South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 39, No. 1, Ed. 1, September, 2006 Page: 1 of 8
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The Student Newspaper of South Texas College of Law
ANNOTATIONS
Volume XXXIX, Number I
STGL grad has eye on Governor's Mansion
By Trace© L. Evans
Staff Writer
-If your first month of law
school (or even your third year)
has left you wondering "what is
this doing for - and to - me," you
just might want to take a closer
look at the 2006 Texas governor's
race. Democratic candidate Chris
Bell said his time at South Texas
College of Law "gave me the
confidence to push myself."
The 46-year-old tall, lanky, born
and bred Texan is hoping to be the
first Democrat to be elected
governor since George W. Bush
unseated Ann Richards 12 years
ago.
The award-winning reporter-
turned-politician said what he
learned at STCL has had "a huge
impact on shaping the way I
address certain situations."
Bell is hoping to unseat Gov.
Rick Perry after serving five years
on the Houston City Council and
a single term in the United States
Congress. Bell returned to his law
practice in Houston with a new
political goal in mind - taking back
the governor's mansion. In
November, he will face Perry as
well as independent candidates
Kinky Friedman and Carole
Keeton Strayhorn.
"Several people who have been
with me since my South Texas days
have supported me through my
first run from city council, through
my race for mayor... and Congress
... and now my race for governor,"
Bell to\á Annotations by cell phone
as he jaunted from political event
to political event.
Bell's supporters include his
wife, Alison, who worked on
Republican Rob Mosbacher's 1994
bid for lieutenant governor and
their sons, Adee, 10, and Connally,
8. Bell said the best part about
running for governor is not being
more than a thousand miles away
from his family. In fact, despite the
grueling campaign schedule he's
on, he's proud of making "almost
every one of my older son's
baseball games last spring"
Bell credited STCL for helping
him cram so much in each day.
"Sometimes people choose not to
do things in life because they don't
think they have enough time and
law school does teach you,
especially in the part-time program
and working, that you can stretch
yourself and you can accomplish
much more than you thought," he
said.
While working his way through
law school covering criminal trials
for KTRH News Radio, he learned
Chris Bell, South Texas College of Law graduate, faces three opponents in
the November elections. Bell served one term in the U.S. Congress.
a lot about how to juggle his
personal and professional life
watching "fellow students in the
part-time program." To this day,
Bell said he has great admiration
for those law students "who
worked and were raising families.
I was always impressed that they
could manage all that, but many
of them did so successfully."
Before getting his J.D. in 1992,
Bell earned a journalism degree
from the University of Texas at
Austin. While a 2L at STCL, he
was named "best radio reporter in
the state" by the Texas Associated
Press Broadcasters. ^ "The
combination of Houston and law
school opened up tremendous
opportunities for me ... combined
with my media background," said
Bell.
Like many other STCL
students, Bell admitted his least
favorite class was Federal Income
Tax, but he said his favorite was
Criminal Trial Advocacy "because
I spent so much time in the
criminal courthouse that I felt like
I knew how to try one of those
cases backwards and forwards."
He also said he will always hold a
soft spot for Professor Charles
Weigel's Torts I, his first class at
STCL Bell's magic formula for surviving
law school is three-fold: "meet as many
people as your can.... find a
Please see Bell on pg. 6
Public interest
group benefits
those who want
to help others
By Heather Busby
Staff Writer
The Public Interest Law Society (PILS) can also
help you beef up your resume, find summer
internships, explore resources for fellowships
and loan repayment assistance and much more.
What is public interest law? Quite simply,
it is legal work for the. public interest, not just
for one client, but for a cause. Many students
often equate public interest with working for
a nonprofit organization, but nonprofit work
is just one area of public interest law.
Spme public interest attorneys work for
legal services organizations such as Lone Star
Legal Aid and Texas Accountants and Lawyers
for the Arts. Nonprofit work could include a
legal-oriented organization such as the
American Civil Liberties Union or the liberty
Legal Institute, or in-house counsel for non-
legal organizations. Another aspect of public
interest work is at the government level,
working for agencies like the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission or the
Department of Homeland Security. Other
public interest lawyers work as public defenders
or district attorneys.
"We want to be a central base for students
to connect to the public interest community,"
says Kerri Smith, co-founder and co-president
of the STCL Public Interest Law Society.
Students benefit from involvement in the group
by finding out about summer internships and
funding opportunities, but the group also
serves as a connector between future attorneys
and the organizations that depend on them for
pro bono service.
"Public interest work furthers the values
that the legal profession has officially
Please see Public Interest on pg. 6
SBA President's letter pg. 2 Restaurant Reviews pg. 4-5
Visiting Danish Students pg. 6 Summer Adventures pg. 7
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Frazer, Jason L. South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 39, No. 1, Ed. 1, September, 2006, newspaper, September 2006; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth144578/m1/1/: accessed May 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Texas College of Law.