Yetter Coleman has been named to the 2017 Pro Bono Hot List issued by The National Law Journal as one of 12 firms around the nation using their expertise and giving of their time to make a tangible difference in the lives of others.
The honor comes in recognition of the firm’s work to reform the Texas foster system in M.D. v. Abbott,” a case taken on twelve years ago in the belief that our work, along with that of our amazing co-counsel, could make life-changing impact on thousands of innocent children with no political voice and no champions,” says Paul Yetter, managing partner.
The result, a landmark ruling by U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack in which she found that Texas children “almost uniformly leave state custody more damaged than they entered,” confirmed the constitutional rights of 12,000 Texas foster children, and set into motion appointment of two experts who now have issued 56 recommendations for reform, including cutting worker caseloads by half and instituting major structural changes in how cases are managed. The state objected to every recommendation and filed two interlocutory appeals to the Fifth Circuit, both of which Yetter Coleman defeated as lead appellate counsel. “Despite the state’s resistance to accepting reforms, we press on in the belief that our work is a catalyst for overdue reforms to a seriously flawed system,” says Yetter.
The National Law Journal’s full profile on the firm can be found here.