Tag: Public Interest Law

On January 6–11, 2013, the Pro Bono Program will take thirty students as well as several faculty members to the Texas Rio Grande Valley during the second week of January. This will be Pro Bono in January’s fourth year in the Valley. This year the Pro Bono Program is partnering with the Texas Civil Rights Project in Austin to organize clinics in the San Juan area to assist pro se youth to petition for relief under the recently launched Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. At the clinics, students and volunteer attorneys will help high-school DACA petitioners (aka “DREAMers”) complete forms and compile documents to file with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

In recognition of National Pro Bono Week (October 21–27, 2012), the UT Law Pro Bono Program celebrates law students’ volunteer efforts in underserved areas of Texas through Texas RioGrande Legal Aid’s Rural Outreach Initiative. Over the 2011–2012 school year, fourteen students assisted TRLA with the project. This fall nine students have volunteered, and students will also have the opportunity to work on the project in the spring.

During the week of October 21–27, 2012, the UT Law Pro Bono Program will participate in the fourth annual nationwide celebration of pro bono service. Launched by the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, the National Pro Bono Celebration focuses the nation's attention on the increased need for pro bono services and celebrates the work of lawyers who volunteer their services throughout the year.

Nikiya Natale, a third-year student at the University of Texas School of Law, has been selected to receive a Baron & Budd Public Interest Scholarship for the 2012–2013 academic year.

Every summer, UT Law students carry out public-interest legal work thanks to fellowships funded by donations to the Law School and administered by the Law School's William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law. We will be adding more stories about our Summer 2012 Fellows and the work they did over the coming weeks.

The University of Texas School of Law has awarded the eighth Equal Justice Scholarship to Christopher Larson, an incoming first-year law student. The scholarship covers tuition and fees for three years of legal study. Larson has committed to working after law school on a full-time basis for three years providing direct legal services to low-income individuals or groups at a nonprofit organization in the U.S.

Texas Lawyers for Texas Veterans, an initiative of the State Bar of Texas, makes it easy for bar associations and attorneys to provide legal assistance to U.S. veterans in need.

Seven graduating students at the University of Texas School of Law have been honored by the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law for their extraordinary commitment during Law School to using the law to serve others.

The University of Texas School of Law has awarded the 2012 Julius Glickman Fellowship in Public Interest Law to third-year student Michael O’Keefe Cowles. The two-year fellowship, funded by Julius Glickman, ‘66, provides $45,000 per year for full-time legal work on a project sponsored by an existing public-interest legal organization and supervised by a licensed attorney.

The UT Law Career Services Office (CSO) has announced the recipients of the 2012 UT Law CSO Study Break Public Service Stipends. They are: Joanne Heisey and Aaron Tucker, Class of 2013; and Ashley Steele, Class of 2014.

Five students at the University of Texas School of Law have been selected to receive Baron & Budd Public Interest Summer Fellowships for the coming summer. The program will provide each fellow with a $4,250 stipend to work fulltime for at least ten weeks providing legal services to underrepresented individuals or communities.

Bill Beardall, director of the Law School’s Transnational Worker Rights Clinic, has been honored with Harvard Law School’s 2012 Gary Bellow Public Service Award. Each year the student body of the Harvard Law School votes to present the Bellow award to an alumnus or alumna in recognition of the recipient’s work to achieve social justice through public-interest law.