Amarillo College approves establishment of legal aid clinic on Washington Street campus

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Amarillo College will collaborate with Legal Aid of Northwest Texas to provide on-site legal services to students.

Legal Aid of Northwest Texas offers free civil legal help to low-income students who qualify.

“They will have an office here. One of our employees, a highly-qualified paralegal, will work in the legal clinic. Legal Aid of Northwest Texas is going to hire a lawyer to come work on our campus full time,” said Mark White, executive vice president and general counsel at Amarillo College.

The college says having a clinic available on campus will provide opportunities and resources for students.

“Many barriers that these students have really have nothing to do with the classroom, they have to do with life,” said White.

AC’s goal is to help remove those barriers in order for students to succeed.

“Low-income students do have a variety of legal issues sometimes that need to be taken care of. And those are the kinds of things that get in the way of them maybe being able to be successful in college or successful at a job,” said White.

The college is anticipating a large amount of students in need of services. The partnership with Legal Aid of Northwest Texas will provide more available resources.

“It’s just another tool in our toolbox. We really want to offer everything we can so there is no excuse for not completing their education here at Amarillo College,” said Chris Sharp, vice president of business affairs at Amarillo College.

Students will be able to access lawyers for a variety of services. Some of those services include landlord disputes, family law, criminal matters and insurance claims.