Where Your Money Goes When You Donate to the Austin Bar Foundation

Thank you for your flexibility and understanding as we work to reschedule the 2026 Austin Bar Foundation Gala.

Funds raised through this year’s Gala will go toward funding the Austin Bar Foundation’s various charitable programs and projects. We want to highlight several individuals who graciously allowed us to interview them to see how the work of the Austin Bar Foundation has impacted their lives.

Austin Adoption Day

The Austin Bar Foundation plays an integral part in Austin Adoption Day, held every year in November. Funds are used to pay for the decorating of the Travis County Civil and Family Courthouse as the Land of Oz, provide food and beverages, and ensure the day is special for the families and especially the children involved. 

Pastor Daryl Horton of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Austin and his wife, Shalonda, finalized the adoption of their daughter, Eshana, at Adoption Day 2024.

“We initially met her in 2023 and fostered her until the adoption was finalized at Adoption Day 2024,” Horton said. “When you’re adopting a child, you don’t think about all the legal things. You’re thinking about, ‘How do I care for this child? How do I get my home ready?’ We’re very thankful for the Austin Bar Foundation for the help they provided us in adopting our daughter.”

Hon. Lora Livingston Fellowship

The Austin Bar Foundation administers the Hon. Lora Livingston Fellowship. Named after long-time Travis County Judge Lora Livingston who retired from the bench in 2022, the scholarship provides stipends to first-year law students from diverse backgrounds. The fellowship also enables these students to participate in law firm, governmental agency, and judicial clerkship experiences. 

The stipends provided to students is funded by charitable donations from firms offering internships. To date, $410,000 has been awarded through the program. 

“As a first-generation law student, my exposure to the legal field was very limited,” said UT Law 2L Jamarqus “Jay” Winbush, a 2025 fellow.  “As a result of the fellowship, I’m better prepared to plan my future.”

Winbush’s fellowship was at the law firm of Naman Howell, and he’ll be interning at the firm this summer.

“Sometimes, the true difference between average and greatness is opportunity,” he said. “The fellowship program does a great job of showing you what’s available to you as a first-generation law student.”

Winbush said the fellowship is important because it provides life-changing opportunities.

“The experience certainly changed my life,” he said.

Law Day

Every year, the Austin Bar’s Law-Related Education Committee partners with high schools in and around Austin to participate in the State Bar of Texas’ annual Law Day Competition.

Local and state bars around the country participate in Law Day every year. Each Law Day’s theme is different and determined by the American Bar Association. 

The first-place winners of the Austin Bar’s local Law Day competition are submitted to the state bar’s competition. The theme for Law Day 2025 was “The Constitution’s Promise: Out of Many, One.”

First, second, and third places in the Austin Bar’s competition receive cash prizes, which are funded through donations to the Austin Bar Foundation.

Sonia Joseph, a senior at Round Rock High School, won first place in the Austin Bar’s Law Day essay contest and, subsequently, won first place in the state bar’s essay contest. Her essay, “Threads of Justice: Weaving Unity in a Diverse Nation,” is available to read at austinlawyeronline.com.

“Submitting my essay to the Austin Bar’s competition was the first time I really put my work out there for people not only to see but also judge,” she said. “Finding out my essay had won was super humbling.”

Her participation in the competition encouraged her to continue pursuing a legal career. In college, she plans to study government before enrolling in law school and building upon her previous experience as an intern at Thompson Law in Austin and as an intern in the office of Texas State Rep. Ryan Guillen.

“Every student should take part in these competitions,” she said. “Just put your ideas out there– they do matter, they are heard, and your perspective will be valued by somebody out there.”

CANLaw Clinic

The CANLaw Clinic is a project of the Austin Bar Foundation that provides free will drafting and estate-planning services to patients with cancer and their families.

Sherroll Reese of Round Rock is a clinic client. She said getting her affairs in order was important to her so that her estate would not go to probate and deprive her children of what should rightly be theirs.

“It was a great experience,” she said of her time getting help from the clinic. “They had a team of attorneys to help me.”

Reese said the clinic is important because it provides an essential service that is often overlooked when it comes to helping people with illnesses.

“There’s a lot of things that we don’t think about when we’re planning for our untimely death,” she said. “Sick people need more than food and water.”

LGBTQ+ Scholarship

The Austin Bar Foundation administers the LGBTQ+ Scholarship, which is awarded by the LGBTQ+ Law Section of the Austin Bar Association. Each year, the section hosts a Drag ‘n’ Justice show, and revenue generated from this show, as well as charitable donations throughout the year, provide the funding for the scholarship. 

Ava Stuart is a student at Texas Law and a recipient of the LGBTQ+ Scholarship.

“Not having to focus on the financial pressures of law school has enabled me to really dive into pro bono opportunities, particularly with UT’s parole program,” she said. 

Stuart said the scholarship is important because it shows there’s a place at the table for LGBTQ+ law students and a community to support them.

Crisis Assistance Program (CAP)

The Crisis Assistance Program was established in 2025. It helps attorneys who need to step away from their practice for up to 90 days to redistribute their cases to other attorneys in their practice area. Once redistributed, the custodian attorney then provides case updates to the clients and courts until the principal attorney can resume practice.

CAP was jointly established by the Austin Bar Foundation, the State Bar of Texas, and the Travis County District Courts and is actively accepting cases, as well as recruiting volunteers.

Chris Philley is a solo family law attorney in Austin. Earlier in 2025, he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, and had to step away from his practice as he received treatment. 

“About 200 people in the United States have it, and it can be relatively deadly,” Chris said. “But some people survive and go into remission, and that’s my intention.”

His wife, Taylor, reached out to the Austin Bar, unaware of CAP, to see what help they could receive. Chris and Taylor were referred to CAP, and Chris’ more than 70 family law cases were redistributed to volunteer attorneys.

Chris said his treatment is going well and nearing completion. He is looking forward to returning to practice, as well as performing stand-up comedy again. 

“Thank you to everyone who helped our family in so many ways,” Taylor said.

Justice Mack Kidd Fund

The Austin Bar Foundation administers the Justice Mack Kidd Fund. Funded by charitable donations, the fund provides attorneys and UT law students the means to receive treatment for depression or similar mental health conditions. These funds can be used to receive treatment rendered by a licensed medical or mental health provider and/or medication prescribed by the provider, and is available for both inpatient and outpatient treatment. 

To date, the Justice Mack Kidd Fund has distributed $80,000 for treatment. 

Thank you to everyone who has made a contribution to the Austin Bar Foundation. If you would like to donate, either one time or as an annual contribution, please visit austinbar.org/donate and select the program you’d like to donate to, or you can make a general pledge.

Thank you also to the Fellows, Life Fellows, and Sustaining Fellows of the Austin Bar Foundation. These are individuals who have elected to donate $200 every year to the Foundation. Fellows have committed to a period of 10 years; Life Fellows have completed their 10-year commitment; and Sustaining Fellows have completed their 10-year commitment and continue to donate $200 a year. 

If you would like to become a fellow, please visit austinbar.org/fellows.

All donations are tax-deductible as a charitable expense and help support the work of the Austin Bar Foundation.