News Release

Texas Access to Justice Foundation 
May 26, 2022
 

Texas Access to Justice Foundation creates new fellowship to serve veterans 

Named in honor of Veteran and Board Member, Terry O. Tottenham

AUSTIN, Texas––The Texas Access to Justice Foundation (TAJF), which provides grant funding for civil legal aid in Texas, announces the creation of the Terry O. Tottenham Veterans Justice Fellowship. The Fellowship honors veteran and board member Terry O. Tottenham, of counsel at Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP, and a former president of the State Bar of Texas.

The new Terry O. Tottenham Veterans Justice Fellowship will be a priority for one of the annually selected, TAJF-sponsored Equal Justice Works Fellows to help address the legal needs of our veterans. Each year a Veterans Justice Fellow will be selected ensuring that lawyers are routinely placed to address the pressing legal issues facing veterans throughout Texas.

“Veterans deserve access to our civil justice system as they struggle with legal needs affecting their health, housing, and financial security,” said Deborah Hankinson, chair of the board of directors at TAJF. “Terry Tottenham is an exceptional lawyer who served in the U.S. Marines, and we’re honored to create this fellowship in recognition of his tireless efforts to serve those who have served.”

Tottenham joined the Board of Directors of the Texas Access to Justice Foundation in 2013 and currently serves as secretary for the Foundation. While president of the State Bar of Texas in 2010 he created the Texas Lawyers for Texas Veterans program, a model now followed by many other states, to provide pro bono civil legal assistance to brave veterans and their families who otherwise cannot afford legal services..

Allen Martin, a graduating third-year student Pepperdine Caruso Law, and native of Abilene, Texas, has been selected as the inaugural Tottenham Veterans Justice Fellow. Martin’s fellowship will mitigate veteran homelessness in rural Central Texas by implementing a medical-legal partnership at a VA clinic to meet the legal needs related to housing, discharge upgrades, and financial and familial stability. Martin will begin his two-year fellowship in September at the Texas Legal Services Center in Austin. 

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About the Texas Access to Justice Foundation

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 more than 100,000 Texas families each year.

 

 

 

For more information:

Kimberly Schmitt
512-320-0099, ext. 104
kschmitt@teajf.org

 

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