The William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law and Career Services Office recently hosted Andre Segura, Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, as the spring 2021 “Lives in the Law” speaker. Segura spoke about the current state of voting rights in Texas, including battles over access to the polls in the fall 2020 pandemic election and the prospect that the Texas Legislature will move to further restrict voting rights during the current legislative session.
In addition to addressing voting rights, Segura talked about his path to his current position and offered advice for law students interested in pursuing public interest work. Segura majored in chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and attended New York University School of Law. He had intended to become a public defender, but, after his judicial clerkship, he accepted a fellowship with the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program and became a civil rights lawyer specializing in impact litigation. Prior to joining the ACLU of Texas, Segura was most recently a senior staff attorney with the national ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. His practice centered on immigration enforcement abuses by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
The “Lives in the Law” speaker series, hosted by the Justice Center and Career Services Office, focuses on the work and lives of lawyers who strive to improve the lives of others through litigation, advocacy, and public service. Student organization cosponsors of Segura’s talk included the Chicano/Hispanic Law Students Association, If/When/How, the Public Interest Law Association, and the Texas Chapter of the American Constitution Society. Ranjana Natarajan, director of the Texas Law Civil Rights Clinic, facilitated the question-and-answer portion of the event.
The video recording (UT EID Required) of Segura’s talk is available to the University of Texas at Austin community through the end of the spring semester.
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