Finding that a pre-1991 Texas death sentence had been imposed in violation of the Eighth Amendment, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a brief per curiam opinion on March 27, 2013, vacating the death sentence of Marlin Nelson. Nelson was represented in his appeal by University of Texas School of Law Professors Rob Owen and Jordan Steiker, assisted by the students of the Law School’s Capital Punishment Clinic.
Texas receives highest award in nation through development of innovative, progressive pilot.
The Law School’s William Wayne Justice Center has received a $500,000 grant from the Texas General Land Office to fund work on the Texas Title Homeownership Opportunity Program Project. The GLO grant comes from federal funds designated to assist Hurricanes Dolly and Ike survivors relocate to higher opportunity neighborhoods. The project is part of a larger coordinated hurricane recovery program that includes the participation of communities affected by the disasters, advocates for low-income survivors, and local, state, and federal agencies.
The Law School’s clinics were honored February 6, 2013, during the halftime of the University of Texas at Austin Women’s Basketball team’s game against Iowa State University.
The Law School’s Immigration Clinic and the Pro Bono Program help qualified immigrants who grew up in the United States pursue their dreams through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
In recognition of National Pro Bono Week (October 21-27, 2012), the UT Law Pro Bono Program celebrates the pro bono efforts of members of the Law School community. Recently the Pro Bono Program spoke with Nicole Simmons, director of Public Service Programs in the UT Law Career Services Office, about her pro bono service.
The Community Development Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law has released a report examining the City of Austin’s ad hoc policy for dealing with tenant displacement issues in conjunction with the demolition of an apartment complex on East Riverside Drive last year that displaced more than five hundred low-income tenants. In order to better protect tenants who are displaced from future apartment demolitions, the report recommends the adoption of a uniform citywide tenant relocation ordinance with stronger enforcement mechanisms.
The University of Texas School of Law and Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs released a major report on low-income homeowners in Texas colonias and other informal housing settlements developed with limited infrastructure and poor housing conditions. Commissioned in August 2011 by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs at the request of the Texas Sunset Commission, the report will be discussed at a presentation on October 19, 2012, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the University of Texas School of Law, room TNH 3.127.
Faculty and eight students from the University of Texas School of Law’s Supreme Court Clinic will travel to Washington, D.C., to hear oral arguments in one of their current cases, Fane Lozman v. The City of Riviera Beach, Florida, on Monday, October 1, 2012, the opening of the United States Supreme Court’s current term. The case will be argued by David C. Frederick, ’89, codirector of the Supreme Court Clinic and partner at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel PLLC, in Washington, D.C. This will be Frederick’s thirty-eighth argument before the Court.
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.