Grant will be used to fund attorney supervision of law students representing children in juvenile court.
AUSTIN, Texas — Today The University of Texas School of Law announced that its Juvenile Justice Clinic received a major grant from the Texas Bar Foundation to assist it in its mission to provide high quality legal services to low income children charged with offenses in the juvenile justice system and to enhance the ethical and professional practice of law by educating law students through this representation.
"We are thrilled to be awarded this grant which enables our law students to continue providing services to children in Travis County," said Pam Sigman, director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic.
The Juvenile Justice Clinic, founded in 1975, offers litigation experience to students and exposes them to the operations of the juvenile justice system, by placing them as student attorneys with the Travis County Juvenile Public Defender. Clients are indigent juveniles, aged 10 to 17, who are charged with criminal offenses ranging from Class B misdemeanors to first degree felonies. Student attorneys are assigned a caseload for which they have primary responsibility under the supervision of an attorney in the public defender's office. The student attorneys perform all investigation, interview, discovery, plea bargain and litigation functions on their cases. During the first month of meetings of the clinic, the class travels to Marlin, Texas to tour a Texas Youth Commission facility and meets with juveniles who have been sentenced to TYC. Additionally, the class adopts a local middle school and speaks to seventh grade students about their constitutional rights/protections and the consequences of violating the law. More than 800 law students have participated in the program providing legal representation on more than 5000 cases.
Since its inception in 1965, the Texas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $6 million in grants to law-related programs. Supported by members of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar Foundation is the nation's largest charitably-funded bar foundation. For more than three decades, the Texas Bar Foundation has strengthened organizations to educate the public about their rights and responsibilities under the law, provide legal advice to the poor, and help those who turn to the legal system for protection.
Related links:
The
Juvenile Justice Clinic
Texas Bar Foundation