This week’s edition of P.S. features a federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas who was honored with Baylor’s Lawyer of the Year award, Hurricane Beryl disaster relief information from the State Bar of Texas and a Nacogdoches lawyer committed to the civil justice gap who has joined forces with Legal Service Corporation.

Without legal aid, domestic violence survivor Veronica Gonzalez was almost certain she would have been forced to return to her abuser in Washington state and lose custody of her child. Getting pro bono representation prevented that from happening, but at least hundreds of thousands of other domestic abuse survivors — and over 1 million other low-income Americans facing civil legal issues — are turned away from legal aid organizations each year due to a lack of funding. Gonzalez, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, and two other witnesses sought to remedy this issue last week when they testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to advocate for increased funding to Legal Services Corporation.

“The justice gap burdens society, the economy, businesses and taxpayers who must pick up the costs of people’s inability to make do because of unmet civil legal needs that study after study has confirmed,” Hecht said during his testimony.

This week’s edition of P.S. includes an upcoming inaugural convention in Houston aimed at supporting and empowering Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, a series of awards recently received by the Dallas Bar Association and the 4/11 on the PUC’s newest board member, who happens to be a lawyer.

This week’s edition of P.S. features a Dallas-area law school’s new six-figure research project aimed at protecting Sixth Amendment rights, July dates for the Dallas Bar Association and Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program’s pro bono legal clinics (virtual, telephone and in-person), and background on a national animal rights-focused nonprofit that recently hired a new director in Texas.

Many female litigators believe an “all or nothing” narrative they’ve been fed: They cannot raise a family while also advancing in their careers. But Reese Marketos’ Kendal Simpson is here to challenge that narrative with an alternative way of practicing law. After taking six years off to be a stay-at-home mom, Simpson recently returned to her firm with the goal of growing a team of high-achieving women who want more flexibility without having to leave their practice. In a Q&A with The Lawbook, Simpson discusses her part-time arrangement at her firm, how it’s added value and how others can pursue these types of opportunities.

“When we are the sex expected to do it all — that is unsustainable,” Simpson said. “This model is about women being able to sustain a skillset that they worked so hard to develop while also not neglecting other parts of life.”

This week’s P.S. features the winners of two ABA awards that recognize outstanding public defenders and other public sector lawyers and details on a Dallas law firm’s hefty batch of higher education scholarships being distributed to students in DFW, Chicago and Atlanta to the collective tune of nearly $900,000.

This edition of P.S. features a firmwide volunteer day that yielded thousands of meals for Texas families in need, a five-day program hosted at a Dallas law school that educated high school students on the law school experience and life as a lawyer, a recent letter to Congress by law firm managing partners that expresses their grave concern for the underfunding of civil legal aid, a scholarship that a Dallas trial boutique recently awarded to two Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet high school students, and the story behind a renamed diversity fellowship at a large Houston-based firm and the names of this year’s fellows.

This week’s edition of P.S. features a spotlight on Houston-based, fatherhood-focused nonprofit CoolxDad and a Q&A with the lawyer who recently handled the lease negotiations for its new headquarters pro bono, details of a recent 5K benefiting those affected by sickle cell disease that was sponsored by a Dallas law firm, another firm operating in Dallas that just became NAMWOLF certified and June dates for the Dallas Bar Association’s LegalLine E-Line Clinic.

This week’s P.S. column features background information on two fundraising events on June 13: a luncheon event that raises scholarship funds for Texas Hispanic students interested in a career in the law and an evening event to celebrate Pride Month and raise scholarship funds for LGBTQ+ law students.

Firms featured in this week’s P.S. include Reed Smith, Lynn Pinker, Dykema, Paul Hastings, Sidley, Baker McKenzie, V&E, Gibson Dunn, Holland & Knight, Baker Botts, Greenberg Traurig, Jackson Walker, Kirkland, Bell Nunnally, Weil, Haynes Boone, Foley, O’Melveny, Law Office of Domingo Garcia, Norton Rose Fulbright, McKool Smith, K&L Gates, Alston & Bird, Linebarger, Jackson Lewis, Ogletree Deakins, Akin, Barnes & Thornburg, Lira Bravo Law.

Vinson & Elkins associate Jas Sethi was a second-year law student at Northwestern University when his 19-year-old sister lost her life to suicide after a yearslong battle with depression and addiction. While at first the tragedy eliminated his reason for attending law school, it helped him begin his legal career with a new sense of purpose. This upcoming school year, the University of Texas’ Steve Hicks School of Social Work will begin offering a scholarship Sethi started for students pursuing social work careers that specialize in substance misuse and recovery. Beyond honoring his sister, Sethi hopes the scholarship helps bring more social workers into the space who are energized to pursue reforms to the system he says failed her.

“I want to make it so that nobody ever has to feel like Simran did,” Sethi said. “I can’t do that all in one day, and I don’t know if I can do that at all, but the scholarship is what I can do now.”