As a third-year law student at the University of Texas School of Law, David Hall had his Sights on a career in legal representation of people who desperately needed such representation,
but could not afford it. He looked south and coincidentally James de Anda (of LULAC school desegregation fame) was then organizing a non-profit legal services organization. But funding for the organization was still a few years away. Hall would be recruited by Antonio Orendain who was in 1969 one of Cesar Chavez’ most trusted lieutenants. From McAllen, Texas, Orendain was coordinating the national grape and lettuce boycotts in support of farmworker unionizing activities in California. Hall would be drawn to the Rio Grande Valley where he would cut teeth as a young civil rights lawyer and union attorney.