Texas Tech University Chancellor Kent R. Hance and famed Lubbock attorney James H. Milam were inducted as West Texas Legal Legends.
The May 2 event at the Texas Tech University School of Law-Lanier Auditorium was hosted by Texas Tech Law Dean Darby Dickerson, the Beaumont Foundation and Beaumont attorney Wayne Reaud (’74) and his wife, Dana.
Hance, a founding partner of his Austin-based law firm Hance Scarborough LLP, graduated with his law degree from the University of Texas in 1968. Before beginning a political career that would reach its high point with him serving as a representative in the U.S. Congress, Hance taught law at Tech and served as an attorney in Lubbock.
Milam graduated from the UT School of Law in 1935 and with a freshly minted law degree Milam joined the established Lubbock firm of Bledsoe, Crenshaw and Dupree making $75 a month. In five years he’d made full partner of the firm now known as Crenshaw, Dupree and Milam, according to a press release.
Reaud, a 1974 Texas Tech Law graduate and 1998 Distinguished Alumnus, and his wife established the West Texas Legal Legends Scholarships in 2004 to celebrate West Texas lawyers who have made an impact.
As part of this program, the Reauds have endowed scholarships to honor John F. “Buddy” Maner, W. Frank Newton, Travis D. Shelton, W. Royal Furgeson Jr., Forrest Bowers and now James H. Milam and Kent R. Hance.
These scholarships, each requiring a minimum endowment of $250,000, are awarded to law students based on academic promise and commitment to service, and are the most prestigious offered by Texas Tech University School of Law.
