as Published in Parole News Magazine

Cox Law Parole Lawyers Ed Cox and Tate Roush’s Interview by Bryace Todd Jones, founder/editor of Parole News Magazine

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“One of the areas associated with the DFW Metroplex is a smaller and quieter “mid-city” named Bedford. Located just east of Fort Worth, it’s mostly set with nice homes, office buildings and small medical facilities and a fantastic park right up the street in border town Hurst, Texas; complete with a stocked pond brimming with catfish in the summer and rainbow trout in the cooler months. Nearby you will find world class airports, shopping, museums, amusement parks and major sporting venues such as Texas Motor Speedway, AT&T Stadium (Dallas Cowboys), American Airlines Center (Dallas Mavericks), and Globe Life Park (Texas Rangers).

Bedford, Texas is located in the heart of the Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex, and a great place to call home, whether your stay is temporary or permanent. It sits as a safe, friendly, welcoming community with a small town feel and hospitality. Bedford is also home to the Cox Law Firm. Although the Cox Law Firm practices in a few different areas of law (not in the criminal field of law), what caught my attention is the fact that they also have their hand in the field as parole attorneys. However, I wouldn’t label them as ordinary parole attorneys because they are firmly rooted in the belief that the parole system needs to be placed on a more level playing field so that Parole Boards and families can have a mutual understanding of what’s truly at stake when it comes to the approval or denial of the families’ incarcerated loved ones.

There are many available postures in the fraught discussion of a more fair and impartial parole system. They’re all visible in magazines, podcasts, the Dr. Oz show, YouTube, Facebook, national & local news publications such as USA Today and the Austin Statesman- sorrow, anger, resignation, indignation, sarcastic dismissal, etc. I’m not saying these are all wrong or all right; in my mind, each may be called for at various times, even the last one. But what so impressed me about Edward S. Cox and R. Tate Roush – in our almost two hour discussion – was that they took a posture of submission to God’s word. In both Mr. Cox and Mr. Roush I see the humility of two individuals who are doing as the Scripture bluntly instructs: “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute … ” and also “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression … ” (Psalm 82:3 and Isaiah 1:17).

When speaking directly with Mr. Cox, as he explained the fields of law that the firm practices, he shared with me “how Cox Law first got involved with representation of parole clients. He had a personal friend whom he hadn’t seen or heard from in a few years. It so happened that the friend was incarcerated and reached out to Mr. Cox for help with his next parole review. Being that the gentleman was (and still is) a genuine friend, Mr. Cox agreed to “see what he could do to possibly help. After a few letters to and from his friend, a couple of visits and some studious research, Mr. Cox registered with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to be placed on their approved list as a parole attorney. When it came time for him to actually speak to the Board on his friend’s behalf, Mr. Cox did a fantastic job addressing the static and dynamic factors that demonstrated his friend was a great candidate for parole. He also presented letters of support, detailed the loving family and home he had to return to, and, because Mr. Cox knew him so well, offered to employ him at Cox Law Firm. The parole board granted his friend the privilege of parole, he came to work for Cox Law Firm, and settled in the DFW area of Texas.

With his friend’s first-hand knowledge of and experience with prison, and the parole board, Mr. Cox and he began representing clients before the board as a new practice area. Mr. Cox paid his friend’s way through paralegal school, and his friend became his office manager, remarried, bought his own house, and raised his daughter. After seven years working together, the friend wanted to get started with his own purpose in life and decided to move on to real estate and criminal law work in another city. This is when Mr. Cox hired newly graduated attorney, R. Tate Roush to come into the Cox Law Firm and work with the firm’s parole representation division.

Now, as most of you should immediately conclude — especially with me being an ex-offender, this conversation was very impressive and I took it to heart because this was a man who didn’t stop at the surface layer of his friend being an offender/ex-offender/parolee, but who looked deeply into the person he knew his friend to be, as well as with the proper assistance, what his friend had the propensity to become.

R. Tate Roush is also a very intelligent, insightful and brilliant attorney as well. My personal belief is that the Cox Law Firm did themselves a hell-of-a favor by hiring him to work within the parole representation area of their practice. I say this because Mr. Roush and I had about an hour long lunch together that very same day, and we did enough talking and sharing of different life situations that I was able to gather exactly what I needed to make my personal assessment of the man sitting in front of me; especially when it comes to ‘where his heart is when it comes to incarcerated individuals and their family members.’

The Cox Law Firm is a complete law firm that fully understands what’s at stake when it comes to their clients seeking parole. No, they do not bat one-hundred percent, but they do place one-hundred percent of themselves into what they do. By the humility and humbleness that was shown to me (they didn’t bat an eye when I told them I was an ex-offender), I know it was genuine and I agree with my inner-man that this is the exact same humility and humbleness they show to their clients and the family members of those they represent.

I know Mr. Cox and Mr. Roush didn’t think for a moment that I would be able to gather and gain so much clarity of their ultimate vision for the parole representation division of Cox Law Firm, but it only takes 30 minutes or so for me to see what I need to see when I’m sitting in front of anyone. My time living in the streets being addicted to crack cocaine and coming into contact with hundreds of con-men, con-women and con-artists has taught me a lot about people. I base much of my present life on the fact that, “Having a wide community of interpreters throughout time and space and social locations makes it possible to make up for each other’s ‘blind spots.’”

As subscribers to Parole News magazine, each of you should know by now that having an article such as this one is not something I’ve ever done before. But I wanted to give our readers a fresh insight to a really good law firm that’s dedicated to what they do in the parole related field. I mentioned the community of interpreters above only because of the vastness of the social circles I’ve found myself a part of throughout my life. My experiences as a person living in the streets addicted to crack cocaine, in and out of jails & prison, to eventually becoming a two-time business owner who has the insight from each of these spectrums of space and social locations I’ve lived within and been a big part of, allows me to offer you an interpretation which is accessible to everyone. So, this is not my normal thing to do, but the Cox Law Firm didn’t necessarily ‘win me over’ but instead, opened my eyes to the integrity they operate with, as well as the honest desire they have to help incarcerated individuals have a much better chance at gaining the privilege of parole. A desire– rooted in “doing God’s work” and working for the betterment of humanity. This may be the start of something different for Parole News, and it may be the start of something new and different for my own self.

I am of the firm belief that the Cox Law Firm can gain a little bit of something from me and other individuals who’ve been where most of us have been, and I know for certain that I can gain more insight and direction from the Cox Law Firm. If ever I was to prop-up the support for a law firm that practices in a few different fields of law, but also works hard to master the parole field as parole attorneys, I’d certainly throw my hat in and show admirable support for Ed Cox, R. Tate Roush and the Cox Law Firm. You can learn more about them and the great parole work they do at www.parolelawyertx.com. “

Bryace Todd Jones, “A Personal One-on-One with the Cox Law Firm,” Parole News Magazine, July-August 2021 at 9-11.