TBJ June 2023
News From Around The Bar
Texas Legal Services Center Launches Statewide Virtual Court Kiosk Project
|
ABOVE: From left, Texas Access to Justice Foundation Executive Director
Betty Balli Torres, Supreme Court of Texas Justice and TAJF liaison
Brett Busby, and Texas Legal Services Center Executive Director Karen
Miller help open one of the state’s first virtual court
kiosks.Photo courtesy of Texas Access to Justice
Foundation.
The Texas Legal Services Center, or TLSC, a nonprofit organization funded by the Texas Access to Justice Foundation, launched on April 24 the Virtual Court Access Project, a statewide pilot project aiming to improve low-income Texans’ ability to receive free legal services through deploying accessible, virtual court kiosks to communities. Supreme Court of Texas Justice Brett Busby, TLSC Executive Director Karen Miller, and Texas Access to Justice Foundation Executive Director Betty Balli Torres celebrated the launch of one of the state’s first virtual court kiosks in Austin. The statewide project will deploy 25 virtual court kiosks to every region of Texas to be installed inside community centers, shelters, clinics, libraries, and other high-traffic locations. For more information about the virtual court kiosks or to access legal help with TLSC, go to tlsc.org/kiosks.
CHAMPIONS OF JUSTICE GALA BENEFITING VETERANS RAISES
$485,000
The Texas Access to Justice Commission, along with its co-sponsor, the
State Bar of Texas, raised $485,000 to help provide civil legal services
to low-income Texas veterans during the Champions of Justice Gala
Benefiting Veterans on April 25 at the Bullock Texas State History
Museum in Austin. Proceeds from the gala will be distributed by the
Texas Access to Justice Foundation, or TAJF. Supreme Court of Texas
Justice and TAJF liaison Brett Busby presented the 2023 James B. Sales
Boots on the Ground Award to Victor L. Hunt, of Legal Aid of NorthWest
Texas, and Maureen O’Connell, of Disability Rights Texas; the 2023 Harry
M. Reasoner Justice for All Award to Thomas S. Leatherbury, director of
SMU Dedman School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic; and the 2023 Emily C.
Jones Lifetime Achievement Award to TAJF Executive Director Betty Balli
Torres.
LEGAL SERVICES TO THE POOR IN CIVIL MATTERS COMMITTEE
ANNOUNCES PRO BONO EXCELLENCE AWARDS WINNERS
The State Bar of Texas Legal Services to the Poor in Civil Matters
Committee has announced its 2023 Pro Bono Excellence awards winners.
Hillary Holmes, of Houston, received the Frank J. Scurlock Award;
Monique Lopez-Hinkley, of Fort Worth, received the J. Chrys Dougherty
Legal Services Award; Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program received the Pro
Bono Award; Julie Stanger, of Houston, received the Pro Bono Coordinator
Award; Courtney Smith, of Houston, received the Pro Bono Support Staff
Award; and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, of Houston, received the W.
Frank Newton Award.
LEGAL SERVICES TO THE POOR IN CRIMINAL MATTERS COMMITTEE
ANNOUNCES INDIGENT DEFENSE AWARDS
Paula Michelle Moore, of Burnet, was awarded the Warren Burnett Award,
which recognizes extraordinary contributions to improving the quality of
criminal legal representation to indigent Texans and honors either an
individual or organization for their work in the courtroom, Legislature,
or in the public sphere. Moore previously served as a public defender at
the North Hill Country Public Defender’s Office in Burnet County.
ABA COMMISSION ON HISPANIC LEGAL RIGHTS &
RESPONSIBILITIES HOSTS THIRD ANNUAL CINCO DE MÚSICA
On May 4, the American Bar Association Commission on Hispanic Legal
Rights & Responsibilities hosted the third annual Cinco de Música, a
nationwide celebration to raise awareness of and support for the ABA
Hispanic Commission. Chaired by Texas Access to Justice Foundation
Executive Director Betty Balli Torres, this event featured music and
spoken word by several performers, including Emilio Estefan, 19-time
Grammy Award winner; Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes; Judge
Peter M. Reyes Jr., of the Minnesota Court of Appeals; and
singer-songwriter Jordana Talsky. Laredo-based attorney Armando X. Lopez
gave a spoken word performance, and Pricilla Mora Garcia, a law student
at Texas Tech University School of Law, also performed.
HOUSTON BAR ASSOCIATION HONORS 2023 AWARD RECIPIENTS
The Houston Bar Association, or HBA, announced the recipients of the
Justice Eugene A. Cook Professionalism Award, the Justice Ruby Kless
Sondock Award, and the HBA President’s Award during the HBA’s annual
dinner on May 11 in Houston. Judge Lee H. Rosenthal, U.S. District Court
judge for the Southern District of Texas, and Reagan W. Simpson, a
partner in Yetter Coleman, received the Justice Eugene A. Cook
Professionalism Award; Ann Ryan Robertson, a partner in Locke Lord,
received the Justice Ruby Kless Sondock Award; and former Houston
Volunteer Lawyers Executive Director Anne Chandler and HVL Chair David
E. Harrell received the HBA President’s Award. The HBA President’s Award
also recognized the six co-chairs of the HBA Law and the Media
Committee: Dean Leonard M. Baynes, of the University of Houston Law
Center; Michelle Morris, of South Texas College of Law Houston;
Professor Elsa Ransom, of Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall
School of Law; Professor John Greil, of the University of Texas School
of Law; Daniella Landers, of Womble Bond Dickinson; and Christopher
Tritico, of Tritico Rainey. TBJ