Texas State Bar honors Fort Worth faith-based legal organization with Pro Bono Award
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Texas State Bar honors Fort Worth faith-based legal organization with Pro Bono Award

Methodist Justice Ministry, a faith-based family law nonprofit, received the 2024 Pro Bono Award from the State Bar of Texas on June 20, 2024. This is the third time in the award’s 40-year history that a Fort Worth organization has been selected. From left to right, Methodist Justice Ministry Executive Director Aaryn Landers Lamb, 2023-24 State Bar President Cindy Tisdale, Legal Director and Attorney Jodie Connaughton and Attorney Jonathan Turner. (Courtesy photo | Yajaera Chatterson)
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Yajaera Chatterson remembers how a phone call from Child Protective Services changed her family’s life. 

It was a Friday afternoon in 2015 when she found out her sister was under investigation. Chatterson was faced with a decision: She could become a voluntary caregiver for her nephew, Jovani, until the case was closed or let him go to foster care. She and her husband, Aaron, didn’t hesitate to take him in. 

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Her experience propelled her into a world of family law, where she would end up becoming the development director for Methodist Justice Ministry, the faith-founded firm that helped her obtain custody of her nephew. 

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Now, the organization is being recognized for providing free legal representation and ongoing support to survivors of traumatic domestic violence and neglect on a statewide level. The State Bar of Texas awarded Methodist Justice Ministry the 2024 Pro Bono Award on June 20, marking the third time a Fort Worth organization has been a recipient in the award’s 40-year history. 

“It’s a nice validation that within our legal community, our work for the last 18 years is being recognized as a vital and crucial help for vulnerable community members,” Chatterson said. 

Yajaera and Aaron Chatterson took custody of their nephew, Jovani, pictured in the middle, in November 2017. (Courtesy photo | Yajaera Chatterson)

Methodist Justice Ministry was established in 2006 by Brooks Harrington, an attorney and ordained Methodist minister. The ministry’s attorneys file lawsuits in Tarrant and Johnson county’s family courts, including protective orders, custody and divorce. Its client households are generally within 125% above the federal poverty line and cannot afford legal counsel. 

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The Pro Bono Award honors a volunteer attorney organization, such as a legal aid organization, local bar association or nonprofit that has made an “outstanding contribution toward guaranteeing access to the legal system by the poor,” according to the award’s nomination form. The last time a Fort Worth organization was a recipient of the award was the Texas Lawyers for Texas Veterans in 2019. 

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“MJM (Methodist Justice Ministry) has grown from humble beginnings to become a vital pillar of support within the Fort Worth community,” according to the State Bar of Texas’ annual meeting notes. 

Currently, one in three women in Tarrant County will be affected by intimate partner violence at some point in her lifetime, according to the county’s criminal district attorney website. Methodist Justice Ministry has filed over 1,200 family lawsuits and represented more than 3,000 vulnerable community members impacted by family violence.

Aaryn Landers Lamb, the organization’s new executive director, said the award recognizes the work the staff has been doing since its mission started several years ago. 

“Tarrant County is not small. Fort Worth is not small,” Landers Lamb said. “I feel really proud that Methodist Justice Ministry gets to represent the community in this way.” 

Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org or @marissaygreene. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

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