Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Ruby Kless Sondock, the first woman to serve on the Texas Supreme Court in a regular session and Harris County’s first female district judge, died last week at age 100. Sondock, a 1961 graduate of the University of Houston Law Center, leaves an enduring impact on the legal profession, particularly by advancing opportunities for women in the law, the school said.
In this edition of P.S., Haynes Boone associate Sean Lewis was recently recognized for more than 400 hours of pro bono service last year, including his trial representation of a minister and gospel singer who won a $973,000 jury verdict in a fraud lawsuit against a longtime acquaintance and former business partner. The Texas Lawbook previously profiled Lewis and his Haynes Boone colleagues on the case.
Under the second Trump administration, Asylum grants have fallen to their lowest level since 2009. Against that backdrop, a Holland & Knight team’s pro bono win for a Honduran mother and son places them among a small group of attorneys nationwide securing asylum victories in an incredibly difficult landscape.
General counsel and chief legal officers from 132 of America’s biggest companies — including AT&T, USAA and Oracle — are urging Congress to fully fund the Legal Services Corporation, arguing that civil legal aid strengthens economic stability for families, communities and businesses. The executives signed a May 29 letter to every member of Congress asking lawmakers to provide sufficient funding for fiscal year 2027 to LSC, the federal nonprofit that funds civil legal aid organizations nationwide. At least a dozen Texas-based legal leaders joined the effort.
In this edition of P.S., now former State Bar President Santos Vargas announced that his term’s fundraising campaign, Stand with Santos, raised more than $600,000 through pro bono commitments and direct contributions benefitting the Texas Access to Justice Foundation. During his last meeting as president, Vargas also recognized several leaders and organizations with presidential citations.
Legal leaders gathered virtually this week for the American Bar Association’s Equity Summit, where speakers discussed the progress the profession has made on diversity, equity and inclusion while acknowledging the challenges that remain amid the current political landscape.
Martha Hardwick Hofmeister was a freshly minted lawyer and new to Dallas when she joined the Dallas Bar Association because, she recalled, “I thought that’s what you were supposed to do when you’re a lawyer.”
She joined the association’s entertainment committee and had to miss a meeting. She got a letter shortly thereafter appointing her director of a new project, a show without a lot of structure, that would raise funds for the newly established Sarah T. Hughes Diversity Scholarship.
Four decades later, Hofmeister is still the director of that production. Bar None, a lawyer-written and lawyer-performed musical comedy, has raised more than $2.5 million for full-ride law school scholarships. Over the years, the cast and crew have cultivated a Bar None family that has celebrated cast members who marry and have children and have rallied together in the hard times, including the loss of teammates.
In this edition of P.S., Kirkland & Ellis partner Michael Considine is calling on the legal community to give blood at the second annual Knock Out the Need Blood Drive taking place June 15-16. We also feature Efrain Vera, who recently jumped from Reed Smith to become the director of the pro bono affiliate of Brewer Attorneys & Counselors.
When Sarita Prabhu and Jacque Kruppa first enrolled their sons in recreational soccer, it cost about $80.
But as the boys advanced into more competitive leagues, the price tag climbed to upwards of $5,000.
They saw other kids drop out because their families could not keep up with the rising costs.
Prabhu, managing vice president and legal counsel at Gartner, and Kruppa, a partner and transactional lawyer at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, occasionally made donations to their nonprofit soccer club to bridge the gap. But they also began thinking about how they could make a broader impact after seeing the value soccer provided their kids beyond the field – leadership, teamwork, strategy, grit and exposure to diverse groups of kids.
The result was Dallas Soccer Scholars, which launched in July, obtained 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in January, and has accepted 12 scholars into the program. Additional applications are pending for the 2026-2027 season. The organization has also sponsored two soccer tournament teams to ease travel costs.
That and more in this edition of P.S.
In this edition of P.S., we cover a Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee hearing on how the state’s law schools can help address a lawyer shortage in rural parts of Texas. Lawmakers heard from Texas A&M University School of Law Dean Robert Ahdieh and SMU Dedman School of Law Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center Executive Director Pamela Metzger, among others, about how the legislature, bar and universities can work together to ease the gap.
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