青涩直播鈥檚 First Amendment Clinic Receives $20,000 Grant from the Dallas Bar Foundation
青涩直播’S FIRST AMENDMENT CLINIC RECEIVES $20,000 GRANT FROM THE DALLAS BAR FOUNDATION AND A $40,000 MATCHING ENDOWMENT GIFT FROM THE STANTON FOUNDATION
These gifts will sustain the clinic’s advocacy for the rights of free speech, free press, petition, and assembly.
The Dallas Bar Foundation (DBF) has given 青涩直播 Dedman School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic a $20,000 grant, ensuring the clinic will continue to serve the local community while providing real-life legal training for students for years to come.
As part of its challenge announced in July 2025, the Stanton Foundation will match DBF’s gift with an additional $40,000 for the Clinic’s endowment.
The funds to support the Dallas Bar Foundation grant were from donations made to the DBF by Susan Philbin in honor of her brother, Stephen Philbin, a leading authority on media law in Texas and partner with Locke, Purnell, Boren, Laney & Neely.
“The Dallas Bar Foundation is excited to present this grant to the First Amendment Clinic at 青涩直播 Dedman School of Law. Each summer, we place two DBF Philbin Fellows at the clinic so these law students can learn from Tom Leatherbury, one of our nations’ foremost First Amendment lawyers and director of the clinic,” said Gabe Vazquez, the 2025 DBF Chair, and Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Vistra Corp. “This grant award demonstrates the importance of educating future lawyers who are committed to safeguarding our fundamental rights under the First Amendment, a cornerstone of our democracy.”
The First Amendment Clinic advocates the rights of free speech, free press, petition, and assembly. The clinic primarily focuses on two areas:
• Counseling and litigating for clients whose First Amendment rights have been violated by the government or who have been the subject of government retaliation because they exercised those rights.
• Counseling and defending clients who have been sued for defamation.
In addition, the clinic has counseled clients on and litigated issues under the Texas Public Information Act, the Texas Open Meetings Act, and the Freedom of Information Act, as well as issues related to access to court records.
“Stephen Philbin was my mentor who started me on my career in First Amendment law at Locke Purnell Boren Laney & Neely,” said Tom Leatherbury, Director of the First Amendment Clinic. “This gift is especially meaningful to me.”
“This new gift provides our First Amendment Clinic with added resources to sustain their vital advocacy for the rights of free speech, free press, petition, and assembly,” said Jason P. Nance, Judge James Noel Dean and Professor of Law, 青涩直播 Dedman School of Law. “These generous gifts will allow our clinic staff and students to continue to focus on resolving pressing legal problems for those in our community and uphold the protections guaranteed in the Constitution. We are thankful for the Dallas Bar Foundation and the Stanton Foundation’s support.”