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June 25, 2024
Capital Punishment Clinic client Ramiro Gonzales was sentenced to death in 2006 for the 2001 murder of Bridget Townsend. Clinical Professors Raoul Schonemann and Thea Posel have worked on Ramiro’s case since he was first scheduled for execution in 2016. For more information: https://law.utexas.edu/clinics/ramiro-gonzales/ -
May 10, 2024
Report: ‘Junk fees’ add a hidden burden to Texas tenants already struggling with high rents
Clinical Professor Heather Way speaks on the Housing Policy Clinic's new report, which focuses on how "junk fees"–added fees that tenants pay for mandatory services–have contributed to rising rent costs and a lack of affordable housing. -
April 25, 2024
Federal Trade Commission’s Proposed Trade Regulation Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees
Students in the Fall 2023 Housing Policy Clinic submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission for the Commission’s Proposed Trade Regulation Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees. Students wrote about the application of the proposed rule to address the prolific use of unfair and deceptive fees in the rental housing industry. The students offered evidence […] -
April 22, 2024
This report examines the laws underlying the City’s historic landmark property tax exemption program and how the program could be improved to advance the City’s equity goals. The City of Austin’s property tax exemption program for historic properties has been criticized for being unfair and inequitable, by primarily benefitting affluent property owners and neighborhoods in […] -
April 9, 2024
Students with the Immigration Clinic prepared a report on behalf of the American Bar Association Commission on Immigration critiquing the Department of Homeland Security’s widespread electronic monitoring of migrants through ankle monitors and the SmartLINK phone app. As of December 2023, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was electronically monitoring more than 190,000 migrants. A 2022 […] -
March 29, 2024
This report examines the troubling and growing array of fees that tenants are confronting in the Texas rental housing market. These charges, also known as “junk fees,” obscure the true price of housing and prevent comparison shopping; they impose financial strains on tenants and create barriers to affordable housing access. The report includes five categories […] -
March 7, 2024
Mama Kitchen Press is a start-up publishing company that provides traditional publishing services to authors whose work is centered on personal stories. ECDC students assisted MKP with contracts, intellectual property, and choice of entity. -
March 7, 2024
Ready Up Aquatics is a woman-owned business that provides complete pool management services and swim lesson in Central Texas. ECDC students assisted Ready Up Aquatics with entity formation, customer contracts, and personnel policies. -
February 7, 2024
In December 2023, the Texas Civil Rights Project and the Civil Rights Clinic released a report detailing the detailing the extreme harms done by placing people who are incarcerated in solitary confinement. The report explains why the practice is dangerous, what factors allow the practice to continue, and how solitary confinement leaves lasting physical and […] -
February 7, 2024
In the Spring 2023, the Clinic worked with Texas Fair Defense Project to prepare litigation regarding the over detention of an individual in Smith County jail. TFDP’s litigation brought due process claims under Section 1983 and alleged that the county’s policies resulted in routine over detention, including holding an individual for 27 days in excess […]
