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On Friday, May 31, 2019, Judge Mike Engelhart was appointed by Houston Bar Association President Benny Agosto, Jr. to serve as a member of both the Gender Fairness Committee and the Professionalism Committee of the HBA.

The appointments mean a great deal to the Judge as both committees promote activities that are important to him. Judge Engelhart has always promoted gender equity in the legal profession, and makes it a point to hire female law clerks every summer, and to have younger, often female attorneys take the lead role in hearings over their older male colleagues when possible.

Judge Engelhart speaks frequently at CLE seminars and emphasizes the importance of professionalism and ethics in the practice of law. These two committees could not be better fits. The Judge looks forward to digging in and becoming a central part in each committee.

The Harris County area legal community came back – and in greater numbers, for Judge Engelhart for his 2020 Re-Election Campaign. It was a veritable “who’s who” of Houston’s litigation community, and many others. As the photos show, there was a long line out the door of the reception room, almost to the front door of La Griglia. The valets were complaining they had nowhere to park the cars!

Judge Engelhart gave a compelling speech about his efficiency and fairness as a Judge. He described his plan for winning the 2020 Democratic Primary and the General Election in November 2020. Everyone who came out to support Judge Engelhart had a good time, with great food and energized friends uniting for a good cause.

The fundraiser was a terrific success for Judge Engelhart’s campaign, as the campaign will have the resources it needs to run a daunting campaign. And, as importantly, it showed the great respect the legal community has for Judge Engelhart’s work on the bench.

An additional highlight was a surprise celebration of Judge Engelhart’s wife, Eva’s birthday! The whole crowd sang happy birthday.

More than one guest remarked they had never seen such a crowd at a district judge’s fundraiser. Attorney Randy Canche said, after the event,

“I can’t stress enough what a fantastic, smart, and fair Judge Mike Engelhart has been. I urge Harris County voters to re-elect him again this year.”

Judge Engelhart agreed, saying in his speech last night:

“I intend to win this race!”

On Wednesday, April 24, 2019, Houston Texans cornerback Johnathan Joseph stopped by the 151st Civil District Court as part of his criminal justice degree program. 228th Criminal District Court Judge Frank Aguilar hosted Joseph. Judge Aguilar sits in the 151st due to court sharing since Hurricane Harvey once again knocked out the Harris County Criminal Justice Center building.

Judge Engelhart and Joseph talked about Joseph’s post-football plans and his having returned to school to complete his degree. Judge Engelhart encouraged Joseph to go to law school, and asked him to consider clerking for the 151st after his first year.

Here’s a nice writeup about Judge Engelhart in VoyageHouston Magazine.

Judge Engelhart was one of the Co-Chairs of the Houston Bar Association’s (HBA) 2019 25th Civil/Appellate Bench Bar Conference held at the historic 1910 Courthouse in downtown Houston on Thursday, April 11, 2019. He was especially proud to be a Co-Chair for the event’s Silver Anniversary.

It was a full day continuing legal education seminar full of learning and fellowship amongst more than 250 members of the local judiciary and the Bar. The event was a team effort amongst the three Co-Chairs, and Ashley Steininger, Education Director of the HBA. The Conference was very well received, and went off without a hitch.

Judge Engelhart was very pleased to have been invited to address the Montgomery County, Texas Bar Association for their Annual Law Day celebration and seminar. Judge Engelhart spoke about presenting and defending various types of dispositive motions. The presentation was interactive and fun, and he hopes to be invited back to address the Montgomery County Bar again in the future.

On Friday morning, May 4, 2018, Judge Engelhart participated in a Continuing Legal Education Panel at the annual 16th Annual Texas Bar seminar on Collection and Creditors’ Rights.  This is the 4th or 5th time Judge Engelhart has been invited to address this CLE course since 2010. The panel spoke about civil debt collection procedures including sequestrations (or replevins) as well as the civil procedural device known as injunctions.

Judge Mike Engelhart was invited to speak with students at St. John’s School in Houston about his career path on Monday, April 9, 2018. Judge Engelhart’s court reporter, Carolyn Coronado accompanied him, and they visited with students about the practice of law, running for office, serving as a judge, as well as court reporting careers. The students were polite and attentive and asked good questions, and a good time was had by all.

Judge Engelhart was officially notified on March 11, 2018 that he and his former law clerk and co-author, Sarah Kathryn Foster, won the Franklin Jones Best CLE Article Award from the College of the State Bar of Texas. The prize is awarded each year to the best CLE article nominated to the Texas Bar College. Judge Engelhart and Sarah Foster wrote “Procedure for Enforcing Foreign State, Federal and Foreign Country Judgments in Texas. It is an in depth and how-to article for practitioners, detailing each step a practitioner must take to prosecute and defend the process of domesticating a judgment from outside of Texas.  Judge Engelhart presented the paper in May 2017 at the annual Collections and Creditors’ Rights CLE held by the State Bar of Texas.  There is a formal award ceremony in Galveston in July 2018.