In this edition of P.S., we bring to you an exclusive Q&A with the first staff attorney hired under the new statewide Rural Justice Initiative, backed with $26.7 million from the Texas Supreme Court.
Emily Erdmann, a Marine Corps veteran, will initially work out of Lone Star Legal Aid’s Bryan office before relocating to a county designated as a legal desert. In our interview, she shares why she was drawn to the rural needs.
We also report on South Texas College of Law Houston President and Dean Reynaldo “Rey” Anaya Valencia’s full-circle moment. In law school, Valencia aspired to champion major civil rights litigation on behalf of Latinos for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Though his career took him in a different direction, Valencia has carved out opportunities to address issues affecting the Latino community through his teaching, scholarship and public service, and this month MALDEF honored him with its Lifetime Achievement – Excellence in Community Service Award.
Lone Star Legal Aid Names First Staff Attorney For New Statewide Rural Justice Initiative
Lone Star Legal Aid has announced the hiring of Emily Erdmann as the first staff attorney under the new statewide Rural Justice Initiative.
Erdmann, a Marine Corps veteran and former college government professor, will initially work out of LSLA’s Bryan office before relocating to a county designated as a legal desert. There, she will establish a local outpost to provide civil legal assistance to eligible low-income residents.
Last month, the Texas Access to Justice Foundation announced the Rural Justice Initiative, a multiyear collaboration among seven legal aid organizations to establish a network of 170 legal aid offices across rural Texas. The Texas Supreme Court provided $26.7 million to fund the effort.
Currently, legal aid organizations maintain staffed offices in just 42 of Texas’ 254 counties. Nearly half of the state’s counties have fewer than one attorney per 1,000 residents, and many of its 190 rural counties are considered legal deserts, according to TAJF.
“A strong justice system must be accessible to all Texans, including those who don’t live near metropolitan areas,” Texas Supreme Court Justice Brett Busby said.
In the following Q&A with The Lawbook, Erdmann explains how her desire to help people who fall through the legal system’s cracks led her to pursue a law degree and this historic position.
The Texas Lawbook: Where did you grow up?
Emily Erdmann: My family relocated to Duncanville, TX, from the Chicago area when I was in grade school. I still claim both as “home,” though.
The Lawbook: Where did you attend law school, and what initially drew you to the legal profession?
Erdmann: I attended South Texas College of Law Houston’s “flex” program, a part-time hybrid in-person and online option. I have always been fascinated by the law, and especially Constitutional principles. My father was a historian by education, and he instilled that knowledge and passion in me from a young age. I have wanted to become an attorney ever since I shadowed one in high school, but I was not ready for law school until much later in life. Teaching government for many years, with a focus on civil liberties and civil rights, is what really pushed me toward finally pursuing my dream of entering the legal profession.
The Lawbook: Tell us about your professional background. Where did you work before joining Lone Star Legal Aid?
Erdmann: After a brief stint in the military, I spent years in hospitality management, then taught government at Blinn College in Bryan for over a decade. I love being in the classroom and being challenged by my students – they have prepared me to answer hard questions! I just took the Bar this past February and spent the summer doing solo work in the Brazos Valley.
The Lawbook: What drew you to the new statewide Rural Justice Initiative? Why did you want this job?
Erdmann: I knew going into law school that I was interested in focusing on people who fall through the cracks in our legal system. When I learned about the Rural Justice Initiative and its commitment to bringing the legal system to populations with little access, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I had several conversations with attorneys and staff at Lone Star Legal Aid and was deeply impressed with their dedication to serving local communities. Honestly, it was the passion with which they spoke of their careers in legal aid that inspired me to pursue the job.
The Lawbook: Have you had any personal or professional experiences that shaped your interest in serving rural communities?
Erdmann: Teaching at Blinn opened my eyes to the different experiences of people from across Texas. I taught Texas Government and would find myself having deep conversations with students in the classroom about how Texas laws affected them in a variety of ways. Having only lived in metropolitan areas, I did not have the same (or even similar) lived experiences and found myself wanting to learn more about them and their backgrounds.
The Lawbook: As the initiative’s first staff attorney, you’re helping build something new. What excites you most about that opportunity, and what challenges do you anticipate?
Erdmann: I am most excited to bring legal services to these communities and provide relief for individuals and families. I am looking forward to building partnerships with local organizations and finding established community locations for us to meet with clients. Being based in places people already trust and visit can only help make the legal help more accessible. I am also incredibly excited to work with other people passionate about this initiative. I think there are learning curves with any new initiative, but I think building that trust within the community can also be a challenge. When a new service comes to an underserved community, I think there will always be some mistrust: mistrust of whether the initiative will help the community, of the intentions behind it, and how it will affect the community.
The Lawbook: When you think about the people this initiative is intended to serve, what do you hope will be different about their lives because this program exists?
Erdmann: I hope that people who would normally not have any access to the legal system can get their legal problems addressed. Even a minor legal issue can have a huge effect on an individual or their family. Whether it is relationships or the financial aspects, I hope we can alleviate or mitigate some of these effects for the people we seek to serve.
The Lawbook: What do you wish more attorneys understood about the need for legal services in rural communities?
Erdmann: Something as simple as not having reliable transportation is a huge barrier for an individual needing to travel to another county to obtain legal services. If the closest office is an hour away, or they don’t know that legal aid is available to them, they might assume it will always be out of their reach. I would love for more attorneys to see how invisible the legal need in these areas can be. Many legal problems go completely unaddressed — or worse — if an individual does not know they have access to legal aid. I think it is important for attorneys to listen to the people who need services in these communities to learn about the real difficulties and issues they face.
South Texas College of Law Dean Honored with MALDEF Lifetime Achievement Award
South Texas College of Law Houston President and Dean Reynaldo “Rey” Anaya Valencia was recently honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund for his decades of contributions to legal education, public service and advocacy for the Latino community.
Valencia, the first Hispanic person and person of color to lead the law school, accepted MALDEF’s Lifetime Achievement – Excellence in Community Service Award at the organization’s Oct. 9 awards gala in San Antonio.
He described it as a full-circle moment.
When he enrolled at Harvard Law School, Valencia aspired to become a MALDEF attorney, championing major civil rights litigation on behalf of Latinos. But, as he explained to The Lawbook in a profile last year, mounting debt from earning three degrees at private universities led him down a different career path.
“I am so deeply touched, honored and humbled to be chosen for this honor,” Valencia said. “I cannot express how grateful I am to receive this award.”
Although his career took him in a different direction, Valencia carved out opportunities to address issues affecting the Latino community through his teaching, scholarship and public service.
After graduating from Harvard Law in 1990, Valencia practiced corporate bankruptcy and general corporate law at Jones Day in Dallas while also teaching courses on race, racism and gender discrimination as an adjunct professor at Texas Tech School of Law.
From 1999 to 2000, Valencia served as a White House fellow in the Office of the Chief of Staff, where he worked on race, civil rights, immigration and Hispanic education.
He co-authored the 2004 book Mexican Americans and the Law: ¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!
“Reynaldo Valencia has long been a leading Latino figure in law school education, especially in the critical state of Texas; as such, he has influenced the development of the law today and in the future in immeasurable ways,” said Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of MALDEF. “His work has been and continues to be instrumental in addressing the issues and meeting the needs of the Latino community.”
Read The Lawbook’s profile and Q&A with Valencia here.