EL PASO BAR ASSOCIATION LAUNCHES LEGAL AID INITIATIVE
First-ever program of its kind assists legal service providers and El Paso's poor
El Paso, TX — Under the leadership of new president Carlos Eduardo Cárdenas, the El Paso Bar Association is dedicating the next year toward connecting legal aid service organizations with qualified attorneys who will donate pro bono time toward assisting the city's poorest and most disenfranchised residents. The program kicks off with a Access to Justice Fair, taking place October 31 in El Paso to coincide with the American Bar Association's National Pro Bono Celebration (October 25-31).
"Over the coming year, the El Paso Bar Association will be working hard to solidify alliances with legal service organizations already established in providing legal services to the poor," said Cárdenas. "The goal is to make it easier for lawyers to find pro bono opportunities and for humanitarian organizations to get the legal assistance they need without having to worry about funding. The Bar is a blessed and talented pool of people and it's our duty to look after those who need our services."
“The energy, talent and efforts of Carlos Cárdenas and the El Paso Bar Association are vital to ensuring access to justice for all Texans,” said Betty Balli Torres, executive director of the Texas Access to Justice Foundation. “The initiatives planned by Cárdenas for the El Paso community will help serve one of the most vulnerable areas of our state by providing legal services for the poor and those who need it most.”
The organizations that will benefit from the Bar's pro bono recruitment include Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, Las Americas, Paso del Norte Civil Rights Project, Texas Access to Justice Foundation, and Advocacy, Inc. The need for this initiative is undeniable considering there is one legal aid lawyer for every 11,512 Texas who qualify for aid, and legal aid turns away 1/2 of all low-income Texas due to a lack of resources.
Most groundbreaking within this initiative is a program within the court's guardian ad litem system, where judges appoint attorneys as guardians to ensure a minor's interests are represented. Under this El Paso Bar initiative, volunteer attorneys will be asked to donate a portion (if not all) of their ad litem fee to a legal service provider. This has never been done before within the state of Texas.
The Access to Justice Fair on October 31 will provide a day of free access to legal service providers and private attorneys consulting on legal issues ranging from bankruptcy, employment law, landlord/tenant law, traffic tickets and immigration. County Attorney José Rodriguez and the Texas Attorney General’s office have pledged their assistance to the event along with other community leaders.
As the first Bar initiative to have so many different opportunities for lawyers to get involved on a social justice level, Cárdenas aims for it to help Bar Association members attain the goal of 50 hours per year of pro bono service per a resolution passed by the State Bar of Texas. Previously, Cárdenas was instrumental in proposing a resolution adopted by the El Paso Bar Association, which helped obtain an emergency appropriation of $20 million for civil legal services to the poor. Texas Access to Justice Commission Chair Harry M. Reasoner called it a "powerful factor" for which he was "deeply grateful".
A native El Pasoan, Cárdenas graduated from Burges High School, receiving a B.S. in Business Administration from Georgetown University in 1977 and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 1980. "The Pledge of Allegiance says, 'And justice for all'," Cárdenas stated. "I'm deeply committed to that."
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For more information, contact Lisa Y. Garibay at LARGetc. Publicity, 915-996-9846 or lisa@largetc.com.
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