By JENNA GIBSON, Ranger Reporter:
Amarillo College students and employees will be able to receive free legal counseling beginning Tuesday, Sept. 20. The college’s new free legal clinic will conduct a grand opening at 11 a.m.
The new clinic will be located in Byrd 328, where two AC paralegal students, Ashley Scott and Brett Howard, will provide legal advice along with an advisory committee made up of program director and legal studies professor Robin Malone, former attorney and adjunct professor David Kemp and legal clinic coordinator and adjunct professor Bruce Moseley.
“It is super exciting.We are hoping this (the legal clinic) is a seed that gets planted and becomes a permanent thing,” said Moseley.
The college received a $25,000, one-year grant from the Texas Bar Foundation to fund the clinic.
The goal is to provide legal assistance for AC students and staff as well as individuals around the Panhandle region, while providing AC legal studies students with practical paralegal/legal assistance experience.
“The clinic is important for paralegal students because it gives us a hands-on learning experience for our future careers, and also we get to help out our community,” said Ashley Scott, a paralegal major and clinical intern.
“This is such an important service for AC to have because it can becomes overwhelming dealing with legal issues, finding an attorney if needed and not knowing what lies ahead during the process,” she said.
There are no requirements to qualify for help from the legal clinic, said Moseley, and it is 100 percent free of cost.
A wide range of legal issues can be addressed, including immigration issues, family law issues, landlord-tenant issues, probate issues, veteran issues and general issues.
“AC will be here to assist with making the right decisions given your circumstances, setting you up with an attorney and guiding you through what will happen,” Scott said.
No appointment is needed, hours are Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Correction: The print issue of this story incorrectly named Ashley Scott as “Ashley Smith.” The print issue also stated that the free legal clinic grand opening will be conducted at 10 a.m, when it will actually be conducted at 11 a.m. The Ranger regrets these mistakes.
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