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
June 30 - July 10, 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. The supervising attorney will be available 12pm – 7pm on the following dates Wednesday, July 1, Thursday, July 2, Monday, July 6 through Thursday July 9 and July 10 (available all day).
- Training
- Tuesday, June 30, 6-7 pm CST via Zoom (optional for students who have already done remote exit appointments)
- Skills used
- Client interviewing; document preparation/review
- Project location
- Zoom
- Number of student volunteers requested
- 12
- 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.