Gala raises funding for veterans’ legal services

A gala that the Texas Access to Justice Commission hosted May 4 in Austin raised almost $270,000 to fund civil legal services for veterans in the state, according to Joyce Lindsey, associate director of the Texas Access to Justice Foundation. The foundation is the primary state-based funding source for providing civil legal aid. The Texas Supreme Court created the commission in 2001 to work on expanding access to and improving the quality of justice for the state’s low-income residents. Vinson & Elkins partner Harry Reasoner of Houston, the commission’s chairman, did not immediately return a telephone call for comment. In a May 5 news release on the gala, Reasoner states, “Veterans who return from tours of duty can face legal issues — such as marital problems, difficulties in getting medical or disability benefits, wrongful foreclosures or unscrupulous people who have taken advantage of their absence.” Also at the gala, state Supreme Court Justice Harriet O’Neill and attorney Charles W. Matthews received the Emily C. Jones Lifetime Achievement Award for their efforts to improve access to justice. According to the news release, O’Neill has actively participated in Access to Justice Commission efforts since 2003. Matthews, retired general counsel of the Exxon Mobil Corp., enlisted the involvement of more than 40 of the state’s largest corporations in the push to ensure better access to justice.
-- Mary Alice Robbins