<\/p>\n
Dean Senator Judith Zaffirini cuts the ribbon for the new Legal Kiosk in South Laredo with (L-R) Webb County District Clerk Esther Degollado; Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid Attorney Caitlyn Fish; State Bar President Santos Vargas; Justice Toni Arteaga; Danielle Burns; JP Danny Dominguez; Council Members Ricardo Rangel and Gilbert Gonzalez; Andres Velazquez; Judge Victor Villarreal; DeV ondolyn Arrington, Texas Legal Services Center; Nathan Chu; Judge Gloria Lopez; Amber Holmes; Judge Leticia Martinez; and President Alyson Martinez, Texas Young Lawyers Association.<\/p>\n
Courtesy\/Dean Senator Judith Zaffirini<\/p>\n
Expanding access to justice remains among Dean Senator Judith Zaffirini\u2019s highest priorities. Appointed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, she is a member of the Texas Judicial Council, which is the policy-making body for the state judiciary; the Texas<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Access to Justice Commission, which focuses on legal aid for low-income litigants; and the Senate State Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over civil justice and judicial legislation, including the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Dean Senator Judith\u00a0Zaffirini, PhD Ask Us 2026: Legal<\/p>\n
These positions empower her not only to help strengthen and improve the judiciary and the legal profession, but also to craft and advance meaningful legislation and policies and help facilitate access to justice for all.<\/p>\n
Her legislative work reflects a steadfast belief that every Texan deserves access to the courts, regardless of income or circumstance, and that corruption, incompetency and cronyism in the judiciary should be eliminated while excellence is rewarded. She agrees with former Chief Justices Nathan Hecht and Wallace<\/p>\n
Jefferson that \u201ca society that denies access to the courts for the least of us denigrates the law for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
That commitment recently was reflected in the opening of a\u00a0TexasLawHelp.org Legal Kiosk at the McKendrick-Ochoa-Salinas Branch Library in South Laredo. A \u201cWho\u2019s Who\u201d of the local and state legal community attended the celebration during which Dean Senator Zaffirini cut the ribbon.<\/p>\n
The kiosk provides free access to court-approved legal forms, step-by-step legal guidance, virtual court navigation, live attorney assistance through\u00a0TexasLawHelp.org and the ability to complete and submit legal documents online.<\/p>\n
Users also may participate in remote court proceedings using reliable technology in a convenient, trusted public setting.<\/p>\n
As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, Dean\u00a0Zaffirini helped secure $1 million for 45 legal kiosks, with more planned. This investment enables Laredo and other communities to offer services closer to those who need it most.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Looking ahead to the 2027 legislative session, she will continue working with judicial leaders, legal aid organizations and access-to-justice partners to ensure more Texas communities, particularly\u00a0underserved and rural areas, can benefit from innovative legal resources.<\/p>\n
Her membership on the Senate State Affairs Committee facilitates her collaboration with legislative colleagues, judges and lawyers to author and pass bills improving the third branch of government.<\/p>\n
Her work has been recognized statewide, including when Webb County Commissioners named the Dean Senator Judith\u00a0Zaffirini Justice Center; local lawyers awarded her their Liberty Bell as the non-lawyer who had the greatest impact on the law; Texas Access to Justice Commission and Texas Access to Justice Foundation awarded her their Star of Justice and repeatedly named her a Legislative Champion; Texas Judges Section of the State Bar named her Friend of the Judiciary; and the Hispanic Issues Section named her Legislator of the Year.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Dean Senator\u00a0Zaffirini encourages constituents to share ideas, concerns or feedback regarding pressing issues. She and her team can be reached at her Capitol office, 512\/463-0121; her Laredo office, 956\/722-2293; or via email at judith.zaffirini@senate.texas.gov<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dean Senator Judith Zaffirini cuts the ribbon for the new Legal Kiosk in South Laredo with (L-R) Webb…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[137133,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-389572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-specialsections","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}