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May 7, 2015
Student finds failure with local housing authority, saves client from eviction
This was a public housing eviction of a client with five children for “repeated late payment of rent.” The lease defines “repeated late payment” as paying after the fifth day of the month four times during any twelve-month period. The client works at a low-paying job. The client had clearly violated the lease provision. But […] -
May 6, 2015
Housing Clinic student takes landlord to court; motion for continuance
There was an eviction of a thirty-two year old single client and her young daughter from a federally subsidized apartment complex. This client was served with a notice of lease termination after she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault of a former roommate. Notwithstanding the guilty plea, the client has a plausible self-defense argument and […] -
May 6, 2015
There was a threatened eviction of a client with three young children renting an apartment in federally subsidized housing in which her rent is limited to thirty percent of her monthly adjust income. The client had been arrested on a felony assault charge prior to signing her initial lease for which she received community supervision. […] -
May 6, 2015
Clinics work together to make case for freedom from domestic violence as a human right
Clinic student provided counsel to the Domestic Violence Clinic and the Human Rights Clinic, developing a resolution and strategy for having both the Austin City Council and the Travis County Commissioners Court declare freedom from domestic violence to be a human right. -
May 6, 2015
Student proposes state adoption of Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act
A Clinic student worked closely with the director and staff of the Tarleton Law Library to propose state adoption of the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act, which is designed to ensure the integrity of legal material posted online. This student guided law school faculty in the preparation of written and oral testimony before the House […] -
May 6, 2015
One pair of students analyzed rulemaking proposed by the Texas Ethics Commission designed to curb the use of “dark money” – campaign contributions secretly funneled through non-profit corporations – in Texas elections. These students submitted written comments to the Ethics Commission, analyzing the constitutionality of the proposed rule and offering substantive changes to ensure that […] -
May 2, 2015
Ending Immigrant Family Detention: Non-Litigation Advocacy 2015
From August 2014 to May 2015, the Clinic partnered with grassroots and community-based organizations and immigration advocates to call for the end of the Department of Homeland Security’s new practice of detaining immigrant families of women and children. Clinic students drafted advocacy materials, attended hearings, and conducted research on numerous potential legal claims. The Clinic […] -
May 1, 2015
USA: Freedom from Domestic Violence as a Human Right in Travis County and Austin, Texas
The Clinic, in partnership with the Domestic Violence Clinic, the Legislative Lawyering Clinic and the Austin/Travis County Family Violence Task Force, is promoting the adoption of City of Austin Council and Travis County Resolutions on Freedom from Domestic Violence as a Human Right. On April 8, 2014 the Travis County Commission and on April 17, […] -
April 25, 2015
Metal Huasi, a Foundry/Smelter company, operated in the town of Abra Pampa, Jujuy, in Northern Argentina, from the 1950s until 1986. There were three areas within the town where the smelting plant’s waste was deposited. Because of that, there are high levels of contamination and lead in the blood of Abra Pampa’s residents, particularly the […] -
April 24, 2015
USA: Advocating human rights in the southern border of Texas
As part of the working group on Human Rights and the Border Wall, students wrote a memoexploring possible areas for human rights advocacy in front of the Inter-American Commissionon behalf of a coalition of border residents opposed to the construction of the wall between theU.S. and Mexico. In June 2008, the UT Working Group published […]
