St. Mary’s University School of Law Center for Legal and Social Justice

Get Help

Call 210-431-2596 to find out more about these clinics and whether they might be able to provide help in your case. Please note that the clinics cannot handle cases requiring immediate attention.

Available Clinics

Learn More About the

• Civil Justice Clinic
  • Family Law
    • In the family law practice area, student attorneys represent clients in state court with divorces, child custody, visitation, adoptions and name changes.
    • Student attorneys also draft simple wills and represent clients in probate cases.
  • Consumer Protection
    • In the consumer protection practice area, student attorneys protect clients from abusive and unfair sales practices, including fraudulent home sales and repairs, auto repossessions, wrongful evictions and debt collection.
    • Student attorneys represent clients in state district, probate and municipal and federal court.
• Criminal Justice Clinic
  • The Criminal Justice Clinic provides students who enroll in the for-credit course with the opportunity to gain substantive knowledge and practical legal skills by representing income-qualified clients—juveniles and adults—who are charged with criminal offenses ranging from misdemeanors to capital offenses.
  • Some of the types of cases students handle include:
    • driving while intoxicated
    • theft
    • assault
    • possession of controlled substances, and
    • trespassing
  • Students represent individuals in jury trials, contested motions and plea negotiations.
  • Students also participate in appellate brief writing and oral arguments before the Fourth Courts of Appeals, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and even the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
  • Within the Criminal Justice Clinic, students have an opportunity to challenge wrongful convictions through the writ of habeas corpus process.
• Immigration and Human Rights Clinic
  • The Immigration and Human Rights Clinic introduces students to the practice of law through the supervised representation of income-qualified immigrants and refugees in proceedings before Immigration Courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and federal courts.