Carlos A. V. Calderón, JD, returned to South Texas College of Law Houston in May 2024 to become the senior director of legal services for the law school’s Randall O. Sorrels Legal Clinics.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue the momentum in pro bono services that was built by Associate Dean Cathy Burnett and my predecessor Vinh Ho,” said Calderón, a University of Texas graduate who earned his law degree from Cornell Law. “I believe in our work so much. We want to help as many people with legal services as we can while giving students the opportunity for real-world client engagement.”
South Texas Law offers one of the nation’s most comprehensive pro bono legal clinic programs. For more than three decades, the law school has offered pro bono legal services to underserved individuals and families across the community through the Randall O. Sorrels Legal Clinics. The law school taught 21 unique clinics over a total of 36 course sections in fall 2023, spring 2023, and summer 2023 — with 186 students participating.
The law school and its legal clinics join the American Bar Association this week in recognizing the National Celebration of Pro Bono. The ABA encourages local communities to celebrate the lawyers who donate their time to provide legal services to those who cannot afford a lawyer. This year’s theme is “Making Justice a Reality in Our Communities.”
“Pro Bono Week is a great time to reflect on how rewarding it is on so many levels to help others,” Calderón said. “Research shows that giving back through service is good for the service provider’s mental health and good for the person receiving assistance, as well. Across Greater Houston, there are many people in need, and I encourage my fellow attorneys to be a part of the solution and give time to those in need.”
When speaking with law students at South Texas Law about the importance of pro bono legal work, Calderón reminds them that “someone put out a hand to help you. Your law degree is a powerful tool, and with that awesome power comes a moral obligation to help others with it. There are many avenues of help you can provide people — both in representing clients and donating to others who do the work.”
Calderón first came to South Texas Law to work in the pro bono legal clinics in 2016 as a Clinical Teaching Fellow, where he designed and taught two clinical offerings. In 2019, he transitioned to become a staff attorney in the Randall O. Sorrels Legal Clinics and continued in that role through 2022.
He joined a mentor from the clinics, Ms. Kimberly Ashworth, in moving to the Harris County Public Defender’s Office in 2022 and continued to teach the Family Law Basic clinic at South Texas Law as an adjunct.
When Calderón’s mentor, and former boss, Vinh Ho was selected in a nationwide search to become the new executive director of the Houston Bar Association, Calderón applied to replace him at the law school.
“I had the opportunity to use my law degree to help people who truly needed my legal assistance when working for the county, and I grew as an attorney, but you see a lot of human misery spending hours upon hours at the jail,” he said. “The work is not for the faint of heart.”
For many reasons, Calderón was thrilled to learn he had been selected as the new senior director of legal services for the clinics.
“My parents were not attorneys but were activists and involved in politics,” he said. “They — along with my grandma — drilled into me that doing for others brings more joy than doing for self. They often quoted activist Cesar Chavez’s words, ‘The end of all education should surely be service to others.’ I knew I needed to use my education from UT and Cornell to do something good for others. I wanted to put a hand out and lift others up as I had been lifted up, and I get to do that through my work with the clinics.”
The Randall O. Sorrels Legal Clinics serve as the public interest law firm within the law school, with a full staff comprised of a senior director of legal services, three full-time tenured professors (attorneys), nine public interest attorneys, four external adjunct professors (attorneys), four paralegals, and three coordinators.
The legal professionals who teach in the clinics guide and mentor hundreds of students — who provide thousands of hours pro bono service each academic year. Last year, the clinic staff closed 1,444 cases, with participation by students in the clinics. The market value of the pro bono services provided by the students equals roughly $2 million a year. For underserved individuals needing legal services, the pro bono work is vital and often transforms lives and improves the quality of life for generations.
The unique clinics taught last year were Access to Justice – Expunctions/Nondisclosure, Access to Justice – Landlord/Tenant, Animal Law, Asylum/Human Trafficking, Criminal Defense, Criminal Prosecution, Domestic Violence, Estate Planning, Family Law: Basic, Family Law: Advanced, Immigration, Guardianship, Low-Income Taxpayer, Mediation, Medical-Legal Partnership, Opioid Use Disorder, Patent, Probate, Trademark, Veterans, and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance.
The combination of excellent academic classroom teaching and real-world legal cases — worked by students who are supervised by licensed attorneys — provides skills that prepare South Texas Law graduates to serve their communities. Providing this range of legal services, from advice and counsel to in-court representation — at no cost to clients — requires a significant investment from the law school.
Calderón’s strength is civil law, and he also brings a strong relationship with the Harris County Public Defender’s Office. He plans to continue seeking opportunities to open more doors for clients to discover and utilize the many types of legal services offered for free through the clinics at South Texas.
“Cathy and Vinh built an amazing pro bono law firm at South Texas Law that serves real clients with real cases week after week — and teaches our students how to practice law through real-world legal situations,” he said. “I am very proud to be a part of something so fulfilling and so important to the people we serve.”
Since its founding in 1923, South Texas Law has proactively, intentionally educated its students about access to justice issues. “Pro bono service prepares students to practice law, ethically and professionally,” said Vice President, Associate Dean for Experiential Education, and Professor of Law Cathy Burnett. “Students’ work in the clinics often inspires them to continue with pro bono service well beyond graduation. Our students receive substantial encouragement to engage in pro bono legal service, and nearly 20 percent of the 1,000-student population is engaged with the legal clinics in any given year.”
South Texas Law encourages graduates to go into their careers understanding the vital importance and value of providing pro bono legal services. Burnett said, “The ripple effect of their continued service means thousands of underserved individuals receive the legal assistance they desperately need but cannot afford.”
Original source can be found here.