Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax: 713.743.8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2004

Contact: Angie Joe
713.743.8153 (office)
713.617.7138 (pager)
ajoe@uh.edu

HOUSTON, Dec. 15, 2004 – The Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation (TEAJF) has awarded two grants totaling more than $62,000 to the University of Houston Law Center (UHLC) Immigration Clinic for 2005. The Immigration Clinic received the awards based on its plan of action, need, achievements and ability to network with other community organizations.

“The importance of both grants is that they enable UHLC to serve the indigent community by providing legal services through the work of clinical students and faculty,” said Joseph Vail, associate clinical professor and supervisor of the Immigration Clinic. “They allow UHLC to train and produce professional and ethical law graduates who will hopefully serve and give back something to the community.”

TEAJF, a nonprofit corporation created by the Supreme Court of Texas in 1984, works to provide Texans with equal access to justice, regardless of their income. Millions of dollars are granted each year for the provision of Legal Aid to low-income Texans.

For the fourth consecutive year, the UHLC was given the Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) grant as part of a coalition with the Catholic Charities and YMCA International Services. The $32,545 grant will allow for an attorney to represent indigent refugees pursuing asylum in the U.S. due to persecution in their native countries and help bridge the gap between U.S. citizens and their family members from abroad with the possibility for legal permanent residency. Students will benefit with extra training to become professional, competent immigration lawyers, Vail said.

TEAJF also awarded UHLC with the Crime Victims Civil Legal Services (CVCLS) 2005 grant for the second year in a row. The $30,000 award will go toward representing low income, indigent victims of crime. The grant will pay a part-time attorney’s salary to handle cases dealing primarily with immigrant women and children victims of domestic violence inflicted by their U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent. Victims may obtain legal residency once violent crime committed against them is proven.

“Like the IOLTA grant, we use this money not only to represent victims in the community and help them start new life, but also to educate the UH law students in the actual practice of law representing real live cases,” Vail said.

Students represent real clients in court, under the supervision of a licensed attorney.

For additional information about the immigration clinic, the grants, or any other clinical programs, visit or contact Joseph Vail at (713) 743-0897 or Ellen Marrus, UHLC director of clinical programs, at (713) 743-0894. For more information about TEAJF, go to http://www.teajf.org/grants/awards/latest_awards.html.

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