Serving Those Who Served:
The Houston Bar Association VLI
In 2008, incoming HBA president Travis J. Sales designated legal assistance to veterans as the major focus of
his administration. Sales met with Houston Mayor Bill White and County Judge Ed Emmett to discuss the HBA
initiative, for which they expressed strong support. He also met with officials from the Regional Council of the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs and from the DeBakey VA Medical Center, to gather information and facts to assist in
developing a program to meet veterans’ needs.
To date, the program has served over 8,700 veterans with advice and counsel and/or legal representation. More
than 450 attorneys have volunteered to assist with the Veterans’ Legal Initiative.
The Legal Initiative has several components, some of which have been implemented through the HBA’s
Houston Volunteer Lawyers (HVL).
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Legal clinics are held every Friday at the DeBakey VA Medical Center, from 2:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m.
Volunteer attorneys provide legal advice and intake for veterans on legal issues such as disability and benefits
claims, family law, landlord/tenant issues, wills and probate, worker’s compensation, tax laws, and many other
legal issues. If the volunteer determines a veteran can be helped through HVL, the veteran will be assigned a
pro bono attorney to handle his or her case. Eight or more volunteer attorneys assist 30-50 veterans each week.

Legal clinics have been established at two permanent residential facilities for veterans: A quarterly clinic at
DeGeorge at Union Station and a monthly clinic at U.S. Veterans at Houston Midtown Terrace. Volunteer
attorneys provide legal advice and intake for residents of these facilities. In addition to legal assistance, the
HBA provides a speaker for each clinic on legal topics relevant to vets, including identity theft, disability
claims, bankruptcy and creditor’s rights, municipal court, elder law, importance of jury service, landlord/tenant
issues, marriage and divorce law, wills and probate law, consumer rights/scams, worker’s compensation,
veteran’s benefits and tax/IRS issues.

The HBA and HVL sponsor a legal advice booth each fall at Houston Stand Down, which focuses on services
for homeless veterans.
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The HBA developed a web page for the Veterans Legal Initiative that features upcoming clinics and a number
of national, state and local resources for veterans (www.hba.org).
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The HBA donates coats and warm clothing for veterans living at residential facilities from donations to the
annual Fall Coat and Warm Clothing Drive, and helps at holiday parties at the two residential facilities.The
HBA also stocks a library at the two residential facilities with books from its annual book drive.
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The HBA program was a model for the Texas Lawyers for Texas Veterans statewide initiative of State Bar of
Texas President Terry Tottenham. The HBA provided, and continues to provide, training and assistance to
other local bar associations as they created veterans’ legal programs in their areas.
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The Houston Bar Foundation for the past three years has received a grant from the Texas Access to Justice
Foundation to work with other local bar associations to provide legal advice clinics for veterans in previously
underserved areas in a 17-county region in southeast Texas, as well as to train volunteer attorneys in those
areas. The program now assists with clinics in Bell, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes,
Hardin, Harris, Jefferson, Liberty, McLennan, Montgomery, Orange, Travis, San Jacinto, Walker and Waller
counties.
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The VLI also received a grant from the Texas Bar Foundation for outreach programs, and through a recent
grant from United Way, the HBA hired a summer intern for research and outreach focused on veterans
returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.