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Team Texas (cont.)
TEAM
EFFORT
Senator Kay Bailey
Hutchison says the pro bono work she performed as a
University of Texas law student, as well as her
indigent defense work in private practice,
predisposed her to support legal services. With LSC
refocused on providing core services, she feels it
deserves broad GOP support. |
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In
2000, the Supreme Court of Texas convened an official hearing on
the state of legal services to coincide with a visit by the
Legal Services Corporation Board of Directors. Since that
unprecedented judicial event, the Lonestar State has formulated
an access to justice blueprint that has become a model for other
states eager to replicate Texas’ success.
Former
Justice Debra Hankinson, the Dallas-based attorney who organized
the pivotal hearing in 2000, has since become something of an
access to justice missionary, visiting legal services leaders in
a number of states to spread word of Texas’ winning formula.
“You have to invest in something—in relationships, in
sustained efforts—and that doesn’t happen overnight,”
Hankinson says. “We had some quick successes, but now we are
really starting to see some of the benefits of raising this
issue. Four years worth of building relationships is really
starting to come into play.”
Led
by the enthusiastic support of new Chief Justice Wallace B.
Jefferson, who was sworn in as Chief last fall, the Supreme
Court continues to play a leading role, along with the Texas
Access to Justice Commission established by the Court in 2000.
The Commission has formulated an ambitious five-year strategic
plan emphasizing fundraising, corporate support, law school
partnerships, pro bono participation, and rural delivery, which
could help propel the state to still loftier heights.
Meanwhile,
in Washington, D.C., Texas Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and
John Cornyn have joined a coalition of Senators who are making
the case that the Legal Services Corporation deserves additional
federal funding—even in today’s difficult budgetary
environment. Success in that endeavor obviously would be
welcomed by the three federally funded legal aid programs in the
state: Texas Rural Legal Aid, Lone Star Legal Aid, and Legal Aid
of NorthWest Texas.
“Making
sure that we have access to the legal system for all people is
the right goal, and Texas has done a good job of fulfilling that
goal,” Hutchison says. “People who are in general familiar
with the legal system know and appreciate the job that legal
services does.”
One
of the priority areas for Texas legal services providers has
been helping the state’s more than 185,000 reported victims of
domestic violence each year. On April 23, Texas First Lady Anita
Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott joined Justice O’Neill
to unveil a new kit that will enable victims of domestic
violence to file their own applications for protective orders
when they are unable to secure a lawyer to assist them. The
free, step-by-step protective order kit comes with detailed
instructions for filling out the relevant paperwork, having a
temporary order signed by a judge, and requesting a hearing date
to grant the protective order. The kit also provides tips for
victims on how to prepare for the hearing. It is available
online at www.oag.state.tx.us
Cornyn,
during his time as Texas Attorney General, approved the
expenditure of state dollars from the Crime Victims’
Compensation Fund to support legal services initiatives that
help victims of domestic abuse. The Fund continues to disperse
$2.5 million annually to the Equal Access to Justice Foundation.
More recently, First Lady Perry has championed the role of legal
aid in helping battered spouses end the cycle of violence.
“Domestic violence has serious repercussions for our society.
Victims may not be able to afford health care or legal help,
which may cause them to remain in the violent situation,”
Perry says. The First Lady praises the role of legal aid in
helping victims “obtain protection from abusive partners”
but notes “these free programs cannot assist everyone who
needs help; the need is unfortunately too great.”
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 "We're
exporting Texas' approach. It works, why not share?
We've done a special program for the Deep South
Coalition of Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas. We've
worked with Georgia. We've done a phone conference with
West Virginia. It's true we get called a lot, so much
that we now have packets we provide to other
states." —ATJ
Missionary Worker Debra Hankinson
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