FEATURED PROJECT: 
    
                            

Click on OUR STORY under "Featured Links" for information about the OUR STORY project.  For information on the publications and events surrounding the project click here.

                                         FREE LEGAL SERVICES

Through the services of supervising attorneys, student practitioners, volunteer attorneys, and strategic partnerships with Thurgood Marshall School of Law legal clinics, the project provides services that range from counsel and advice on property related issues to in-court representation. Our primary areas of practice clearing title to property including probate.  We also provide legal representation to individuals facing foreclosure.  We serve the general Harris County community and its contiguous counties (Brazoria, Galveston, Chambers, Liberty, Montgomery, Fort Bend, & Waller). We receive IOLTA and BCLS funds to provide legal services for low income individuals, through a grant from the Texas Access to Justice Foundation.  We are principally funded by the Thurgood Marshall School of Law and receive a limited amount of other funding. To view the types of cases we handle or  apply for legal assistance click here.

Over the years the Earl Carl Institute has served many attorneys and community members through its continuing legal education seminars (CLE) and symposia.  The Earl Carl Institute recognizes that issues impacting the urban community change rapidly from day to day.  It is the mission of the Institute to educate members of the bar and the community at large on these ever evolving issues.  The Earl Carl Institute in conjunction with Thurgood Marshall School of Law offers continuing legal education courses and symposiums regarding current legal issues, featuring nationally recognized scholars and panelist, at a reasonable cost in a friendly, familiar, and welcoming atmosphere.  To see a list of past and upcoming CLE offerings and to register for these courses click here.

The Earl Carl Institute is tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and all donations are tax deductible as provided by law.

Thank you for your support.

                                INNOCENCE PROJECT

In 2005 the Texas Legislature provided funding to four of the State’s public law schools to create litigation and public policy organizations, commonly referred to as Innocence Projects, to review and investigate wrongful convictions.

The Innocence Project at Thurgood Marshall School of Law (TMSL) was established in June 2007 as a component of the clinical curriculum, employing a full time staff attorney as well as numerous law student investigators who  review claims of actual innocence made by incarcerated inmates who have been wrongfully convicted.   The project’s dual mission is to first identify inmates who have been wrongfully convicted, provide legal assistance to them and secure their release and second to provide its law students with a fulfilling educational experience.

Each term the project accepts six to ten specially qualified students to work with an attorney experienced in criminal and post-conviction law to review and evaluate post-conviction cases for strong evidence of actual innocence and prepare appropriate cases for court action. TMSL students, under the attorney's supervision, work directly on  the project and are intricately involved in various operations of the project such as creating screening procedures, obtaining and reviewing case histories, applying screening devices, investigating facts, interviewing involved person, writing case time lines and summaries, performing case analyses, preparing written case evaluations and pleadings.

 

 

                                  About The Our Story Project 

Texas Southern University has embarked upon an ambitious journey to tell OUR STORY.  The “OUR Story” project is an opportunity for the university to be proactive in shaping its image going forward.  The “OUR Story” project boldly places an historically accurate face upon the university by spotlighting the individuals who, operating with the “audacity of hope,” helped to transform moments into movements, and personal experiences into profound events that have impacted this city, state, country and world immeasurably.   

For more details about the OUR Story Project, its events, publications, and register to become a OUR Story Project Volunteer CLICK HERE.                                                         Learn More

                                ECI Interdisciplinary Journal

The ECI Interdisciplinary Journal for Legal & Social Policy is an open-access peer reviewed journal that seeks to make available research and knowledge in the areas of legal and social policy to equip and empower educators and others nationwide with research driven articles that will contribute to their ability to meet the diverse needs of urban populations.  The goal of the ECI Interdisciplinary Journal for Legal & Social Policy is to further Texas Southern University’s efforts to meet its charge to solve urban problems. The Journal publishes papers primarily on issues that impact legal and social policy in the urban community. In the article selection process the journal focuses primarily on the institute’s priorities, which for the next five years are housing, education, family and criminal justice.   The journal can be accessed at www.ecipublications.org/ijlsp.  At this time, articles may be downloaded free of charge.

A preliminary perusal of current academic journals yields a number of interdisciplinary legal and social policy driven publications.  However, there is an absence of interdisciplinary journals that focus solely on legal and social policy issues that impacting urban and minority communities in the areas of housing, education, family and criminal justice.  ECI’s journal fills this void.