FELLOWSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT – Winter 2021
POSITION: Fellowship – Legal Aid of Northwest Texas (Tarrant County Medical-Legal Partnership)
CLOSING DATE: Closed When Filled
LOCATION: Fort Worth, Texas
EMPLOYER: LANWT is a non-profit law firm which provides free civil legal assistance to low-income clients in North and West Texas. LANWT provides assistance with a variety of legal matters including wills, federal tax issues, family law issues, public benefits, foreclosure prevention, consumer protection, community revitalization and other income maintenance. The Tarrant County MLP’s multidisciplinary team is dedicated to advocating for the people they serve and are especially passionate about helping those who lack access to care due to social, cultural, geographic, or economic conditions, and those with special healthcare needs.
FELLOWSHIP OVERVIEW: The Tarrant County MLP seeks a dynamic, self-starting law student who has vision, initiative, and a demonstrated commitment to public interest law. The successful Fellow should have a desire to work with providers of medical and behavioral health services to resolve civil legal issues within the social determinants of health to improve health equity in the community.
The Fellow will be responsible for assisting attorneys in providing legal services, advocacy, and transactional work in the following areas of the social determinates of health:
- Income and Insurance – Increasing access to resources through Social Security Disability Appeals, reducing or seeking waivers for reductions in income due to over-payment, representing individuals with Medicaid and Medicare denials and reductions in benefits.
- Housing and Energy – Promote housing stability by providing assistance with housing choice voucher and public housing terminations hearings, evictions, mortgage counseling, foreclosures, tax sales and addressing utility issues.
- Individual and Family Stability – Assisting families in obtaining guardianship or an alternative to guardianship for adults with developmental disabilities, providing assistance for family caregivers and individuals seeking medical and financial powers of attorney, health care directives and estate planning.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: The Fellow will work with attorneys on case development, outreach, and litigation. Under the supervision of an attorney, a Fellow’s primary responsibilities are to perform legal and factual research, assist with community education, and to develop case strategies and legal theories. Fellows may also have the opportunity to assist attorneys with preparing legal documents, attending administrative and/or court proceedings, and to meet with clients, experts and community partners.
TIME COMMITMENT: Interested students have to be able to commit to a minimum of 30 hours per month for any number of months they desire.