AUGUST 12, 2009 MEETING
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
3:30 - 4:45 pm

WORKSHOP

Engineering Ethical Issues

Speaker: Kerry C. Williams, P.E., Attorney at Law with Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Martin, Tel. 713-654-9626.

WORKSHOP SUMMARY

To an audience of about 80 at the HESS Club,  Mr. Williams gave a one-hour workshop titled, "Engineering Ethical Issues" that was designed to fulfill the Texas Board of Professional Engineers' yearly one-hour ethics requirement in order to maintain a PE license.

Some highlights from his presentation:

• Texas now allows provisional PE licenses that are much quicker to obtain for out of state engineers. This was enacted to help out with the recent hurricane investigations and repairs.
  
  
• Non-compete employment clauses will likely not stick in Texas unless the employer limits the non-compete period to one year, pays 75-100% of the salary during that period and limits the non-compete geographical area to the employer's county and perhaps surrounding counties.
  
  
• Texas has a trade secret statute.
  
  
• Expert witnesses should have a written contract, a defined scope of work, established pay rate, preferably with a retainer, a limitation of liability to the fees received, and an arbitration clause, to be tried under Texas laws.
  
  
• Be careful with email, don't say anything in email you don't mind seeing on a billboard.

To download Mr. Williams' slide presentation, click here