Accomplishments

The Commission adopted a five-year Strategic Plan in 2004 and 2009, which establishes major specific initiatives to significantly enhance access to the justice system for low-income and poor Texans. Among the initiatives accomplished thus far through strategic planning are:

To pursue development of its corporate strategy, the Corporate Counsel Committee identified three areas of focus for its work: developing strategic initiatives for the Commission related to in-house corporate counsel, increasing corporate involvement in securing funding for legal services, and increasing pro bono involvement and participation among the large number of corporate in-house counsel.
In each Texas legislative session since the its creation, the Commission has taken an active role in monitoring and promoting legislation to increase access to justice. The Commission also developed “ATJ Day at the Texas Legislature” during which a team of volunteers visits key legislators and leaders to discuss issues critically important to access to justice for low-income Texans. In 2009, working with its partners in access to justice, the Commission helped secure the first ever state appropriation for civil legal services to help address the shortfall in IOLTA funding.
The Commission’s Technology Committee has worked diligently and successfully to improve the technological capacity of Texas legal services programs. The Commission recruited key technology leaders from large Texas law firms who, after extensive research, recommended a one-time bulk purchase of equipment and software totaling $680,000 that would provide baseline technology for every legal aid service provider. The Committee also established a teaching and mentoring course that provides live trainings on Microsoft Word and Excel in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, El Paso, and Lubbock to accommodate legal staff located in various areas of the state.
The Law School Advisory Committee created of a consortium of law schools engaged in the Texas Access to Justice Internship Program. Through this program, law students from Texas law schools are assigned to and work in legal aid offices in underserved areas of the state in which there is no law school. The program has been remarkably successful in providing increased legal services to the poor as well as introducing law students to the need for such public service. Also, both the University of Texas School of Law and Baylor University Law School, in cooperation with the Commission, have created Equal Justice Scholarships. These annual scholarships provide full tuition for the recipients in return for a commitment to practice with a legal services provider for at least three years upon graduation.
The Supreme Court created the Task Force to Expand Legal Services Delivery to expand delivery of legal services to the underserved areas of the state. The Task Force is made up of representatives of State Bar Sections, attorney organizations, the Texas Young Lawyers Association, legal services providers, the Office of Court Administration, and the court reporters association. The Task Force has been engaged in implementing a variety of pro bono efforts throughout the state.
The Commission embarked on a structured program to provide the highest caliber of advocacy training for legal aid lawyers to enhance their trial skills and techniques. Volunteer trainers—predominantly Texas Fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers—contribute their time, talent and expertise to train legal aid lawyers. The participants not only receive outstanding advocacy training at no cost, but they also are encouraged and inspired by the mentoring they receive from some of the finest trial lawyers in the state.