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CARRY ON BOLDLY 53

to provide a comprehensive analysis of the new Rules in a handy,
ready-reference format.”76 It proceeded by printing the full text of
the newly promulgated Rules, and then reprinting each rule
again at the place where it was discussed in the Handbook.
Following, there appeared a series of articles by 13 highly
qualified authors, 11 of whom (like Professor Blakely) had
participated in the drafting of the Rules.

The Handbook proper ended with a summary of the changes
caused by the promulgation of the new Rules. An appendix
provided the full text of the Rules as originally drafted and
proposed, so that readers could compare those versions with the
Rules as promulgated. The Foreword cautiously alerted readers
that the Handbook was not intended to, and indeed did not,
“discuss the arguments for or against the changes.” Normative
commentary was not the point; educating the Bar was.

And, oh yes: “Minor non-substantive changes have been
made to correct obvious typographical errors contained in the
official version of the Rules that accompanied the supreme
court’s promulgation order.”77 Board 20’s editors, apparently no
strangers to unintentional humor, dutifully edited the Handbook
as good law review editors do, with no regard for the potential
hurt feelings of the Texas Supreme Court justices who had
promulgated “obvious typographical errors.”

GSB: ADVISOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

“Captain Nice”

G. Sidney Buchanan joined the College of Law faculty in
1967, a native Houstonian suitably credentialed by degrees from
Princeton and Michigan before further polishing as a trusts-and-
wills lawyer at the local Vinson Elkins Searls Connally & Smith
law firm.

Unlike other hires favored by the A.A. White-led scholars on
the faculty, Buchanan had no LL.M. With talent like his, no
further credentialing seemed necessary. His colleague John
Mixon reports:

Sidney wasn’t just an acceptable faculty choice. He was a
superstar teacher, scholar, and colleague. From 1967 to
2009, he picked up teaching awards from law students and
the University. Sidney’s first love may have been the stage,
judging by his a capella classroom renditions of songs about
Supreme Court cases that he set to Broadway shows’ tune
and meter. [A.A. White’s disciples] need not have worried
about his scholarship. Sidney started writing articles as
soon as he signed his contract . . . Sidney [also] was a