Mercedes, TX – On May 15, 2023, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) and Equal Justice America (EJA) announced a $10,000 grant award from the Texas Bar Foundation to fund two law students to serve summer 2023 fellowships at TRLA meeting the civil legal needs of the underserved. 

Samantha Shaps, a first-year law student at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, will work on housing and family law cases for TRLA clients. 

She stated, “Growing up in Bandera, Texas––a small town outside of San Antonio—instilled a passion for rural communities in me from a young age. Spending my formative years in the “Cowboy Capital of the World” allowed me to put my finger on the pulse of the issues impacting my community.” 

She added a personal story, “Free legal aid is crucial for individuals who have limited options and feel unsupported in their pursuit of justice. I know this because I relied on free legal aid from Texas Advocacy Project in 2019 after I opened a year-long Title IX case at the University of Texas at Austin. As a loan receiving daughter of a single mother, I did not have the financial basis to jumpstart my complaint. Once I connected with TAP, a brilliant team of attorneys took on my case. This allowed me to step back from gathering witnesses and evidence, and I did not feel alone anymore.” 

Joyang Wu is a 1L in University of Texas law school.  He will work for TRLA clients on federal income tax cases in their Low-Income Tax Clinic. 

He stated, “I was born in a remote and impoverished village in rural China without any prospects or legal consciousness. Undergoing this experience robbed me of my innocence and revealed to me the true face of the judiciary in China. Instead of succumbing to cynicism, I made up my mind to become a great lawyer who could vanquish injustice. With great effort and illumination from my mother, I became the first person in the village to attend college at the Hefei University of Technology (HFUT).”  

He continued, “Upon returning to HFUT, I was galvanized to be a force for change. I initiated the first-ever Legal Aid Center at my university, where I also served as a psychological counselor. As the Center coordinator, I organized my classmates to visit local communities and disseminate legal knowledge while helping migrant workers collect tens of thousands of RMB in unpaid salaries. I was also committed to combating inequality on campus. 

TRLA and EJA are excited to fund, based on the generosity of the Texas Bar Foundation, these two skilled young people as they pursue careers in public interest law. 

Texas RioGrande Legal Aid 

Texas RioGrande Legal Aid provides free legal services to people who cannot afford an attorney in 68 southwestern counties, including the entire Texas-Mexico border. TRLA attorneys specialize in more than 45 areas of law, including disaster assistance, family, employment, landlord-tenant, housing, education, immigration, farmworker, and civil rights. TRLA also operates public defender programs that serve at least 10 Texas counties. Our hotline is open from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (CST) Monday - Friday: (956)-996-TRLA (8752) or toll-free at (833) 329-TRLA (8752)   

Julia Fourt, Public Relations Manager, jfourt@trla.org 

Texas Bar Foundation 

Since its inception in 1965, the Texas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $25 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. 

Equal Justice America 

In 2023, Equal Justice America celebrates 30 years of supporting future public interest lawyers. EJA has provided nearly 6,000 law student fellowships, partnered with more than 700 legal aid societies and 100 law schools. EJA’s mission is to provide pro bono legal services to marginalized communities through funding fellowships to law students and recent law graduates to serve in legal aid societies. 

Dan Ruben, Executive Director, dan@equaljusticeamerica.org