Staff Attorney

Established in 1970, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA, formerly known as Texas Rural Legal Aid) provides free civil legal assistance to the poor in a 68-county service area covering central and south Texas, including the cities of Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and El Paso as well as the Rio Grande Valley and the entire Texas-Mexico border. TRLA also represents migrant farm workers who live or work in Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

TRLA’s staff includes over 100 attorneys who work in offices located throughout the TRLA service area. From brief counsel and advice to complex litigation in state and federal court, TRLA assists clients with legal problems involving such issues as housing, employment, family law, public benefits, and civil rights.

Over the past three decades, TRLA has developed a reputation as an aggressive and effective advocate for the rights of the poor. TRLA’s legal work on behalf of migrant farm workers virtually transformed the agricultural labor environment in south Texas, the Panhandle and other parts of the state and country that employ a large number of migrant agricultural workers. For more than a decade, Colonias Project staff members have assisted colonia residents in their efforts to improve conditions and expand opportunities in impoverished border communities. Victims of domestic violence receive extensive advice and services and vigorous legal representation from TRLA staff and the network of family violence shelters that work in partnership with TRLA. The firm does more significant litigation than typical legal services offices, particularly complex cases in state and federal courts. To support that litigation effort, TRLA maintains a large budget for litigation expenses, including depositions and discovery, expert witnesses, and computer analysis. In addition, TRLA provides legal support to numerous community-based organizations and non-profit corporations, undertakes a broad variety of community legal education efforts, and works with low-income clients on community development projects.

TRLA’s record of success has won the praise of many, but has sometimes incurred stiff opposition from business or political interests opposed to tough advocacy for the rights of poor people. See, e.g., Howard Gault Co. v. TRLA, 615 F.Supp. 916 (N.D.Tex. 1985). TRLA believes that it is a lawyer’s professional obligation to represent our clients vigorously and faithfully, even where that may prove controversial or may be resisted by the economically or politically powerful.

In 2002, TRLA merged with four other legal services programs in south and central Texas to create one of the nation’s largest federally funded programs providing civil legal services to the poor. Staff members of this expanded program work together in project teams to provide specialized services to clients throughout the service area. Clients apply via branch offices or by calling TRLA’s Telephone Access to Justice Project, which is staffed by law students. Detailed interviews are conducted by intake workers and cases are reviewed by attorneys who specialize in the legal area; while TRLA does not have the resources to accept all cases for representation, all eligible clients receive, at a minimum, advice and counsel.

TRLA has ongoing hiring needs and has hired many attorneys in the last two years. Most of these attorneys are recent law school graduates and first came to TRLA as Telephone Access to Justice Associates or as law clerks. An interest in working in offices other than our Austin or San Antonio branches significantly increases opportunities for long-term employment. Because of the location of the service area, the ability to communicate in Spanish is strongly preferred. For attorney positions, if the applicant is not already fluent in the language, a commitment to become so is required. TRLA maintains a strong affirmative action, equal opportunity employment policy. And, finally, TRLA has a generous law school loan repayment program.

Job Description: An attorney is needed to work in the Eagle Pass Office as a part of the Domestic Violence/Family Law Team of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. The person in this position must have a commitment to work to end domestic violence. The selected advocate will address both systemic issues related to domestic violence and represent individuals in court. Fluency in Spanish preferred. For more details on this position visit our website at www.trla.org or contact Kevin Dietz at [Click here for email].
REQUIREMENTS
Licensed to practice law in Texas, or willing to waive into the Texas bar, or willing to take the next available bar exam, in that order of preference.