The Community Justice Program

San Antonio Bar Association and Texas RioGrande Legal Aid  - 080024

Abstract Number: 080024

March 2008

Started in 2002, the Community Justice Program (CJP) is a joint project of the San Antonio Bar Association and Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA).  CJP provides free legal services and night court to low-income residents of San Antonio in their own neighborhood locations.  CJP currently has four locations, Carver Academy, St. Mary's University Center for Legal and Social Justice, Wesley Community Center, and TRLA's office.  These evening clinics, located in the east, west and south side of the city, give low-income families access to free lawyers and courts right in their own backyard.  At these clinics one will find judges, attorneys, district clerks, notaries, court reporters, interpreters, legal assistants and legal secretaries - - all on a voluntary basis.  TRLA conducts client screening and intake, and generates all of the initial pleadings necessary for private attorneys to file on the night that they meet with a client.   For attorneys with little poverty law experience, there are on-site and off-site attorney mentors available and a special training video to assist them in family law matters. The CJP assists clients with family law matters, bankruptcies, landlord/tenant disputes, probate and wills.  In 2004, the State Bar of Texas honored the Community Justice Program with a Texas State Bar Pro Bono Award.  Since 2002, the Community Justice Program has been replicated by TRLA in Laredo, Corpus Christi, and the Rio Grande Valley.

Contact Information
David G. Hall
Executive Director
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
rperez@trla.org, dhall@trla.org
(956) 447 4800

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