UH to Commemorate Joseph Vail

September 4, 2008

The University of Houston Law Center will hold a remembrance service in honor of Joseph A. Vail, founding director of the Law Center’s Immigration Law Clinic, at 5 p.m., Monday, Sept. 8 at the Bates Law Building, Frankel Room.

Vail, 56, died in late June at his Philadelphia residence after battling cancer.

In 1995, Vail was appointed as an immigration judge with the U.S. Department of Justice, where he served for more than four years. In 1994, Vail was recognized by the State Bar of Texas for the free legal services he provided to indigent clients. He developed the Immigration Law Clinic into one of the nation’s largest after founding it in 1999. Before his death, Vail was nominated by 108 lawyers in Houston and across the state for an immigration award issued annually by the National Lawyers Guild.

The UH Law Center also has established a memorial fund in his honor.

Staff reports