2026 Poverty Law Conference: Full Schedule

1:00pm CDT

Wednesday September 2, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm CDT

Sick of having to explain to courthouse personnel why you should get free copies? Sick of frivolous SOI challenges from opposing counsel? This session is for you! Knowing Rule 145 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure backwards and forwards, along with its intricacies, is an essential tool for any lawyer working with limited- to no-income clients. This workshop will provide all the tools needed to accurately and easily fill out an SOI form (making sure you are using the right one), persuasively communicate with court personnel to ensure your client’s SOI is honored, and zealously defend against SOI challenges.

Speakers

Stephanie R. Medellin

Family Clinic Staff Attorney, St. Mary's Center for Legal and Social Justice

Stephanie Medellin is the staff attorney for the Family Law Clinic at the Center for Legal and Social Justice at St. Mary’s University School of Law. Stephanie represents clients in divorce, adoption, name change, and probate cases in court. She also co-teaches clinic seminar... Read More →

Jacqueline Calvert

St. Mary's University School of Law

Wednesday September 2, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm CDT
Classroom 202

Multidisciplinary/ Miscellaneous

2:15pm CDT

Fighting the Good Fight – Self Care for Sustainable Client Advocacy

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

Classroom 202

Passionately and effectively advocating for clients is a good fight that rewards legal practitioners with their own double-edged sword. On one side, playing a part in securing wins for those who need them most and camaraderie working alongside others committed to the same fight. The downside of this good work builds up over time: exhaustion from knowing there is an ever-growing number of cases, clients, and problems to solve, accumulated grief from the inevitable losses, and secondary trauma from dealing in difficult issues, some of which go beyond the capabilities of legal practitioners.

Michael and Penelope are advocates who have felt these feelings through years of working in various legal aid fields, including environmental justice, family, fair housing, criminal, and community development work. Everyone’s journey to taking care of themselves is different, but we will share our stories and lessons learned in our journeys of acknowledging the very real difficulty of burnout and finding pathways to sustainability. This presentation will focus on specific ways to process and manage your case load, celebrate wins, build community inside and outside of the legal field, and connect with specific mental health and wellbeing resources. Attendees will have various opportunities to reflect on their own wellbeing and consider emotional, physical, and mental health as a part of their legal practice.

Think of it this way: you are not just an advocate. First and foremost, you are a person who practices advocacy. We hope this presentation encourages you and provides specific tools to help sustain your advocacy.

Speakers

Michael Bates

Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas

Penelope Rodriguez

Paralegal, Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas - Community Revitalization Project

Wednesday September 2, 2026 2:15pm - 3:15pm CDT
Classroom 202

Multidisciplinary/ Miscellaneous

3:30pm CDT

TBA

Wednesday September 2, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm CDT

Classroom 202

TBA

Speakers

Samuel Marsh

Sr. Staff Attorney, Beacon Law

Abbiegail Francis

Stephanie McKernan

Staff Attorney, Houston Volunteer Lawyers

Wednesday September 2, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm CDT
Classroom 202

Multidisciplinary/ Miscellaneous

4:45pm CDT

Disaster Law Task Force Meeting

Wednesday September 2, 2026 4:45pm - 5:45pm CDT

Classroom 202

Wednesday September 2, 2026 4:45pm - 5:45pm CDT
Classroom 202

9:00am CDT

Navigating the Narrative: Trauma-Informed Interviewing Skills

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

Classroom 202

This session will discuss the techniques and skills necessary for an interview to be conducted in a trauma-informed manner. The session will break apart a typical interview into discrete parts, highlighting what a trauma-informed interview consists of, and ask participants to assess an interview to determine what trauma-informed techniques were or were not used.

Speakers

Elizabeth Barrera-Sepulveda

MS, LPC with TRLA/LASSA Project/Social Work Team, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid

Liz Barrera-Sepulveda is a licensed professional counselor and has worked with victim/survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault for more than 25 years. She currently works with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid on the LASSA project, with the social work team and family law team.

She is trained in Trauma Informed Care and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Trauma Focused-CBT and Motivational Interviewing. She has worked with the National Domestic Violence Hotline, Austin SAFEPLACE, (n/k/a as the SAFE Alliance). She has worked and volunteered in the past at... Read More →

Stephanie R. Medellin

Family Clinic Staff Attorney, St. Mary's Center for Legal and Social Justice

Thursday September 3, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am CDT
Classroom 202

Multidisciplinary/ Miscellaneous

10:15am CDT

Privilege, Not a Right: Everything That Can Go Wrong with a Texas Driver's License

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

Classroom 202

This presentation examines the legal and practical strategies for clearing driver’s license suspensions and restrictions that create barriers to employment and stability. It outlines common causes of license holds, including unresolved ticket fines and fees, failure to appear, administrative suspensions, and more. This session provides a structured approach to identifying and resolving these obstacles efficiently.

Speakers

Justin T. Thompson

Senior Director - Legal Services, Beacon Law

If you're into music, let's talk about west coast jazz and bossa nova.
If you're into reading, let's talk about urban fantasy and dystopia.
If you're into DIY/home improvement, let's talk about Makita and DeWalt.

