October 31, 2008
St. Mary’s University School of Law’s Center for Legal and Social Justice was recently awarded a $23,000 grant by the Texas Bar Foundation.
Since its inception in 1965, the Texas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $9 million in grants to law-related programs. Supported by members of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar Foundation is the nation’s largest charitably funded bar foundation.
St. Mary’s Center for Legal and Social Justice addresses the legal needs of low-income people in San Antonio and South Texas. The legal clinics provide representation in the areas of criminal defense, immigration law, and civil matters. The Texas Bar Foundation grant will allow the Center’s Civil Justice Clinic to expand services to the homeless in Webb and surrounding counties, expand the Bexar County outreach sites and further the Clinic’s efforts in providing representation in consumer cases and social security claims.
“We would like to thank the Bar Foundation for their support,” said Ana Novoa, professor of law and director of Clinical Programs. “A significant part of the law educational process at St. Mary’s is the work done at the Center for Legal and Social Justice. Through the clinical work there, we cultivate our students’ aspirations to seek justice for the community.”
St. Mary’s law students enrolled in the clinic class provide pro bono legal representation under the supervision of a faculty member to members of the community in need. In all of the cases, the law student is the lead attorney. The Civil Justice Clinic has been providing free legal services to the San Antonio homeless population for 17 years.