In this week’s P.S. column, the San Antonio Legal Services Association and another nonprofit are seeking volunteer lawyers to participate in a housing rights workshop on Saturday to educate tenants on housing rights and show them how to draft repair requests. Also, the Center for Women in Law will honor Reed Smith global managing partner Casey Ryan with the Hortense Ward Courageous Leader Award at its April 4 luncheon, featuring BBC journalist Katty Kay as keynote speaker. Finally, The Texas Lawbook invites submissions on pro bono collaborations between corporate legal departments and law firms for a new monthly column.
P.S. — Food from the Bar Campaign Benefits North Texas Food Bank, $5M Gift Creates Law School’s Business and Transaction Law Center, Firm Covers Lyft Rides from Rodeo Houston
Let the competition begin. In this week’s P.S. column, the North Texas Food Bank is set to soon start its annual “Food from the Bar” campaign, a friendly competition among the Dallas-area legal community to raise food for children while they’re out of school this coming summer. Also, St. Mary’s University School of Law got a generous gift to create a center for business and transaction law. And one law firm is making sure Houston Rodeo participants get home safe with free Lyft rides.
Self-Reflection, Growth, and Guiding the Next Generation
Preparation and curiosity will carry you further than perfection. As you grow, you outgrow certain mentors and find new ones who challenge and shape you in different ways. It’s a lifelong process — and that’s one of the greatest lessons I can share with the next generation of women attorneys: mentorship, learning, and growth are never one-and-done. They’re constant companions on your career journey.
EEOC Targets 13 Law Firms Operating in Texas for DEI Initiatives
The new acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sent a 10-page letter to 20 different corporate law firms — 13 of them with operations in Texas, though no Texas-based law firms — demanding detailed information about their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and decision making. The letters, which are addressed to the leaders of each of the law firms, demand that they “fully identify all clients that have diversity preferences or any demographic-related requirements for matters, including but not limited to race or sex requirements for the employees staffed on their matters.”
O’Melveny, SMU Law Clinic Secure Pro Bono Win for Permanent Injunction Over Jail’s Mail Policy
U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant entered a permanent injunction in a First and Fourteenth Amendment lawsuit against Grayson County and its sheriff that requires the jail to allow books, magazines and other correspondence sent to incarcerated people from the nonprofit prison advocacy Human Rights Defense Center. The Florida-based group is represented on a pro bono basis by O’Melveny & Meyers and the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic.
P.S. — Toyota and Baker Botts Bring Legal Aid — and Laughter — to Exploited Victims
For several weeks that a woman found refuge at Dallas’ New Friends New Life for formerly trafficked and sexually exploited victims, the staff hadn’t seen a small measure of her joy: laughter.
Finally, at a pro bono legal intake clinic with attorneys from Toyota North America and Baker Botts, staffers caught a glimmer of hope as they heard the woman laugh after receiving legal aid. It was a moment that resonated with the staff and the volunteer lawyers, said Scott Young, managing counsel of Toyota North America in Plano.
“That is more than just turning a page,” Young said. “That’s like freeing her from her limitations.”
P.S. — Free Citizens Law School in San Antonio, Tennis Clinics for Boys & Girls, $82K Raised from Law Rocks Concert
All right, all right, all right. In this week’s P.S. column, St. Mary’s School of Law and the San Antonio Bar Association announce their annual People’s Law School event. Dallas lawyers fundraised to the tune of $82,000 for local charities through a battle of the bands style concert. The Austin office of Latham & Watkins sponsored a youth tennis clinic for Boys & Girls Club and sponsored the WTA tournament that drew a local celebrity. And The Texas Lawbook needs your help identifying scholarships for low-income students who need assistance.
Fort Worth Family Gets Win Against Landlord in Case Lynn Pinker Handled Pro Bono
Jessica Cox and Gloria Cangé, young lawyers from the firm, won a swift jury verdict over conditions in “a really horrible house.”
And Justice for All … of Those Who Can Afford It
A new bill was recently filed in the Texas House to ease the burden of landlords that want to evict a tenant. It provides for sweeping reforms to the Texas Property Code, all of which are aimed at removing due process protections and denying tenants access to justice, such as getting help from legal aid lawyers. Afterall, it’s much easier to evict tenants that can’t defend themselves. And if you can’t win in a fair fight, then simply make sure the fight is rigged.
I’m not arguing that eviction is inherently wrong. Private property owners should be paid for the use of their property. But I am saying that evictions should be executed lawfully. It’s only the unlawful evictions I have a problem with. It just turns out, that describes most of them. And by the way, we only win the cases where the landlord proceeded unlawfully.
We shouldn’t fix this problem by making lawful what is currently unlawful. And we certainly shouldn’t fix it by removing due process and accountability from the system so that landlords can return to an environment where noncompliance with the law is simply overlooked and the poor can be denied their rights as a matter of course.
P.S. — AT&T and Halliburton GCs: Legal Aid ‘Is a Texas Issue that Deserves Your Voice and Advocacy’
Lawyers, corporate general counsel and leaders of the Texas legal profession — 467 of them to be exact — received an email letter Thursday from AT&T General Counsel David McAtee and Halliburton Chief Legal Officer Van Beckwith announcing the annual Champions of Justice Gala that raises funds for Texas Access to Justice and military veterans. The 2025 Gala — to be held on April 30 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin — will feature Equal Justice Initiative Executive Director Bryan Stevenson, author of New York Times bestseller Just Mercy, which was made into a major motion picture of the same name. “To me, the Champions of Justice Gala has always been special,” McAtee said. “Working with Van to extend its reach and legacy is a real thrill. The funds we raise are dedicated to the many legal needs of our veterans. Last year, we set a fundraising record. We hope to shatter that record this year.”