December 4, 2008
AUSTIN, TX
The law firm of Sumpter & Gonzalez announces Open Door Wednesdays. The media is invited to attend an
informational session on Wednesday December 10, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. in the S&G offices, 206 East 9th Street, Suite 1511 in Austin. Light
refreshments will be served.
This media event will be an introduction to the Sumpter & Gonzalez
Open Door Initiative, extending choice, quality, and affordability to everyone involved in the criminal justice system. The Open Door Initiative includes three
major facets - community education, including a free, weekly drop-in series open to the public called "Open Door Wednesdays"; a
comprehensive sliding scale pricing formula designed to allow clients access to quality defense in the wake of a current economic crisis; and the addition of two new members to the Sumpter & Gonzalez social work team.
The Open Door Initiative was motivated by several core values shared by the attorneys and staff of Sumpter & Gonzalez. We believe that determining a fee for legal
services should be a simple, transparent, and fair process. We believe that the community has a right to know how the criminal
justice system works and how they can protect their rights. We believe that being arrested is only one event in a person's life. The
firm has been built around our core mission: representing the good in people.
More about the Open Door Initiative:
Sumpter & Gonzalez believes that the best way to help people in the
criminal justice system is to give them the knowledge and tools they
need to defend themselves before they ever get into trouble. Community
education is an integral part of the Open Door Initiative, whether it
be in our office on Wednesday evenings, or via YouTube videos,
Facebook notes, and blog entries.
In a shrinking economy, legal professionals may end up with no choice
but to lower their rates. For many of their potential clients,
however, the point at which they can't afford to pay those rates has
already come. The Open Door Initiative's sliding scale policy is a free, "open source" formula, available
for use by all competing attorneys and law firms, to provide relief immediately.
Sumpter & Gonzalez is the only private criminal defense law firm in Texas
with a full time social work team on staff. Through the Open Door Initiative, S&G seeks to provide excellent legal representation that
encompasses all aspects of a person's life at a price that they can afford.
More about Sumpter & Gonzalez:
Sumpter & Gonzalez is a firm of dedicated and talented criminal defense lawyers, social workers, investigators and staffers who
represent our clients with passion, creativity and integrity.
We believe in fighting the good fight. We fight hard in the courtroom to get evidence suppressed and clients acquitted, and we
work just as hard outside of the courtroom to get cases dismissed, charges reduced, and offers made better. We do this because we think
our justice system works best when we give our best to it.
We defend our clients, first, by understanding them. We strive, at every turn, to understand the unique challenges and goals that each
client brings to our firm and to meet those challenges and goals with compassion, expertise, preparation and innovation.
We empower our clients to change their lives. We know that some of our clients are falsely accused; but others are struggling with social,
economic, medical, psychological, or familial issues that have brought them to the criminal justice system. We go beyond the legal issues in
those cases and attempt to address the underlying causes of each client's involvement with the criminal justice system.
We believe. We defend. We empower.
We represent the good in people. |
