South Texas College of Law
General Civil Clinic Program
Rockwell Fund has enjoyed a long-standing partnership with
South Texas College of Law (STCL), a private, nonprofit law school
founded in 1923. STCL's mission is to provide an accessible legal
education, distinguished by its excellence, to a diverse body of
students committed to serving their communities and the
profession.
Since 1965, Rockwell has funded STCL projects ranging from
scholarships to library expansion. In 2001, Rockwell approached the
school with a proposal to expand STCL's General Civil Clinic, which
has been providing representation to indigent residents of the
Houston metropolitan area since 1990. Now named the Civil Practice
Clinics, the project traditionally focused on indigent Social
Security, disability, and family law issues. Rockwell offered to
fund the Clinic's expansion to include legal assistance to battered
or homeless women. Rockwell's support included funding for attorney
salaries, office space and attendant overhead.
In addition to operating expenses, Rockwell funded litigation
costs. As a Clinic staff member pointed out, the threat of
litigation is an empty one if your opponent knows that you cannot
fund it. As such, part of Rockwell's giving strategy with STCL is
to provide funds for these litigation expenses.
Rockwell Fund's support of the Civil Practice Clinics has two
goals: providing real world experience to STCL students and helping
battered or homeless women to resolve domestic relations issues.
Over time, the Clinic has expanded to reach other populations in
need such as the homeless, intimate partner violence survivors,
youth aging out of protective services, families with special
education needs or guardianship challenges, and veterans. On any
given day, clinic students may be found attending Individualize
Education Planning meetings for students with disabilities,
facilitating guardianship, supporting veterans with navigating and
obtaining benefits, providing probate advice, or litigating
restraining orders against violent abusers.
In more recent years efforts at the Clinic have diversified in
exciting ways. The Clinic has added three Fellows to its
staff to further its mission of helping the working poor and
vulnerable populations with access to legal needs. These Fellows
are newly licensed lawyers who spend up to three years in service
with the Clinic. Fellows not only serve clients, but they
also teach a class and support a student cohort in working on
special issues like guardianship, public benefits, family law, and
supports for those aging out of the child protective services
system. The clinic also created intensive pro bono student
opportunities designed to address special-needs populations. In
addition to fellows and student engagement, the Clinic has hired
two full-time staff attorneys to balance operational needs like
identifying and maintaining sources for client
recruitment. Finally, the Clinic has also expanded into
community education, offering specialized legal training on
important public interest law areas like advocating for foster
youth and understanding special education services in schools.
Rockwell Fund's investment in the Clinic's expansion now
totals over $2 million, with the Clinic handling over 150 cases in
this area. One client, a survivor of intimate partner violence,
offered the following sentiment: "Words can never express 'thank
you' for giving me my peace back … I will never forget what the
staff and philanthropists did for me. I now believe in new
beginnings. God bless!"

College faculty discussing a
case with
a student in the General Civil
Clinic.