Name: 2025 Update: Community Justice Workers in Texas
Start: 2025-08-29T11:30:00-0500
End: 2025-08-29T12:30:00-0500

Friday August 29, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm CDT

Salon E

Lawyers alone cannot bridge the justice gap. The “Community Justice Worker” movement describes a diverse set of approaches to incorporating individuals other than lawyers into the legal profession. Several states have experimented with formal approaches to training, certification and/or licensing to authorize non-attorneys to address specific types of legal matters with greater independence than previously contemplated under ethical rules. Representatives from these and other states have joined forces to launch a national CJW taskforce in 2025. This session will provide an overview of developments on a national and state level, including how paraprofessionals and community justice workers are able to work to bridge the justice gap under current Texas law. Speakers will detail their current work and projects utilizing paraprofessionals and community justice workers to close the justice gap.

Speakers

Bethany Carson

Community Justice Worker Coordinator, Texas Immigration Law Council

Bethany brings over a decade of experience at the intersection of grassroots organizing, legal empowerment, and movement-building to her role as Community Justice Worker Coordinator at TxILC. As part of TxILC’s Economic Justice Initiative, she supports a dynamic statewide cohort... Read More →