Pro Bono Spring Break: One Week of Impact in Laredo
Stanford Law students on their Pro Bono Spring Break Trip to Laredo in March 2024. Denni Arnold, interviewed below, is third from the right.
Pro Bono Spring Break (PBSB) is a fantastic opportunity to experience public interest legal work first-hand while making a difference in the lives of low-income Texans.
“Pro Bono Spring Break is more than just a service opportunity – it is a vital investment in the future of justice,” shared Cathryn Ibarra, TRLA Recruitment Manager. “These experiences empower students to advocate tirelessly for those who need it most - enriching both TRLA and the communities we proudly serve."
This year, seven Stanford Law students traveled to Laredo to spend their spring break helping community members recover their driver's licenses. Over the course of a week, a lot of progress can be made on driver’s license recovery – benefiting both students and clients.
While Laredo’s El Metro has bus routes, car-based travel is still the most efficient and reliable. This, combined with scorching summer temperatures that make traveling by foot or bicycle difficult, emphasizes the necessity of driver's licenses for clients to work and provide for their households.
Driver’s licenses are also key forms of identification for employment, public benefits, and housing. Over-policing in border communities can mean that an expired or suspended driver's license can increase the risk of further legal issues.
Cathryn Ibarra explains, "By immersing themselves in hands-on experiences in our rural and border offices, future lawyers emerge not only with enhanced legal skills but also with a profound appreciation for the diverse needs of low-income client communities.”
There are several avenues available for students wanting to dip their toes into public interest work during spring break. For example, through the Texas Access to Justice Commission (TAJC), law students can elect to do a one-week intensive session of clerking duties with legal aid organizations (either in person or virtually) during their spring break.
Many students go on PBSB as individuals. However, several law schools also coordinate PBSB opportunities. As mentioned above, TRLA had the chance to host cohorts of Stanford Law students in 2023 and 2024 for a special group PBSB at our Laredo Office. These trips have been made possible by our Pro Bono & Private Attorney Involvement (PAI) team, our Laredo branch staff, the Director of Pro Bono at Stanford Law, Michael Winn, and students like Denni Arnold, who originally conceived of the partnership when they clerked at the Laredo office in the summer of 2022.
Check out our conversation with former TRLA law clerk and spring breaker, Denni Arnold, to learn more about the Pro Bono Spring Break initiative!
What did your PBSB work consist of?
DA: “You're writing up an entire petition, getting that reviewed, prepping your clients for the hearing, and then you have the hearing. All from Monday to Thursday. The TRLA staff are incredibly generous with their time and their expertise – they made folks feel welcome. They made sure we were caffeinated and had snacks. It feels like a very welcoming space, which helps us both be productive and also get to know a little bit of Laredo when we're there for such a short time.”
What is driver's license recovery, and why is it important?
DA: “Pro bono driver's license recovery falls within the post-conviction and re-entry realm. This work helps low-income folks in the community with their traffic fines that are either preventing them from getting a license in the first place or get a renewed license. There is such a big need in the community. Legal issues for low-income folks are so intersectional – immigration and criminal legal issues can overlap, for example, as well as housing and child custody legal issues. With license recovery, it is an area where you can do something discrete that helps across the board in their lives, meaning we can address this one issue within a shorter timeframe.”
What did you love about being in Laredo?
DA: “The food in Laredo is amazing. Some of the paralegals were kind enough to suggest things to explore and help us form a more complete view of what their city is about, what TRLA is about – more than we would have learned if it was solely a 9 – 5 program. People are very generous with their time. Being able to go to Lake Casablanca or go to Golondrina, the food truck park, was a lot of fun, and going to the Rio Grande and seeing Mexico 30 feet away.”
Why do you think this experience is important for a soon-to-be attorney?
DA: “As a budding attorney, it's really impactful to get out of the bubble of legal academia. Mr. Israel Reyna [Laredo Branch Manager] and Courtney Schusheim [Team Manager for Juvenile Justice] emphasized that although the Municipal Court is one of the lowest courts of the land, the stakes are very high in terms of people's actual lives and the material impact the law can have. Being there, doing the work, and learning from the people who do that work every day is very valuable for students to see. We get to use some of our time [at law school] – where we have the privilege of focusing on our own learning – to have more of a positive impact on low-income communities. This opportunity gives people who would not otherwise have the chance – like folks going into the corporate realm or those with different geographical necessities like partners or families elsewhere – get the sense of what movement and community lawyering looks like, in a way that they might not be able to take an entire summer to do. The law can have some really material consequences, both for good and ill. Being able to partner with the Laredo community and remain adaptable to the needs you're seeing means you can help folks get the justice they deserve but have not been able to access.”
Learn More About TRLA’s Student Opportunities
Opportunities for placement for individual students with TRLA and other Texas legal aids can be seen on the TAJC website: https://www.texasatj.org/pro-bono-spring-break. To view our other student opportunities, such as summer clerkships, visit trla.org/student-opportunities or contact recruitment@trla.org with any questions.