Executive Director's Page • January 2026

After the Freeze, Legal Aid Is a Lifeline

This Month Marks The Fifth Anniversary Of Winter Storm Uri, which paralyzed parts of Texas and led the governor to issue a state of disaster declaration for all of the state’s 254 counties. Many of us recall living for days or weeks without power; some also went without water. Freezing temperatures left roads across the state icy and unsafe, making it impossible for most of those affected to travel to safer ground.

Natural disasters like Uri impact all of us, but for our low-income neighbors, they can have particularly dire consequences. Many of our fellow Texans cannot afford the civil legal help they need when an unexpected disaster wreaks havoc on their home or livelihood. That’s where legal aid attorneys and private attorneys doing pro bono work can make a big difference in someone’s life.

Amir Befroui is an attorney with Lone Star Legal Aid. He and his colleagues helped an elderly Houston woman who nearly lost her home after Uri. After the freeze, she had lost water service and hired a plumber to fix it. The work was shoddy and even after it was done, she didn’t have working toilets or faucets. Her home was unusable.

When she refused to pay for the work, the plumber put a mechanic’s lien on her home. The home was fully paid for, and she intended to leave it to her family. Now she stood to lose it. She contacted Lone Star Legal Aid and Befroui and his colleagues sued the plumber on her behalf. After three years of pre-trial work, the case was settled in the summer of 2024, and the mechanic’s lien was removed. Now, the woman uses her knowledge and experience to help her neighbors find legal help in their own times of need. “[It is] just amazing to see how empowering legal services can be,” Befroui said.

You, too, can provide desperately needed legal help to fellow Texans. One way is to donate money or pledge pro bono hours to State Bar of Texas President Santos Vargas’ “Stand with Santos” campaign. All funds go directly to the Texas Access to Justice Foundation, which grants funds to legal aid agencies and other providers that help less-fortunate Texans get the legal help they need in trying times. Go to standwithsantos.org to participate.

The State Bar of Texas also publishes an online manual for attorneys wanting to help after disasters. Updated every year by our Legal Access Department in collaboration with partners around the state, this manual contains information on how attorneys can help disaster victims with a wide range of civil legal issues. To access the manual, go to texasbar.com/disastermanual.

Sincerely,

TREY APFFEL
Executive Director, State Bar of Texas
Editor in Chief, Texas Bar Journal