A&M Law students and faculty are among those awarded for advocating for the rights of detained immigrant women.

The Texas A&M University School of Law Immigrant Rights Clinic, directed by Professor Fatma Marouf, jointly received the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) Award for Excellence in a Public Interest Case or Project with law clinics from Boston University, Columbia, Harvard, and the University of Georgia.

A team of researchers from Texas A&M University released a comprehensive legal needs assessment of the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) region of Texas this week. The report presents the findings from a legal needs and oral history project simultaneously undertaken from August 2019 to September 2020 in the RGV.

The report provides a detailed discussion about access to legal information and documents pertinent to the legal needs of the region. More than 600 individuals participated in surveys, focus groups and interviews to create an overview of the historic legal-resource environment that exists for residents of the region.

“We are thrilled to be able to contribute to the first legal needs assessment in the Rio Grande Valley,” says Luz E. Herrera, Texas A&M Law professor and associate dean for experiential education.

“It was important for us to consult with community leaders and legal services consumers who understood the daily legal needs of individuals in the region” Herrera adds.

President of the American Bar Association (ABA) Patricia Refo paid a virtual visit to Texas A&M university School of Law in early April. Refo participated on a panel with other bar association leaders who discussed the role and importance of bar associations and bar association membership with students.

Joining Refo on the panel were Emily B. Taylor, past president of the Texas Aggie Bar Association; Aaron Tobin, president of the Dallas Bar Association; and Gary Medlin, president of the Tarrant County Bar Association. Texas A&M Law Professor Aric Short moderated the discussion.

In her opening remarks, Refo described the vast scope of the largest voluntary bar association in the world, saying, “If it exists in the law, the ABA is working on it.”

Texas A&M School of Law second-year students Taylor Garner and Isabelle Chapman bring home the American Bar Association (ABA) national championship in representation in mediation this month.

Texas A&M School of Law Community Development Clinic students advocate for conditional driver's licenses for all Texans. A report completed by students, faculty and practicing attorneys in the fall supports the Drive Texas Adelante campaign, a coalition of organizations united by their desire to advance conditional driver’s permit legislation for undocumented Texans and other communities.

As a result, members of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, Senate Hispanic Caucus, House State Affair Committee and Senate Transportation Committee will gather early April for a policy briefing at which Luz Herrera, TAMU Law professor and associate dean for experiential education, will speak. 

"Driver’s licenses help keep everyone safe. Now more than ever, we need to make sure everyone can stay safe on the roads while they care for neighbors and their families during the pandemic. Crowded trucks, vans, and buses are not recommended means of transportation," says a statement of support circulated by the Drive Texas Adelante campaign.

The Texas A&M Law Student Bar Association (SBA) recently hosted a very successful “Spring Break Stay-Cation” for the law school’s week-long spring break. SBA is the law school’s student body government, comprised of five representatives per class year, an ABA representative, vice president and president. SBA serves the student body by encouraging academic excellence, supporting professional and personal growth and working with administration, faculty, and the community at large to advocate for student needs.

The Spring Break Stay-Cation was a week-long student challenge crafted by the 2020-2021 SBA Board. The Spring Break Stay-Cation encouraged students to skip the travel this year, and instead participate in socially distanced activities in the Fort Worth community. This event was created in order to address COVID-19 related concerns with Spring Break travel. In an attempt to limit student travel, SBA created a challenge with various activities in the Fort Worth community and at home. Students who completed the full week of activities were given a gift bag for their commitment.

The Texas A&M Office of Career Services is hosting American Bar Association President Patricia Refo and representatives from the Dallas Bar Association, Tarrant Co. Bar Association and Texas Aggie Bar Association Thursday, April 8 starting at 12:15PM via Zoom. Texas A&M Law students are encouraged to attend and observe a discussion about the importance of the bar, bar associations and bar association membership. Zoom links will be shared in the Good Bull, the weekly student e-news.

Moderator Aric Short is a law professor and the director of the Texas A&M Law professionalism and leadership program. Under his leadership, Texas A&M Law requires that all of its first-year students take a professional identity class, a mandate uncharacteristic for law schools. Event organizer Arturo Errisuriz, TAMU Law assistant dean​ for career services and bar relations, is the past chairman of the Tarrant County Bar Foundation and with his team has increased Aggie Law gold standard student employment year over year. 

The Texas A&M Public Interest Fellowship celebrates the recipients of the 2020-2021 Fellowship Stipend, who have represented the law school across Texas and abroad, as they continue to fundraise for the 2021-2022 Fellowship class.

The 2020-2021 Fellowship recipients were:

Jessica Mason, President – Tarrant County Criminal Courts, Office of Judicial Staff Counsel and Post-Conviction Writs

Evelyn Garcia Lopez, Vice President – Texas A&M School of Law Family and Veterans Advocacy Clinic

Teresa Reyes-Flores, Treasurer – Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)

Destiny Rauschhuber, Secretary – U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of General Counsel

Lauren Hadley, Board Member – Arlington City Attorney’s Office and North Richland Hills City Attorney’s Office

Madison Ledoux, Board Member – Tarrant County Criminal Court Ten and the 323^rd District Court

Joshua Stephens – 362^nd Judicial District Court, Board Member

Olivia Countryman – U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Chamber of Chief Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn

Nayelly Dominguez – Texas A&M School of Law Tax Dispute Resolution Clinic

Lorraine Garcia – Texas Third Court of Appeals, Chamber of Justice Gisela Triana

Clare Mattione – Texas Legal Services Center, Virtual Self-Help Center

Sarah Abdel-Motaleb – Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP)

Bailey Buchmeyer – Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office

Tiffany Daniels – Texas A&M School of Law Immigrant Rights Clinic

Amanda DeGroote – U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas

Minta Spears – U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska

Marisela Gonzalez – Texas A&M School of Law Immigrant Rights Clinic

The Texas A&M Public Interest Fellowship is a student-run organization devoted to raising awareness of legal work in the public interest sector. The program provides stipends for deserving law school students performing public interest work during the summer to furnish critical legal services to those in need. Many non-profit organizations and government institutions offer invaluable mentorship and experience for our students, but are often unable to provide paid positions for summer internships. Thus, the stipends allow Public Interest Fellows to take these unpaid positions and exemplify the Aggie core value of selfless service to the community, while also gaining practical legal experience.

Texas A&M School of Law student organizations ENRG (Energy and Natural Resources Group) and the Ag Law Society are hosting the first student-led environmental justice conference for the law school. This year's focus is Sandbranch, Texas, an unincorporated community 20 minutes southeast of Dallas where the residents rely largely on bottled water. According to an article published by The Guardian in 2017, the town has not had running water, sewage service and trash pickup for at least 30 years. The one-day, virtual conference features Sandbranch residents, legal practitioners and educators. 

Texas A&M Law advocacy competition students are international champions of the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) Nelson Mandela International Negotiation Competition. The team of 3L Maya Fitzpatrick and 2L Tyler Phillips won the competition in March. They were coached by law school adjunct Kay Elliott.