right) and when the bad guy is at the window etc. By having an over the shoulder shot, it also shows you the other characters perspective, and the audience get to see it in the same way.

In our preliminary task, it proved to be an effective technique as it would make the audience able to see who was talking and their emotions, and also show who they are talking too. A shot we found effective in our preliminary task was the 'over the shoulder' shot. The image on the left is our preliminary task, and the image on the right is our final product.

Lauren reeder