Name: Building Community-Based Legal Access: Lessons from the Economic Justice Initiative
Start: 2026-09-03T14:15:00-0500
End: 2026-09-03T15:15:00-0500

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 →