Tag: William Wayne Justice Center for 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.

The Law School’s William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law and Children’s Rights Clinic have helped develop a multi-stakeholder pilot education reform project focused on youth entering the child welfare system in Travis County. The Education Advocacy Pilot Project, an initiative of the Travis County Model Court for Children and Families, launched last week and will continue through the 2012–2013 school year.

The Law School’s William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law is partnering with the UT Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (DDCE) to fund a two-year research fellow to work on a new “School-to-Prison Pipeline” project. Meg Clifford, ’12, has been selected for the position.

The William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law and the UT Center for Disability Studies have completed the first phase of their work to assist the Texas state housing finance and Medicaid agencies in an application for federal funding available through the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Act of 2010. The Act resulted in significant changes to federal law governing housing for persons with disabilities, incentivizing states to develop new and innovative ways to support persons with disabilities in integrated environments. States will compete for a total of $85 million made available by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

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.

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.

Six students at the University of Texas School of Law have been selected as the 2012 Whitehurst Public Interest Summer Fellows. The fellowships are made possible by a gift from Bill, ’70, and Stephanie Whitehurst, and are administered by the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law at the Law School. The fellowships are awarded annually to outstanding students between their second and third years of law school to support their summer public-interest work.

A panel discussion entitled “Cutting Edge Issues in Immigration Law: State Anti-Immigrant Statutes and Litigation” will be held at the Law School on Monday, February 13, 2012, from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm in the Sheffield Room.

“Housing + Transit: Connecting Affordable Homes to Transit-Oriented Development in the Austin Region,” a conference cosponsored by the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law, will take place on Friday, October 21, 2011. The conference will address strategies to link housing and transportation, ensuring equal access to both for people of all income levels.

The Law School’s Pro Bono Program and the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law will live-stream the White House's "Champions of Change" event at the Law School on Thursday, October 13, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. CST in the Goodwin Conference Room, CCJ 1.312.

The William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law is joining the LBJ School of Public Affairs to undertake a major study for the Texas Legislature on the use of contracts for deed in Texas colonias. The study will focus on title issues, variations of contracts for deed, and abuses during the sale of property in these communities. It will also examine wider issues of title irregularity as these emerge through informal land sales, subdivision, and intestate inheritance.

Six students have been selected to serve as Public Service Scholars for the 2011–2012 year with the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law at the University of Texas School of Law.