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News Release
Texas Access to Justice Foundation Fellows will help fill critical gap in services for rural Texans
AUSTIN, Texas––The
Texas Access to Justice Foundation
(TAJF), which provides grant funding for civil legal aid in Texas, today
announced the creation of the Rural Justice Fellowship in honor of the long
and dedicated service of former TAJF board chair, Richard L. (Dick) Tate,
who retired from the TAJF Board of Directors on Aug. 31, 2020.
The new Richard L.
Tate Rural Justice Fellowship will be a priority for one of the annually
selected, TAJF-sponsored
Equal Justice Works Fellows
to help address the persistent and growing shortage of lawyers in rural
areas and close the gap in legal aid services for rural Texans. Each year a
Rural Justice Fellowship will be selected ensuring that two lawyers are
routinely placed to address the pressing legal issues facing rural
communities throughout Texas.
“The increasing lack
of civil legal aid services in Texas’ rural communities is something that
must be addressed as all Texans deserve equal and fair access to our civil
justice system, said Betty Balli Torres, executive director at TAJF. “Dick
Tate was an exceptional and dedicated leader of TAJF, and we’re honored to
create this fellowship in recognition of his ceaseless efforts to preserve
funding for civil legal aid in all communities—no matter how small—across
Texas.”
Tate’s commitment to
TAJF’s vision––that all Texans will have equal access to justice, regardless
of their income––was the biggest factor in his decision to help shepherd the
Foundation’s work for 27 years. The Richard L. Tate Rural Justice Fellowship
is an extension of that commitment and a reflection of Tate’s dedication to
ensuring access to justice for vulnerable Texans.
Laura Tucker
has been selected as the inaugural Rural Justice Fellow. Tucker’s fellowship
will focus on making civil legal services more accessible to rural residents
of the Trans-Pecos region of Far West Texas through data analysis and
creative community engagement. Tucker lived in the area prior to law school
and was inspired to return and help with some of the needs she witnessed.
In this region,
residents have a multitude of legal needs that are currently not adequately
addressed. Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA),
the sole legal aid organization providing direct services to the area is
often a two-or-more-hour drive for many clients. Tucker’s fellowship will
strategically map the needs of surrounding communities, seek to raise
awareness of TRLA’s services and increase access to them by hosting day-long
legal clinics across the region, providing crucial legal services to
underserved areas. Tucker will begin her two-year fellowship on Oct. 11,
2020 in TRLA’s Alpine office.
The Texas Access to Justice Foundation (www.tajf.org), created by the Supreme Court of Texas in 1984, is the primary
state-based funding source for the provision of civil legal aid in Texas.
The organization is committed to the vision that all Texans will have equal
access to justice, regardless of their income. The Foundation administers a
variety of funding sources, which are earmarked to assist nonprofit
organizations in providing legal aid to approximately 140,000 Texas families
each year.
Kimberly Schmitt
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