Yubin Ding
Volunteer of the Month – March 2023 Yubin Ding is a sole practitioner. How did you first get involved with pro bono? I got involved in pro bono cases when I was in school. I once took a clinic class which was held in a community lawyering center, and the supervising attorney assigned each student a few pro bono cases. What types of cases have you accepted? I have accepted pro bono cases related to estate planning, probate, and family law. Describe your most compelling pro bono case. I accepted a divorce case, with no…
Morgan Armbrust
Volunteer of the Month – February 2023 Morgan Armbrust is a sole practitioner. How did you first get involved with pro bono? After moving to Texas, I wanted to get involved in the legal community in Dallas. I also really missed the work I did as a public defender, and working with pro bono clients helped me to acclimate to Dallas, and fill the void after no longer working in a public defenders office. Describe your most compelling pro bono case So far, I have really enjoyed working with a client who wants to get…
Jaha Thomas
Volunteer of the Month – January 2023 Jaha Thomas is a sole pracitioner. How did you first get involved with pro bono? The initial reason that I got involved in pro bono was that it was a requirement for a group that I am a member of, the Texas Opportunity & Justice Incubator (TOJI). However, during the last six months, my reasoning has become personal, focused, and more purposeful. I realized that so many people have had to live with injustice because they did not have access to justice. I recognized early on that justice…
Joanna Grossman
Volunteer of the Month – December 2022 Joanna L. Grossman is the Ellen K. Solender Endowed Chair in Women and the Law at the SMU Dedman School of Law. How did you first get involved in pro bono? I have been a law professor for 24 years and always written a lot of pro bono amicus briefs in areas related to my research and teaching. It wasn’t until I moved to Dallas in 2016 that I started to get involved in pro bono representation of individual clients. It is an honor and a privilege to…
Kristian McCray
Volunteer of the Month – November 2022 Kristian McCray is a sole practitioner. How did you first get involved in pro bono? After relocating to Texas, I desired to find a way to give back and serve the community. I found out about DVAP and the program provided all the opportunities needed for me to do just that. Describe your most compelling pro bono case. The most compelling case to date would be an estate planning case for a lady who had recently lost her mother. She decided to get her affairs in order because…
Charles Truslow
Volunteer of the Month – October 2022 Charles Truslow is an associate with Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. Which clinics have you assisted with? I have mostly accepted cases that come through DVAP’s Eviction Defense Clinic. Describe your most compelling pro bono case. Many of the eviction cases I see through the Eviction Defense Clinic are compelling, but most recently I was able to represent an elderly woman who dealt with serious, ongoing health problems due to complications from COVID-19 that affected her ability to pay rent. She did everything in her power to get rental…
Melissa Thrailkill
Volunteer of the Month – September 2022 Melissa Thrailkill is an associate at the Law Office of Brandy Wingate Voss, PLLC. How did you first get involved in pro bono? I began my legal career working with a legal aid organization and that passion for serving those who need legal help but cannot afford it has followed me into private practice. Describe your most compelling pro bono case. This is a hard one, because I find all of them compelling. People need our help. I was thrilled to win an appeal for a client who…
Christina Jenkins
Volunteer of the Month – August 2022 Christina Jenkins is a sole practitioner. How did you first get involved in pro bono? In 2007, the housing market crashed. Our mortgage banking clients were disappearing overnight and our firm had a massive layoff. At times, there was no work to do. I had already attended some DVAP CLEs, so I asked my managing partner if, during down time, I could work on DVAP cases. He said “go for it.” So I did. To this day, I’m still not sure he knows just how many cases I…
Jake Torres
Volunteer of the Month – July 2022 Jake Torres is an associate at Vinson & Elkins LLP. What types of cases have you accepted? Early on I mostly worked on asylum and guardianship cases. Recently, I’ve spent a lot of time defending tenants in eviction hearings. Which clinics have you assisted with? I’ve volunteered at DVAP’s Eviction Clinic as well as the West Dallas Clinic. Describe your most compelling pro bono case. At an Eviction Clinic a few months ago, an elderly woman asked me to represent her in her eviction hearing. She had been…
Barry Hocking
Volunteer of the Month – June 2022 Barry Hocking is a sole practitioner. How did you first get involved in pro bono? Even before I moved to Texas in 2020, I knew that volunteering for pro bono cases would be a key activity for me in this next career phase, so not long after arriving here, I started searching the internet for volunteer attorney organizations in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. DVAP turned out to be a perfect fit for me, and I think I’m extremely fortunate to be able to participate in the program. What…
