Thanks to a new truancy law in effect this month, school children will no longer face criminal cases for failing to attend school, and hundreds of thousands of people will have their past truancy convictions expunged.

Six attorneys at DLA Piper deserve some of the credit for the legislative victory of House Bill 2398, which transported the state's truancy system from the criminal to the civil arena.

Texas Appleseed, a nonprofit social- and economic-justice advocacy group, has worked to change the truancy system for years, said board member Courtney Stewart, also a DLA Piper attorney. The firm assisted Texas Appleseed pro bono to conduct research about legal problems with the state's old criminal truancy system, Stewart said. Texas Appleseed then shared the findings with lawmakers in the 2015 legislative session, she said.