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UTEP's LSPI Earns Texas Bar Foundation Grant for Law Internships

Last Updated on May 17, 2018 at 12:00 AM

Originally published May 17, 2018

By UC Staff

UTEP Communications

The Texas Bar Foundation awarded The University of Texas at El Paso’s Patricia and Paul Yetter Law School Preparation Institute (LSPI) a $20,000 grant to support summer internships for seven UTEP graduates who participated in the LSPI and are enrolled in law school.

Texas Bar Foundation

The Community Legal Internships for Law School Students will be with federal judges, state appellate judges, governmental legal offices, and nonprofit legal offices in the El Paso community. The year-long grant begins June 1, 2018. 

“This generous grant from the Texas Bar Foundation provides summer internship support for law students who otherwise may not be able to volunteer their time to support public interest organizations, said LSPI Director William Weaver, J.D., Ph.D.

“The foundation has been generous to LSPI over the years and is a strong supporter of our Community Legal Internships program.”

The recipients, their law schools and where they will serve their internships are: Adriana Aranda, University of Iowa College of Law, U.S. District Judge David Briones; Matthew Bacon, University of Miami School of Law, U.S. Attorney’s Office; Javier Corral, University of Tennessee College of Law, Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services; Desiree Duarte, University of Texas School of Law, U.S. Magistrate Judge Miguel A. Torres.; Eden Klein, University of Texas School of Law, U.S. District Judge Frank Montalvo; Tomas Porras-Acosta, Michigan State University College of Law, El Paso Immigration Court Judge Robert S. Hough; and Vianey Reyes, Texas Tech University School of Law, El Paso City Attorney’s Office.

The LSPI plans to use the remaining $2,500 to assist students who return to El Paso during the upcoming 2018-19 winter break.

Since its inception in 1965, the Texas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $18 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.

UTEP started its LSPI in 1998 to introduce college students to the study habits and critical thinking and analytical writing skills needed to pursue a legal education. Since its inception through 2016, a third of the program’s graduates have been accepted to the country’s Top 15 law schools, and another 25 percent were enrolled in the Top 50 law schools.