Savannah Hostetter Benac went to Baylor University School of Law thinking she would become a prosecutor or do legal work to combat human trafficking.
During an internship, she took a human trafficking law class at the University of Houston, wrote her law review note on a human trafficking case and interned at the McLennan County district attorney’s office, where she worked on a human trafficking prosecution.
But after graduating, Hostetter Benac’s career took a different path. She entered commercial litigation, first at Norton Rose Fulbright and now at Shackelford, McKinley & Norton, where she became a partner this year.
About two years ago, Hostetter Benac joined the board of Radiate Coalition, a nonprofit whose mission aligned closely with the justice-focused work she had once envisioned for her legal career. The organization provides Christian-based aftercare to teen survivors of sexual abuse, trafficking and oppression in Honduras.
Now, she is helping guide the organization as it expands its mission work into the U.S.
Last year, Radiate Coalition was presented with the opportunity to acquire a former nun’s convent that the organization plans to convert into a transitional home for girls aging out of the Texas foster care system. The property was offered as a gift by The Haven, another nonprofit that was winding down operations.
The gift included a seven-acre property in New Caney, north of Houston, valued at approximately $2.5 million.
Hostetter Benac knew just the lawyer to help negotiate the property assignment agreement: her husband, Dylan Benac, a corporate deal lawyer in Bracewell’s Houston office. Together, their firms committed resources that allowed the attorneys to handle the acquisition pro bono.
But this was not a billion-dollar transaction — and the clients were not banks or oil and gas companies.
The nonprofits did not want to “over-lawyer” the gift, Hostetter Benac said, requiring the attorneys to strike a careful balance between respecting the nonprofits’ trust and integrity while still ensuring appropriate legal protections.
“That can be a tricky thing when you don’t want to offend someone by saying, ‘Well, I need you to put this in writing,’” Hostetter Benac said. “At the end of the day, the other nonprofit was giving the property, and so we didn’t want to say, ‘Thank you for this gift, sign this 30-page agreement to all these terms.’”
Still, some issues needed to be addressed, including a waiver of right of first refusal and other provisions typical in property transactions. The lawyers took care to explain each step and to emphasize how certain measures — such as allowing the parties to sign separately — would actually make the process easier for both parties. The transaction did not require a title company.
The work tested Benac’s ability to translate complex legal concepts into plain language. It also required a broader view of what truly mattered.
“I think it is a lawyer’s temptation to get caught in the weeds,” Benac said. “But in situations like that, it’s see the forest, not the trees.”
He likened the experience to mediation, an area in which Hostetter Benac has experience.
“Where I learned a lot as a lawyer is about perspective and understanding, being able to take a step back and ask the question: Does it actually matter to get this done?” Benac said. “Because the mission of Radiate is paramount. So as long as the decisions we’re making when we’re in this transaction further that mission, then I’m OK giving on certain things.”
Benac said his pro bono hours have steadily increased since he joined Bracewell nearly five years ago. He tended to associate pro bono work primarily with litigation, which made this transactional matter especially meaningful.
“It was this light bulb moment of, ‘Oh this is something that I do, this is something that is truly in my wheelhouse,’” Benac said. “Pro bono itself is already incredible, but it made this one really particularly special because I was able to use my knowledge over eight years of practice to truly benefit a client who simply could not have afforded our services and needed to take the next step as a nonprofit.”
The project also gave the couple a rare opportunity to work together professionally. As a litigator and a deals lawyer, their professional worlds never intersect, aside from the occasional lunch or coffee near their downtown Houston offices.
Hostetter Benac said they complemented each other well — she brought a detail-oriented approach, while he focused on big-picture structure and strategy.
“To be able to work on the deal together for an organization that we both care deeply about made this year really special,” Benac said.
“But we don’t want to practice together,” Hostetter Benac said firmly.
Radiate Coalition publicly announced the gift at its Nov. 8 fundraising gala. An open house at the property, now known as Shepherd’s Field, is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. More information and RSVP details are available on the organization’s website, here.
For Hostetter Benac, the work ultimately brought her back to the purpose that first drew her to law.
“I feel like I am able to make a difference in my community using my legal skills in ways that my traditional practice may not,” she said.