When speaking to fellow lawyers, Santos Vargas often asks them a question to illustrate a point.
“How many of you could hire yourselves for a protracted legal dispute? How many of you could actually afford that?”
The point is that many people don’t have the financial means to hire a lawyer when faced with a legal problem, which is why the newly minted State Bar of Texas president is on a campaign to raise money for low-income Texans to access legal services.
Vargas kicked off the “Stand With Santos” fundraiser last month at the State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting when he assumed his term as president. He aspires to raise $300,000 during his one-year term.
In the wake of the July 4 flooding that devastated the Texas Hill Country, Vargas has committed all donations through July 31 to legal aid disaster relief.
The funds are distributed to the Texas Access to Justice Foundation, a nonprofit organization that channels the money to legal aid organizations across the state.
“As lawyers, we’re so incredibly blessed to practice in a profession that does so much for us, and so for me, it’s just incredibly important to try to give back to the community,” Vargas said.
Helping the disadvantaged was a primary motivator for becoming a lawyer in the first place.
Vargas was born to Mexican immigrants and raised in the southeastern city of Port Arthur, near the border of Texas and Louisiana. His father, originally from a small rural part of Mexico that lacked a viable path to education, owned a roofing business, and Vargas grew up working alongside his dad.
Port Arthur has long been home to a large population of immigrants, and Vargas witnessed people in his town with backgrounds like his who succumbed to “bad outcomes” because they couldn’t afford legal aid or a lawyer was not in close proximity. People had homes repossessed and cars taken away, he said. Some people suffered injuries and — not knowing they could be entitled to legal remedies — resigned to living with those ailments.
“Seeing some of the injustices that people were subjected to — just because they didn’t have access to legal services — and being able to do some small part to give back and help bridge the gap, I think is important,” Vargas said.
Vargas obtained his undergraduate degree from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio before going to Syracuse University College of Law in New York. After law school, Vargas returned to San Antonio, where he says one of the first things he did was get involved with the San Antonio Bar Association’s pro bono efforts.
At the time, the bar association had a Community Justice Program that paired attorneys with clients in need. Through that program, Vargas took on pro bono cases ranging from divorces to wills and probate issues. His now-wife, Patty Vargas, led the program’s wills clinic.
Vargas eventually became president of the San Antonio Bar Association, and under his leadership, a new board was created specifically for the Community Justice Program, which is now the San Antonio Legal Services Association, commonly referred to as SALSA.
Patty Vargas — who has been involved in pro bono efforts her entire career, according to her husband — is the current San Antonio Bar Association president.
The couple works together at Davis & Santos, which has offices in San Antonio, Boerne and New Braunfels. (The Santos in the firm name refers to founding partner Sarah P. Santos). They live with their three children in the Texas Hill Country, about an hour from the flood-wrecked Kerrville.
Vargas was joined on stage by his wife and children when he was sworn in as State Bar president last month. In the moments after his swearing-in, Vargas announced the Stand With Santos campaign, which he called his “signature initiative.”
“When you Stand with Santos, you stand with Seaman First Class Chester Robey, who defended our freedoms and our values in both World War II and the Korean War and who almost died homeless — who would have died homeless — if legal aid lawyers weren’t there to help him keep his home,” Vargas told attendees. He went on to name a mother who, with her daughter, escaped an abusive spouse and a child with serious health needs who was mistakenly denied Medicaid benefits who legal aid attorneys helped.
Vargas also said that by joining his campaign, donors stood with the Texas Supreme Court and legendary justice advocates, including Harriet Miers and Betty Balli Torres.
“You stand on the right side of history,” Vargas said.
Vargas ended with a plea to invite him to speak at bar associations, to collaborate on fundraising events and to “help you make Texas the best state in the country for our veterans, for women, for senior citizens and for our children.”
The Stand With Santos campaign may be found online at standwithsantos.org/
Krista Torralva is The Texas Lawbook’s full-time pro bono, public service and diversity reporter. Her position is funded by the Texas Lawbook Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3). Your support is essential in helping us sustain this position, ensuring we can continue to provide in-depth reporting that matters to the Texas legal community. To learn more about the Foundation and how you can contribute to its mission, click here.
The Lawbook also seeks examples of pro bono projects and cases and public service efforts. Please contact krista.torralva@texaslawbook.net.