An acclaimed Texas trial lawyer with a long record of supporting Democratic candidates is charging half his hourly rate to help Dallas thwart Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton<\/a>\u2018s (R) push for guns in more public spaces.<\/p>\n High stakes litigator Jeff Tillotson<\/a> represents the city in a trio of firearms lawsuits from Paxton\u2019s office over whether the lessor of government property for a private event can deny access to patrons legally carrying a gun. Dallas, thus far, is getting favorable rulings in all three suits.<\/p>\n In an interview with Bloomberg Law, Tillotson said he bills a typical client at an hourly rate of about $2,000. According to a contract reviewed by Bloomberg Law obtained through public records, he\u2019s charging the city just $895 per hour in one of the cases.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have many, many fine lawyers in the city\u2019s office so the fact they\u2019d give me the opportunity to work on this is an honor,\u201d Tillotson said.<\/p>\n Dallas declined to release invoice statements from his firm, Tillotson Patton, showing how much it\u2019s spending in legal fees to defend the gun restrictions. The city is on the hook directly for one case and for the other two could recoup expenses from private organizations whose firearms bans drew the suits.<\/p>\n The final resolutions will be felt not only in Dallas but throughout the deeply-red state where the legislature has passed some of the most firearms-friendly laws in the country.<\/p>\n People in Texas can carry a handgun openly in libraries, recreation centers, the Texas State Capitol, and government buildings except for when a meeting is happening. Paxton, a right-wing champion of firearms protections, argues Dallas must also allow them in public spaces that are leased by a private entity, because the city can\u2019t confer authority to a third party to ban them that itself lacks.<\/p>\n A prolific Democratic donor, Tillotson in September gave $3,500 to state Rep. James Talarico<\/a>, the Democrat who won the party\u2019s nomination for US Senate and who will square off against Paxton in November. <\/p>\n Tillotson, 64, said he took the cases not because of political differences with Paxton but because he supports limits on guns in public places for safety reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cIt could be Ken Paxton, it could be Ken from Barbie,\u201d Tillotson said. \u201cThis is about the city\u2019s rights and obligations, and I think we\u2019re 100% right on it.\u201d<\/p>\n The question of whether private parties can ban guns at events held on public property has come up most prominently in a case involving the State Fair of Texas<\/a>. A decision is pending from the statewide appeals court. <\/p>\n The fair is a nearly month-long annual event held on 277 acres the city leases to a private nonprofit that wants to exclude firearms. Last summer, a trial court dismissed Paxton\u2019s suit, allowing the jamboree to enforce the ban. <\/p>\n The case is likely to wind up at the Texas Supreme Court, which seems eager to discuss gun restrictions generally and the fair ban specifically.<\/p>\n Two years ago, the justices said they lacked sufficient information to resolve Paxton\u2019s challenge to the ban. But, Justice Jimmy Blacklock<\/a> wrote, \u201cIt is a question on which both law-abiding handgun owners and the operators of the State Fair deserve a clear answer.\u201d<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/bwrite-static.bloombergindustry.com\/dims4\/default\/308632d\/2147483647\/resize\/633x10000%3E\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbloomberg-bna-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2F9f%2Fd9%2Fe0e26d41443cb02b581e34d4bd44%2Foriginal-c48760c0-7d82-4b7b-bed5-f00fc4b5c74d-sharpen-opt1.png\")
<\/div>\nTexas State Fair<\/h2>\n