Allaena Cruz
Allaena Cruz is a staff attorney with the Housing Team at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) in Austin. She focuses on enforcing the housing rights of low-income families by providing direct representation and legal advice. Additionally, she participates in outreach initiatives aimed at supporting the housing rights of individuals who have experienced domestic and family violence. Allaena began her postgraduate work at TRLA with the support of the G. Rollie White Trust Fellowship in Public Interest Law.
At Texas Law, Allaena was a member of the Public Interest Law Association, Law Students for Black Lives, and the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association. She volunteered for a variety of pro bono projects and participated in the Transnational Worker Rights Clinic, Capital Punishment Clinic, and Housing Clinic. She spent her summers working with TRLA’s Education Team in San Antonio and Texas Appleseed’s New Projects Team in Austin. As a 3L, she worked for TRLA as a Telephone Access to Justice Associate. Cruz first worked for TRLA as a volunteer on disaster recovery in the fall semester of her sophomore year in college, an experience that inspired her to attend law school to become a legal aid attorney.