South Texas College of Law Houston’s Randall O. Sorrels Legal Clinics received a $27,200 grant from the Texas Bar Foundation for technology upgrades, increasing the law school’s capacity to provide legal services to underrepresented populations.
The grant will allow the clinics to modernize interview room camera systems for client/student interviews and purchase large-screen smart TVs for document collaboration and review with students, clients and public interest attorneys.
The funds also will help revamp workstations where students conduct research, generate client documents and interact with vital case management software. The funds will also boost the clinics’ WiFi network to support these technology upgrades.
South Texas Law established its clinics in the 1990s, and the clinics regularly receive national recognition for offering students real-world legal experience and practice-ready legal skills.
Each civil practice clinic, transactional clinic and specialized clinic targets different practice areas that impact individual economic mobility, generational wealth-building capacity and social determinants of health — creating wraparound legal support for low-income families and individuals.
Ten years ago, the clinics moved to the 10th floor of the law school’s Tower Building, operating in what was formerly the 1st and 14th appellate court chambers. While historic as a legal environment, the space currently offers students and faculty “historic technology” as well.
Challenges from the 2005-era technology have caused client interviews to be interrupted when the cameras lost connectivity, which in turn prevented the clinical staff from monitoring the student/ client interview. All equipment has been hardwired, due to technological limitations of the time, eliminating mobility. Clients and students have struggled to see legal documents on small computer screens, another carryover from older technology.
The grant-funded technology upgrades will allow the clinics to offer pro bono representation to clients with high levels of service, privacy and flexibility, ensuring South Texas Law’s pro bono “law firm” can provide the best possible client representation.
Catherine Green Burnett, dean at South Texas Law, said the Texas Bar Foundation continues to be a critical partner in the efforts of our public interest attorneys, faculty, students and staffers to close the justice gap for poor Texans.
