Supervisors
“We are extremely appreciative of the assistance that we received this summer from the Access to Justice Internship Program. We are a small office with few resources and we worked on several very complex cases this year and the interns were indispensable. We also very much appreciated the fact that the program has dramatically increased the number of interns we have had that are from the Rio Grande Valley.”
Abner Burnett, Director, South Texas Civil Rights Project
“This important partnership between Texas law schools and legal services providers got off to an auspicious start this summer. TRLA was fortunate to be able to augment its limited resources along the Mexican border with an eager and motivated group of student interns. The students were equally fortunate to be able to apply the conceptual and analytical skills they have learned in the classroom to real world clients with real world legal problems. It was truly a win-win situation for all of us.”
David Hall, Executive Director, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
“A law student's willingness to work for a legal aid program in South Texas reflects her/his commitment to make a real difference with his/her talents, particularly when personal gain would be greater in other employment. And the Access to Justice Internship is invaluable in facilitating the opportunity for a student to help disadvantaged people in real need.”
Pedro S. Cruz, Branch Manager, TexasRioGrande Legal Aid (Harlingen)
“It has been difficult, historically, to recruit law clerks to some of the more economically disadvantaged border areas in Texas, so the Access to Justice Internship program has been a blessing to the legal services offices along the border. We all appreciate the work that the program coordinators have done to help ensure that our offices, and our clients, benefit from intelligent and hardworking students.”
Pablo Javier Almaguer, Branch Manager, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (Edinburg)
Interns
“I had many opportunities to draft different types of documents and I have no doubt this benefited me. I drafted two memos, an educational leaflet for the community, a proposed city ordinance (which subsequently passed), client letters, a petition in condemnation, and the first draft of what will become a supplemental brief alerting the court to a recent favorable Supreme Court ruling. I was very excited about each and every one of these projects. Theoretically, I have always understood the important role that writing skills play in the career of a lawyer. Now I see more realistically the volume of product a lawyer must produce.”
Sarah Allen, South Texas College of Law
“I gained a better understanding of some of the problems that the poor encounter in accessing the legal system. Even though I do not plan to practice public interest law after I graduate from law school, I know that I want to work in a law firm that is responsive to the needs of the poor and does a significant amount of pro bono work in the Valley.”
Gene Vaughan, Texas Wesleyan University School of Law
“I had a wonderful experience with the South Texas Internship. The program provides Texas law students with the fantastic opportunity to work in an under-served area of Texas and get great hands-on legal experience. The internship reaffirmed my desire to work in public interest law particularly serving low-income communities in Texas.”
Amber Van Schuyver , UT School of Law
“From this externship I gained knowledge about certain areas of law that I had not had the opportunity to work on. My experience exposed me to different areas of civil rights law that were both interesting and exciting. I also gained a better idea of the direction that I would like to take my career in. Working at a non profit is a definite option when I start interviewing on campus this last year of law school.”
Suleima Mohamed, St. Mary’s University School of Law
“I participated in intakes, a couple of depositions, including part of the client preparation for the deposition, and two night court sessions. These experiences cast light on the daily practice of law, especially in the context of poverty law. I now feel more confident about my future career because I have a better understanding of what it means to be a lawyer. I feel like I have context for my substantive studies now, which I did not have before.”
Sarah Allen, South Texas College of Law
“My work greatly improved my legal skills. I feel that I am better able to conduct legal
research quickly and effectively. I now have a much better understanding of how to draft various pleadings and orders. I also have learned a lot about family law and immigration issues that I did not know about before. I have gained a better understanding of how attorneys handle cases from start to finish and I have also gained a better understanding of how to handle common problems that arise in the areas of family law, border rights, and immigration.”
Amber Van Schuyver, UT School of Law
