Neighborhood Defender Service expanded into Texas in January 2022, creating NDS Texas. Initially, NDS Texas represented migrants charged with offenses in border counties under Texas’ Operation Lone Star. In November 2022, NDS was chosen to stand up a public defender’s office in Hays County, and in 2023, opened an eviction defense program serving Harris County. Although the OLS and Eviction Defense programs were intended to lapse and closed in 2025, NDS continues to serve the Hays County community.
The NDS Texas Hays County Criminal Defense Team provides client-centered, collaborative, holistic public defense representation and related services to residents of Hays County, Texas. The office started taking cases in March 2023.
Clients are represented by multi-disciplinary teams composed of lawyers, investigators, social workers, client advocates, and team administrators. NDS adheres to a client-centered approach to representation that emphasizes a heightened responsiveness to clients’ needs prior to arrest, while a case is pending, and after the case concludes.
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Meenu Walters, Managing Director, NDS Texas
Meenu Walters manages NDS Texas. She previously served with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid as Chief Public Defender of Atascosa, Wilson, Karnes, and Frio Counties.