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. “We want to help as many people with legal services as we can while giving students the opportunity for real world client engagement.”
Calderón first came to South Texas Law in 2016 as a clinical teaching fellow in a three year program focused on developing new clinical faculty. In 2019, he transitioned to become a public interest staff attorney in the Randall O. Sorrels Legal Clinics and continued in that role through 2022, teaching and supervising students in a variety of clinics.
He transitioned 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 Ho, Calderón’s mentor and former boss, 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.
Calderón was thrilled to learn he had been selected as the new senior director of legal services for the clinics. “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,” he said.
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 in fall 2023, spring 2023, and summer 2023 with 186 students participating.
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 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.
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.”
Trademark Clinic Earns Prestigious Honor
The State Bar of Texas presented the 2024 Fritz Lanham Trademark Award June 21 to the South Texas Law’s Trademark Clinic. “We have been a resource for small businesses for more than a decade,” said Professor Emeritus Phillip Page, who has taught the students in the Trademark Clinic since its inception in 2012. “We recently filed case number 250. This impact is what the award recognizes.”
The Fritz Lanham award is given annually to recognize lawyers and businesses for their accomplishments on brand-related projects.
“Thanks to all who have helped build the program to award-winning strength,” Prof. Page said.
South Texas Law Clinics Receive $1M-plus TAJF Grant
The Texas Access to Justice Foundation (TAJF) recently awarded the law school’s clinical programs a generous Moonshot Grant to provide pro bono legal services to individuals dealing with debt challenges.
The grant will allow South Texas Law’s Randall O. Sorrels Legal Clinics to offer pro bono legal services to low-income individuals dealing with debt issues including bankruptcy, mediation for debt settlement, handling zombie (past statute of limitations or no legal claim) or fraudulent debt, overcoming abusive or coercive debt collectors, and resolving IRS disputes.
The TAJF grant also includes funds for outreach to ensure the intended clients know about the opportunity to receive assistance. TAJF anticipates the law school creating a program of support that can be replicated statewide.
The Texas Access to Justice Foundation (TAJF) is the leading funder of civil legal aid to the poor in Texas. Created in 1984 by the Supreme Court of Texas, TAJF support for civil legal aid benefits hundreds of thousands of low-income Texans, including victims of crime, abused and neglected children, veterans, the elderly, and the homeless.
Clinics Receive Texas Bar Foundation Grant to Upgrade Technology
The clinics recently received a $27,200 grant from the Texas Bar Foundation for technology upgrades, increasing the law school’s capacity to provide legal services to Greater Houston’s underrepresented populations.
“The Texas Bar Foundation continues to be a critical partner in the efforts to close the justice gap for poor Texans,” Associate Dean Cathy Burnett said.
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, and will boost the clinics’ WiFi network to support these technology upgrades.
Since its inception in 1965, the Texas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $28 million in grants to law-related programs. Supported by members of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar Foundation is the nation’s largest charitably funded bar foundation.
Grant from Houston Methodist Will Enable South Texas Law to Keep Homes Within Families
South Texas College of Law Houston was awarded a social equity grant of$100,000 in 2024 by Houston Methodist to help keep homes in families. STCL Houston will do so by clearing titleto the family home and planning for passing it to future generations. This addresses a critical social determinantof health: access to affordable housing.
The funds from Houston Methodist will support a public interest attorney working with the Probate and Estate Planning Clinics to keep homes within families and help families access home equity and leverage state and federal assistance after disasters. Houston Methodist awarded nearly $4.5 million through its Houston Methodist Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Grant Program, supporting 44 organizations across the region.
Learn more about The Randall O. Sorrels Legal Clinics here: Experiential Education