Stephanie R. Marrone

Managing Attorney / Pro Bono Coordiantor, Beacon Law

Thursday September 3, 2026 10:15am - 11:15am CDT
Classroom 202

Multidisciplinary/ Miscellaneous

1:00pm CDT

Tax 101: How to Spot the Issues and Advise Like a Tax Attorney (Even If You're Not)

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

Classroom 202

The program will provide the foundation necessary for an incoming LITC attorney or volunteer attorney to assess a client issue, prepare for consultation, review documentation, and determine available options for the client. Using a mock scenario, the course will cover available resources, IRS structure, reading a notice/letter and identifying its location on the Taxpayer Roadmap, researching the issue, and identifying alternative paths forward. Additionally, the mock scenario will cover filing status, EITC and CTC.

Speakers

Cory Williams

Attorney Fellow, Houston Volunteer Lawyers

Maricarmen Dollar

Staff Attorney, Houston Volunteer Lawyers

Joseph Barron

Attorney Fellow (Qualified Tax Expert), Houston Volunteer Lawyers

Thursday September 3, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm CDT
Classroom 202

Multidisciplinary/ Miscellaneous

2:15pm CDT

When Your Client Is Drowning: Trauma-Informed Communication in Bankruptcy Practice

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

Classroom 202

Imagine drowning financially for two years. You've depleted your savings, destroyed your credit, and broken your body trying to stay afloat. You finally call an attorney—your last hope—but you're terrified they'll judge you as a failure. So you minimize the debt, you "forget" to mention the inheritance, you tell them what you think they want to hear. That's your client. They desperately need help, but shame won't let them ask for it honestly. They're not just seeking legal help—they're looking for someone who won't judge them, who will hear them, who can pull them to safety. But their trauma is so profound they can't tell you what you need to know to actually help them.

Research confirms this: over 60% of bankruptcy filers experience significant shame, and most struggle for 2+ years before seeking help. That trauma creates real barriers—clients minimize debts, omit assets, avoid difficult topics, and provide incomplete information. The result? Bad petitions, trustee problems, and malpractice exposure.

This session teaches you to recognize trauma responses in real time (defensive anger, avoidance, decision paralysis, people-pleasing), use specific language that builds trust instead of triggering shame, read verbal and non-verbal cues that signal hidden information, and deploy strategic questioning that surfaces critical facts your clients are terrified to disclose.

Through interactive polling and real case examples—medical debt, predatory lending, hidden assets—you'll learn immediately applicable communication techniques. The presenters practice bankruptcy and other areas of consumer law; one is a bankruptcy attorney with a master's degree in psychology. While the session focuses on bankruptcy practice, these trauma-informed techniques apply across legal aid practice with financially distressed clients.

You can't help clients who won't tell you the truth. This session shows you how to create the safety they need to tell you everything.

Speakers

Amy Allen

Supervising Attorney, Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas

Amy Allen has been licensed since 1991 and is the Supervising Attorney for Housing, Consumer, and Public Benefits at the Fort Worth Office of Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas. She is a proud graduate of LSU and Bates School of Law at the University of Houston. Her primary areas of practice... Read More →

Samantha Kehl

Staff Attorney, Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas

Samantha Kehl: Legal Aid Attorney by Day, Chaos Wrangler by Night

Samantha Kehl has been practicing bankruptcy law since 2008, and currently serves as Staff Attorney and Bankruptcy Practice Team Leader at Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas (LANWT), where she also works on a veterans grant helping veterans and their families. When she's not in court untangling... Read More →

Thursday September 3, 2026 2:15pm - 3:15pm CDT
Classroom 202

Multidisciplinary/ Miscellaneous

9:00am CDT

Expunctions and Nondisclosures: Barrier Removal for Victims

Friday September 4, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am CDT

Classroom 202

Victims face several invisible barriers that make it more difficult for them to leave. Or if they have left, make it very difficult for them to stay away. This presentation can discuss how tools such as expunctions and nondisclosures, amongst others, can assist. The main tools we are going to discuss is going to be related to cleaning up a victims criminal history using expunctions and nondisclosures. Having a criminal history, even when a case was ultimately dismissed, can prevent someone from obtaining employment, housing, etc. and thus make it more difficult for victims to successfully leave. Expunctions would allow victims to erase eligible criminal records, and nondisclosures would allow victims to hide their criminal history. Similarly, victims can also use tools like name changes, occupational driver's license (ODL), etc. to help remove barriers that prevent victims from leaving an abusive relationship.

Speakers

Anwesha Sarkar

Supervising Attorney, Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas

Jessica Picon

Staff Attorney, Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas

Hello! I am a member of the LASSA team, we help survivors of sexual assault receive access to legal representation that is free for them! I enjoy what I do as I feel I am making a difference in the lives of my clients. I am currently handling family law cases, some housing cases... Read More →

Friday September 4, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am CDT
Classroom 202

Multidisciplinary/ Miscellaneous

10:15am CDT

ClearPathTX - Statewide Expunction Project

Friday September 4, 2026 10:15am - 11:15am CDT

Classroom 202

This session will provide both legal education and a practical look at how technology can improve access tojustice by helping legal service providers scale record learing statewide:

1. Substantive Law – An overview of Texas expunction law, including common eligibility issues and practical considerations when screening cases.
2. Collaborative Efforts – How legal aid organizations, pro bono attorneys, and community partners work together through the SEP to expand access to record-clearing services.
3. Technology and Automation - An introduction to the automated expunction screening and document generation tool used by our project. We have hired a software vendor and anticipate new developments that we hope to demonstrate at the conference.

Speakers

Jeff Reichman

January Advisors

Jeff Reichman is the founder of January Advisors, a data science consulting firm that works with nonprofits, researchers, legal aid organizations, public sector agencies, and philanthropy.