2026 Poverty Law Conference: Full Schedule

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9:00am CDT

Not So Easy Peasy: When Your Probate Case Gets Complicated

Thursday September 3, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am CDT

Tag along for an interactive session designed for advocates with a baseline understanding of the fundamentals of probate practice who are looking to move beyond the basics, develop their skills, and take more complex cases.

This session will present participants with complex, uncommon, and contentious issues that arise during the probate process and provide practical solutions to combat them. Toward the end of the session, participants will have the opportunity to share legal issues they’ve encountered in probate practice and provide insight into what worked to resolve them.

By the end of the session, participants will be better equipped to navigate their next probate case and avoid the feeling of overwhelm that comes with having a not so easy peasy probate issue.

Speakers

Brittanny P. Gomez

Disaster Benefits Team Manager, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid

Brittanny P. Gomez is the Disaster Benefits Team Manager at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and represents low income individuals affected by disasters. Brittanny is a Vice Director of the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Disaster Legal Services Team and has been recognized... Read More →

Hannah Dyal

Attorney, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid

Hannah Dyal is an Equal Justice Works Disaster Resilience Program Fellow at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. She recently completed her first Equal Justice Works fellowship on the Disaster Recovery Legal Corps, the first disaster corps of its kind. Hannah has been working in disaster recovery... Read More →

Karis Adams

Attorney, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid

Karis Adams is a Staff Attorney at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), where she focuses primarily on Estate Planning and Probate, while also practicing in the area of Environmental Justice. Karis is passionate about preventing heirs' property issues and expanding access to estate planning through... Read More →

Thursday September 3, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am CDT
Classroom 203

Guardianship/ Wills & Estates/ Probate

10:15am CDT

Protecting Families Through Planning: Building Effective Power of Attorney Clinics for At-Risk Communities

Thursday September 3, 2026 10:15am - 11:15am CDT

Classroom 203

Legal aid providers across Texas are increasingly supporting families facing the risk of sudden separation due to immigration enforcement. This session provides a practical, replicable model for designing and executing family preparedness clinics that utilize volunteer attorneys to draft powers of attorney for the care of children and management of personal affairs. Participants will learn how to structure clinics, train and supervise volunteers, ensure ethical and legal compliance, and deliver trauma-informed, culturally competent services at scale. Attendees will leave with concrete tools, workflows, and strategies they can implement in their own organizations.

Speakers

Elizabeth Tran

Legal Services Director, Houston Volunteer Lawyers

Dayna Michelle Tewal

Joe Higgs

Thursday September 3, 2026 10:15am - 11:15am CDT
Classroom 203

Guardianship/ Wills & Estates/ Probate

1:00pm CDT

Beyond the Bench: Navigating Guardianship Jury Trials

Thursday September 3, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm CDT

Classroom 203

This panel will walk attorneys through the practical realities of preparing for litigation in complex and contested guardianship cases. Panelists will cover case assessment, discovery strategies, working with confidential medical records, and managing competing interests among family members.The session will also feature a candid review of a case that settled on the eve of trial, examining what drove the litigation forward, and the lessons learned that can be applied in future cases.

Speakers

Hannah Dyal

Attorney, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid

Pablo J. Almaguer

Senior Attorney Fellow, Economic Justice Initiative

Pablo Javier Almaguer is the Senior Attorney Fellow at Texas Immigration Law Council (“TxILC), where he is overseeing the newly created Medical Legal Partnership between Texas A&M Law School and Doctors Hospital at Renaissance. TxILC’s core values center on building broad coalitions... Read More →

Priscilla Noriega

Attorney, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc.

Thursday September 3, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm CDT
Classroom 203

Guardianship/ Wills & Estates/ Probate

2:15pm CDT

Building Community-Based Legal Access: Lessons from the Economic Justice Initiative

Thursday September 3, 2026 2:15pm - 3:15pm CDT

Classroom 203

The access to justice crisis in Texas is well-documented, but solutions at scale have been elusive. Community justice workers (CJWs), non-lawyer legal advocates who expand legal access in ways attorneys cannot alone, represent one of the most promising responses to the problem. In Texas, this model is already at work, and an anticipated licensure framework could soon expand what non-lawyer advocates are authorized to do. This session uses the Economic Justice Initiative (EJI), with 25+ CJWs and attorneys across 10 legal service partners, as a concrete case study in what building and running a CJW program requires. Presenters will share what the work has revealed about how CJWs make an impact, what a structured learning approach for CJWs looks like, how partner and community collaboration shapes the model, and what implementation has taught us about responsible program design in Texas.

Speakers

Cristian Sanchez

Economic Justice Director, Texas Immigration Law Council

Cristian is the Economic Justice Director at Texas Immigration Law Council where he leads the design and implementation of a program to expand access to civil legal services for low-income Texans through innovation, including Community Justice workers. He is doing this through standing... Read More →