Legal Aid is a mission, a cause a purpose. It is not for everyone, just those looking for some meaningful way to contribute to the cause for justice and access to it. Our lawyers must learn (and quickly) how to try cases, work with many clients and our professional staff must be sensitive to the many faces and cultures of poverty and often despair. Our employees must want to work with and help change communities for the better.
One look at our practice areas, our roster of first-rate attorneys and history of successes, and you can see our wide-ranging expertise and leadership in each area of law we practice. But credentials are just the start. Our clients tell us that our attorneys are the most compassionate, zealous advocates one could ask for. We only select members of the bar who demonstrate characteristics that we expect- traits such as excellence, competitiveness, integrity, spirit and tireless service.
While there are many attractive firms and organization that serve or assist abused and neglected children, dysfunctional families, the unemployed, the elderly, the homeless, individuals with disabilities and terminal illness, victims of domestic violence, the mentally ill, Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas addresses all these populations and more. Many of the legal problems our clients will face in the future will be familiar ones: homelessness, domestic violence, lack of access to health care and employment and consumer issues.
Yet, as our society evolves, the poor will certainly face new obstacles, raising new demands for legal advocacy in order for our clients to build better lives.
For over 50 years, Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas has delivered urgently needed civil legal services to the poor in North Texas. We have a rich and successful history in effective advocacy for the poor and disenfranchised. Legal Aid is the teaching hospital for law students and interns and the leading recruiter and mentor for private attorneys willing to handle a pro bono case. Our staff attorneys sacrifice reward to help the most needy. They meet clients at homeless shelters, schools, churches, senior citizens centers and teen mother classes. Our entry level salary for attorneys is far lower than most private firms and government agencies yet we are not able to make offers to all the many qualified individuals desiring to be a part of the cause. The work and our attorneys’ excitement, dedication and commitment to equality and justice for all brings our lawyers and professional staff, the knowledge and satisfaction that they are making a real change in peoples lives and conditions; whether righting wrongs, remedying past injustices or helping families lift themselves up and out of poverty and neglect.
The help we provide families makes a world of difference. For them, access to legal services can mean the support from an absent parent, a decent home, adequate nutrition and health care, relief from violence, access to education and vocational skills. For the working poor, we can help preserve employment making the difference between them remaining productive and independent or joining the ranks of the dependent poor.
The goal of Legal Aid of Northwest Texas is to create one of the most successful, reputable and largest legal aid programs in the Nation, comprehensive and accessible by all that are indigent or deprived of justice, that because of its accomplishments and achievements, will attract individuals from around the country desiring to work, volunteer, learn and assist in the corporations cause for equal justice for all.
We have attempted to answer the question why Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas; now you must answer, why not you?
