Students will finalize petitions to expunge criminal records or obtain orders of nondisclosure of criminal records, help prepare affidavits seeking waiver of filing fees, and prepare petitioners for the process of filing and obtaining a hearing on their petitions via individual Zoom appointments with applicants. Students will be assigned one or two Expunction Project Applicants and will schedule Zoom exit appointments with them, during times the supervising attorney is available. Expunging records allows people to legally deny offenses and erases records from criminal histories, mitigating future harm stemming from arrests that do not result in a criminal conviction. Orders of nondisclosure direct police departments and other agencies not to disclose criminal records on background checks, and allow a person to not disclose offenses on applications for housing or employment.
Organization
Educational Equity Project, Mithoff Pro Bono Program
The Expunction Project is an internal project of the Richard and Ginni Mithoff Pro Bono Program’s Educational Equity Project.
Project Details
- Project Start Date
July 13 - July 24, 2020
- Approximate hours of work requested
- 2-4 hours, including training. Students will be assigned one or two applicants. Students will schedule Zoom exit appointments with project applicants, during times the supervising attorney is available. Exit appointments may be scheduled between July 13 and July 24. For the week of July 13-17 the following times are available: Monday, 1-6pm; Tuesday, 1-6pm (July 14); Wednesday, 3-7pm (July 15); Thursday, 4-6pm (July 16); Friday, 10am-5pm (July 17).
- Training
- By appointment
- Skills used
- Client interviewing; document preparation/review
- Project location
- Zoom
- Number of student volunteers requested
- 1-4
- Class year preference
- 1L, 2L, 3L, LLM
- Required skills
- Spanish helpful but not necessary
- To Apply
- Send an email to Sarah Sedgwick at ssedgwick@law.utexas.edu. Indicate in your email if you can conduct an exit session in Spanish. Applicants who speak Spanish will receive priority consideration for some volunteer openings.