© 2016 The Texas Lawbook.
By Brooks Igo
(Dec. 21) – South Texas College of Law Houston student Maria Ivañez received the “Law Student Pro Bono Award” from the Texas Access to Justice Commission, the law school announced recently.
The award, according to the announcement, is given to a student from an accredited Texas law school who has most enhanced the delivery of quality legal services to poor Texans and underserved communities.
Ivañez was one of 19 finalists. The Texas ATJ Commission granted her a $2,000 stipend in addition to her award.
“Maria helped a tremendous amount of people in desperate need of legal assistance during law school,” Trish McAllister, executive director of the Texas Access to Justice Commission, said in a statement. “She is an impressive, compassionate person and I know, as a new attorney, she will continue to make lives better in her community.”
As a student at South Texas College of Law Houston, Ivañez helped minorities process Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals applications in the school’s Immigration Clinic and seek humanitarian visas in the Asylum and Human Trafficking Clinic.
Ivañez could identify with her clients. She was an undocumented immigrant for 10 years before she filed her own papers to become an American citizen.
“Having been in their place as a “Dreamer,” I knew that my clients had faced a difficult journey just to be sitting in front of me,” she said in a statement. “Because I am bilingual, I was able to break the language barrier many immigrants face, and apply knowledge gained in law school to improve the lives of my clients and their families.”
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