Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
A pro bono team of lawyers who went to trial seeking air conditioning in Texas prisons notched a major win Tuesday when U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman ruled that the state’s un-air-conditioned prisons violate the Eighth Amendment and ordered Texas to install air conditioning throughout its prison system by the end of 2029.
For the third time, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has sent a Texas prisoner’s long-running sleep-deprivation lawsuit back to a federal district court, finding the judge had again applied legal standards the appeals court had previously rejected. Since 2019, Haynes Boone has dedicated about 1,200 hours to the case.
The Texas Indigent Defense Commission has approved more than $1.8 million in targeted grants aimed at strengthening indigent defense systems across the state as counties grapple with a growing attorney shortage, particularly in rural counties. The number of lawyers handling indigent defense cases in rural Texas declined 29 percent between 2014 and 2024, TIDC Executive Director Scott Ehlers said.
After 10 years representing a Venezuelan political activist on a pro bono basis, lawyers with Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann secured asylum for their client after an immigration judge found he had been subjected to a systematic campaign of persecution by the Venezuelan government because of his political beliefs.
A Dallas homeowner who is prohibited from selling her Habitat for Humanity home for more than $160,000 was twice taxed based on appraisals valuing the house at nearly double that amount. Haynes Boone lawyers handling the matter pro bono recently secured an agreed judgment requiring the Dallas Central Appraisal District to recognize the home’s deed restriction when determining its taxable value, ending a dispute the attorneys say threatened to undermine the purpose of affordable home ownership programs.
In this edition of P.S., the J.L. Turner Legal Association in Dallas and the San Antonio Bar Foundation recently announced the honorees for their annual award ceremonies. Among those being recognized are prominent criminal defense lawyer Cheryl Wattley and U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, whose sharply worded ruling condemning the Trump administration’s immigration tactics drew national attention earlier this year.
We also cover the Houston Bar Foundation, which is providing $30,000 in scholarships across Houston’s three law schools to support students pursuing careers in public interest law and public service. In addition, the foundation has opened applications for the second year of its Community Grants Program, which awarded $100,000 to 15 community projects during its inaugural funding cycle.
Attorneys taking on immigration matters pro bono may find a newly launched mentorship initiative from the Austin-based nonprofit VECINA especially valuable. Supported by a grant from the Texas Bar Foundation, the Texas Immigration Legal Resiliency Program offers virtual office hours where participants can seek guidance on immigration cases. We’ve got the details.
And finally, Yetter Coleman has joined the ACLU of Texas and the national ACLU in a lawsuit challenging the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents’ restrictions on teaching about race, gender and sexuality. The Houston-based litigation boutique is handling the matter on a pro bono basis.
Steven Schulman has spent the past three decades helping reshape the role of pro bono work in Big Law. After building Latham & Watkins’ pro bono program, he persuaded Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld to create a full-time pro bono partnership for him. Since then, he has watched corporate firm pro bono work expand from fewer than 1 million hours nationwide in 1994 to more than 5 million annually today, a transformation that mirrors his own rise as one of the country’s leading pro bono advocates. Colleagues say Schulman, who is based in Dallas, has helped drive that growth, leveraging his role to shape not only Akin’s pro bono program but also the broader legal profession’s approach to public service.
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.
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