SAN ANTONIO — Gianna Salinas is passionate about education law.
“Growing up with a family of educators, it was just something I gravitated towards, but also seeing the need in the Valley for service and advocates that are not there,” Salinas said.
She’s a third-year law student at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, but her roots are planted in the Rio Grande Valley.
“I wanted to pursue a law degree, and there were no avenues to do so,” Salinas said.
The only route was leaving the region that raised her and attending the nearest law school four hours away — St. Mary’s.
“Knowing that St. Mary’s is here but now is able to bring it to the Valley is great,” Salinas said.
She’s referring to the Rio Grande Valley Legal Education Hub, a partnership between St. Mary’s and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) where St. Mary’s online Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) program will reserve five seats for UTRGV students.
“You are getting all of the conveniences of an online program,” Winston Erevelles, St. Mary’s president, said. “You are getting all of the access of an on-ground program.”
The hope of the program is to retain future law professionals in the Rio Grande Valley because many students from the area who attend St. Mary’s School of Law end up staying in San Antonio, leaving the RGV what Erevelles calls a “legal desert.”
“When I look at the Rio Grande Valley, you’ve got about one lawyer for every 800 residents,” Erevelles said. “Now you look at a place like San Antonio, you look at the major metropolitan areas, it’s a much smaller ratio.”
In order to be accepted into St. Mary’s School of Law’s online J.D. or Master of Legal Studies (M.L.S.) program, students must provide proof of residence in Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy or Starr counties and then complete UTRGV’s Hub Student registration process.
“Some of them wanted to study government services, political service,” Erevelles said. “Some of them want to study law.”
Salinas said the program is going to fill a void. The Valley is more than 90% Hispanic, and distance is often a barrier for Hispanic students pursuing higher education, whether they are caregivers or for other financial reasons.
“You are not going to be able to travel four hours for three years. Especially when you are caregiving either your grandparents, your parents,” Salinas said.
It’s a program Salinas wishes existed earlier, but she is glad future attorneys from the RGV will benefit from it.
