Lizbeth Parra Davila

Biography

Lizbeth Parra Davila (J.D. ’19) is Practicing Faculty teaching Deposition Skills and a Staff Attorney with the Real Estate Clinic at the St. Mary’s University School of Law. Her clinic work and advocacy focus on preserving homeownership and building generational wealth in marginalized communities. She also co-teaches clinic seminar classes and assists with the supervision of clinic student attorneys.

She is a frequent speaker on heir’s property topics around the country. Davila uses her experience to advocate for legislative and local policy reform on issues important to low-income Texans, including homeowner and landlord-tenant issues. Her work has been covered nationally in the ABA Journal, and locally in the San Antonio Express-News.

Prior to joining St. Mary’s, Davila was a managing attorney and the director of the Tenant Eviction Relief Project (TERP) with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) in San Antonio, Texas, where she primarily defended tenants and homeowners facing displacement but also represented clients against fraud, deceptive practices, and partition cases. She has also handled state appeals and mandamus cases. While at TRLA, she created the Tenant Eviction Relief Project (TERP), a state-wide crisis response team focused on helping renters access rental assistance and preventing evictions.

After graduating from law school, Davila joined The University of Texas School of Law as a Housing Justice Fellow, where she worked to increase housing stability in San Antonio, with a focus on the preservation of mobile home ownership.

Davila is currently Co-Chair to the Community Development and Environmental Justices Taskforce and a Director and Secretary of the Texas Justice Court Section.

• Housing Justice Fellow, UT School of Law, 2019
• St. Mary’s Francisco Leo Award, St. Mary’s University, 2018
• Student of the Year, Our Lady of the Lake University, 2015