2021 Archive

Students, Faculty, and Alumni Work Together on Supreme Court Capital-Punishment and Religious-Liberty Case

Report: San Antonio vacates and demolishes homes at exponentially higher rate than other major Texas cities combined

This report examines the City of San Antonio’s displacement of residents from their homes for code violations, with a focus on single-family residences. From 2015-2020, the City issued close to 1,000 orders to vacate and orders to demolish single-family homes, including at least 626 orders for occupied homes. Residents who are displaced from their homes […]

While law school, virtual or not, can be isolating, the Clinic helped me focus instead on connecting. Connecting with my clinic partner to work through thorny legal issues, connecting with our client to see them off one step closer to their goals, and connecting with the community. In particular, I enjoyed working with entrepreneurs and […]

  Environmental Clinic students worked alongside the Environmental Integrity Project on a citizen suit in federal court against an East Texas wood pellet manufacturer. The manufacturer violated its air permits and illegally emitted hazardous air pollutants, endangering the community and environment surrounding the plant. Clinic students were integral to the trial team and involved in […]

Environmental laws require that the public be given the opportunity to participate in environmental permitting and rulemaking. One of the many barriers Texans face in attempting to engage in environmental advocacy for themselves and their communities is the limited access to information in languages other than English. Clinic students worked with Earthjustice in representing Texas […]

UT clinic students have worked with students from the Vermont Law School Environmental Justice Clinic, Hastings University, and American University, to catalog state environmental justice laws, regulations, and policies.  The research will soon be made available on an “Environmental Justice:  State by State” website and is intended to be a resource for communities seeking to […]

The environmental clinic was my most enjoyable, rewarding experience of law school. Students have the opportunity to assist underserved communities and non-profit organizations to develop legal solutions to environmental issues, including environmental justice. Students also develop contacts and practical legal experience by collaborating with client attorneys on a variety of federal and state environmental legal […]

Asociación de Residentes de North Lamar (ARNL), a residents’ association in a mobile home park community in North Austin, organized themselves in 2015 to prevent property neglect, significant rent increases, and evictions from the property owners, who were know nationwide for promoting predatory practices by mobile home park owners. In 2020, during the pandemic, ARNL […]