Amanda Reimherr Buckert
CJP Coordinator

The Community Justice Program has a new Coordinator! Amanda Reimherr Buckert will be taking over the position of CJP Coordinator from Suzanne DeWalt, who is leaving to spend more time with her young family. Amanda comes to us by way of the San Antonio Express-News and is looking forward to working with all volunteers who generously devote their time to this important community initiative.

Amanda will officially start in April and we hope that you will stop by and say hello next time you are utilizing the CJP Technology Center or visiting the 5th floor of the Courthouse. We wish Suzanne the best as she starts her new endeavor, and she has promised to “volunteer” at future clinics.

If you would like to volunteer at an upcoming clinic or have questions regarding a current CJP case, please contact Amanda at amandab@sabar.org or 210.227.8822, x24.

CJP receives $11,282 grant from Texas Bar Foundation

The Texas Bar Foundation has awarded a grant in the amount of $11,282 to the San Antonio Bar Association’s Community Justice Program. These funds will enable the Community Justice Program to expand its program and to provide greater access to pro bono legal services to the low-income residents of our community.

The Community Justice Program (CJP) is a collaborative effort by the San Antonio Bar Association and the Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) to support pro bono legal representation for indigent residents of San Antonio. Currently, the CJP holds monthly legal clinics, or “court,” in three neighborhood locations – the Carver Academy on the east side, St. Mary’s Center for Legal and Social Justice on the west side and the Wesley Community Center on the south side. These clinics provide free neighborhood–based legal services to individuals who many not otherwise have access to the legal system.

Since opening its first neighborhood legal clinic in October 2002, the CJP has matched over 1,600 pro bono cases with local volunteer attorneys. Each clinic brings a self-sufficient “mobile courthouse” to local communities that provides attorneys, district clerks, notaries, court reporters, interpreters, legal support staff and judges – all on a volunteer basis. The Texas State Bar Foundation grant will be used for technological upgrades and for the purchase of new equipment that will help keep the clinics running efficiently and effectively and will enable the program to expand and to reach a greater number of low-income residents in need of free legal representation. The grant will also provide funds to print Spanish-language brochures describing the program that will be distributed throughout the city.

Since its inception in 1965 the Texas State Bar Foundation has awarded more than $8.5 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.

Through the continued support of the Texas State Bar Foundation and the entire legal community, the Community Justice Program is in its fifth year of providing San Antonio’s low-income residents access to free legal services through a neighborhood-based forum.

The CJP accepts uncontested family law matters, guardianships, bankruptcy, landlord/tenant disputes and probate and wills. To find out if you qualify for assistance through the Community Justice Program, call Texas RioGrande Legal Aid at 1.866.988.9996.