Andrea Sloan, Executive Director, Texas Advocacy Project

An attorney working passionately to make life fair for others.

Andrea “Andi” Sloan is a soft -spoken, petite woman, who is doing exactly what she was meant to do helping to make life safer, and the legal system more “fair,” for victims of domestic violence or sexual assault. Sloan, attorney and executive director for the Texas Advocacy Project, (formerly, Women’s Advocacy Project) recalled that growing up, her father would always remind her that life was not fair. “I have always had a strong sense of what is fair, and it drove me crazy when things were not. That’s what I like about the law, and in particular, this job,” said Sloan, who practices family law at the Project. The Texas Advocacy Project, now in its 26th year, is a statewide nonprofit law firm providing services, free of charge, to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. The Assisted Pro Se Program, for example, offers a client, who cannot afford to hire legal representation, the opportunity to petition the court on her behalf, or act “pro se.” An attorney at the Project assists with documentation preparation, filing, and counseling on what to say in court.

To put the Project’s mission in context, according to the Texas Council on Family Violence, in 2006, at least 120 Texans died as a result of violence by a loved one and nearly 200,000 people reported they were injured as a result of family violence. Eighty to 95% of victims of physical abuse are women. Governor Rick Perry proclaimed October 2007 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. A TCFV release stated: “The constant exposure to violence in the home and abusive role models teaches children that this type of behavior is a normal way of life.” Sean Tate, TCFV preventions specialist, added, “Studies have shown that children will mirror what they learn at home. More than likely children who grow up in violent homes will be violent.” Sloan said empowering mothers to keep their children safe is critical. “Abuse does not happen in a vacuum. When mothers make poor choices, like taking a beating to keep a roof over their child’s head, the abuser needs to be removed and that takes legal action.”

The Texas Advocacy Project utilizes a large network of attorneys statewide, who volunteer their time. Heath Riddles, deputy executive director, attributed the Project’s “team of highly-trained lawyers, who are on the cutting edge of legal strategy” to Sloan’s leadership and vision since she took over her position in November 2005. A top priority of the attorneys is to change the manner in which others in the legal system, such as the judges and prosecutors, look at domestic violence and sexual assault cases. “We like to say our approach is to touch one, touch many. We don’t want any child to ever watch one parent abuse another. At the end of the day, it’s as simple as that and people understand and respond to that,” Sloan said. Thousands of victims every year find hope at the Texas Advocacy Project, which serves an estimated 25,000 individuals and receives 12,000 calls to its hotline annually. Victims, like the 14-year-old girl who was given by her father to an older man to “marry.” Sloan smiled as she related her client’s success story. “She had only an 8th grade education and was basically held hostage by her ’husband.’ He abused her every day of their relationship, and when she turned 38, he decided she was too old for him and he abandoned her. She came to us and is now enrolled in night class and starting her own business,” said Sloan. “For us to tell her that it is up to her, that she had a choice, is so gratifying.”

Over the past 10 years, Sloan’s work on behalf of individuals and other organizations has demonstrated her passion for bringing social justice to those underserved. Most recently, she represented several young women and minors from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, after an estimated 450 children were seized during a raid of the FLDS sect’s El Dorado ranch in April this year. Sloan has also donated countless hours to AIDS Services and the Legal Services of Austin. In 2003, Mayor Will Wynn appointed Sloan to serve as chair on the Austin Area Comprehensive HIV Planning Council, a body of representatives, who make decisions about how federal government funds should be spent to help those living with AIDS and HIV.

Lee Manford, executive director of AIDS Services of Austin, recalled Sloan’s leadership on the council. “I first met Andi through the Hill Country Ride for AIDS, as she was training for the annual fundraiser for persons living with HIV/AIDS in Central Texas, and we became friends. During her tenure as chair of the HIV Planning Council, she ran an efficient meeting that was inclusive of all viewpoints she effectively facilitated collaborative community planning,” said Manford.

Sloan practiced business litigation for Haynes and Boone, after graduating from The University of Texas at Austin Law School in 1997. After she experienced an internal revelation, Sloan fully understands what motivates other lawyers to want to give of their time and talents to help those underserved. “Although I will forever owe a debt of gratitude for all I learned, and the lifelong friends I made while at Haynes and Boone, I just knew I wasn’t where I was supposed to be. Little did I know then that was my body telling me something. In July 2006, less than a year after I took this job, I was diagnosed with stage III ovarian cancer,” she said.