This week’s edition of P.S. features a federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas who was honored with Baylor’s Lawyer of the Year award, Hurricane Beryl disaster relief information from the State Bar of Texas and a Nacogdoches lawyer committed to the civil justice gap who has joined forces with Legal Service Corporation.
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Nacogdoches lawyer Mitch Mitchell has been named to Legal Service Corporation’s prestigious Emerging Leaders Council, which brings together rising leaders around the U.S. to help increase public awareness of civil legal aid and the importance of access to equal justice for all Americans — regardless of income.
LSC is a nonprofit launched in 1974 by Congress to financially support legal aid organizations that provide civil pro bono legal advice to low-income Americans. LSC currently funds 130 legal aid programs across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. Last week, four people, including Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, testified in Washington to advocate for Congress to provide more funding to LSC so that it can adequately keep up with the increasing need for civil legal aid.
Mitchell is product counsel for the in-house legal department of Trust & Will, a digital estate planning and settlement platform. Before joining Trust & Will in 2022, he practiced in Houston at Gauntt Koen Binney & Kidd as an associate and before that, at Sanders, Bruin, Coll & Worley in Roswell, New Mexico. He got his J.D. at Baylor Law School. Mitchell is involved with New Mexico Legal Aid’s Volunteer Attorney Program, the Land of Enchantment’s leading agency for pro bono legal services for low-income New Mexicans. Mitchell also is a member of the Stone Fort Chorale, a community chorus in East Texas.
“I was concerned about the justice gap for low-income Americans, where pro bono options like legal aid fill a dire need, as well as the lack of affordable options for most other Americans,” Mitchell said.
— The State Bar of Texas has opened a toll-free hotline to answer legal questions for low-income Texans affected by Hurricane Beryl. Those in need can call (800) 504-7030 and receive help with:
- Securing government benefits as they’re made available to disaster victims;
- Life, medical and property insurance claims;
- Dealing with home repair contracts and contractors;
- Replacement of wills and other important legal documents lost or destroyed in the disaster;
- Consumer protection issues, such as price-gouging and avoiding contractor scams in the rebuilding process;
- Mortgage-foreclosure problems; and
- Landlord-tenant problems.
On July 13, the state included 17 Texas counties in the disaster declaration: Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Nacogdoches, Orange Polk, San Jacinto, Walker and Wharton.
Additional disaster recovery resources are available here, here and here.
— The Baylor Law School Alumni Association recently honored U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III as its 2024 Baylor Lawyer of the Year. Mazzant, a judge in the Eastern District of Texas, was honored with this award for his distinguished career, contributions to the legal profession, commitment to service in his community and unwavering commitment to fairness, the law school said.
“The Baylor Lawyer of the Year Award is the highest honor bestowed to a Baylor Lawyer each year,” Interim Dean Patricia A. Wilson said in a statement. “From his legal abilities to professional accomplishments to his commitment to service in his community, Baylor Law School, family, and church, Judge Mazzant represents the best of Baylor Law. It is clear that Judge Mazzant is the right choice for the 2024 Baylor Lawyer of the Year.”
Baylor also recognized Mazzant, who graduated from Baylor Law in 1990, as its Young Baylor Lawyer of the Year in 2002. He is a frequent guest speaker at the law school and has mentored numerous Baylor Law graduates as clerks. As a community servant, Judge Mazzant has held leadership positions in several professional and local organizations, including past president of the Texas Young Lawyers Association, the Grayson County Bar Association and the Sherman Kiwanis Club, and has also been involved in the American Bar Association, Dallas Bar Association and several foundations and community theaters.
Before being appointed to the federal bench in 2014 by President Barack Obama, Mazzant was a federal magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Texas. Before that, he served as a justice on Dallas’ Fifth Court of Appeals. He also spent 12 years as a briefing attorney in the federal courts for Judges Paul Brown, Robert Faulkner and Don D. Bush. While in private practice, Mazzant worked at Wolfe, Tidwell & McCoy in Sherman.