In recognition of National Pro Bono Week (October 23–29, 2011), 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 Jake Gilbreath, a 2009 UT Law graduate and an attorney at Piper & Turner PLLC, about his pro bono work in family law.
In anticipation of National Pro Bono Week (October 23–29), the Pro Bono Program is pleased to announce that the application for the 2012 Pro Bono in January trip will be available on Monday, October 24. Pro Bono in January is an annual winter break trip that gives law students the opportunity to engage in meaningful pro bono work in low-income communities. This year, the Pro Bono Program will take forty to fifty students as well as several faculty members to the Texas Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, and El Paso during the second week of January.
The Law School’s Pro Bono Program and the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law will live-stream the White House’s “Champions of Change” event at the Law School on Thursday, October 13, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. CST in the Goodwin Conference Room, CCJ 1.312.
The William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law is joining the LBJ School of Public Affairs to undertake a major study for the Texas Legislature on the use of contracts for deed in Texas colonias. The study will focus on title issues, variations of contracts for deed, and abuses during the sale of property in these communities. It will also examine wider issues of title irregularity as these emerge through informal land sales, subdivision, and intestate inheritance.
Students at Austin’s Webb Middle School set up their own dispute resolution forum with the help of Law School students and professors.
On January 9–14, 2011, thirty-three students and four faculty members from the University of Texas School of Law spent the last week of their winter break in the Texas Rio Grande Valley helping to provide pro bono legal assistance in underserved communities.
Joining the American Bar Association’s weeklong National Pro Bono Celebration, the UT Law Pro Bono Program will host two related events highlighting the importance of pro bono work in the legal profession—a book talk by Ian Graham, author of Unbillable Hours: A True Story, and a screening of the film Mario’s Story.