Earlier this year, the nearly 1,000 members of the DFW Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel were asked to identify interesting venues where they would like to have upcoming receptions and programs. The majority said they wanted to see Toyota Motor Company’s new state-of-the-art headquarters in Plano.
This week, ACC-DFW leaders combined the curiosity about Toyota’s HQ with one of the organization’s priorities: pro bono.
More than 100 lawyers from corporate in-house legal departments across Dallas-Fort Worth gathered Tuesday evening at the sprawling Toyota campus to enjoy fellowship, drinks and food, and to participate in ACC-DFW’s second annual Pro Bono Fair and to learn about pro bono opportunities.
For more than two hours, lawyers with a few dozen companies in North Texas – including Bank of America, Capital One, Federal Express, Fogo de Chao, Hewlett Packard, JC Penny, LSG Sky Chefs and Michaels Stores – met with representatives from a dozen non-profit organizations who need legal help.
“ACC members have a great desire to be part of the community and to give back to the community through public service and pro bono,” says Toyota Managing Counsel Scott Young, who is the president of ACC-DFW. “The key to successful engagement in pro bono is to offer opportunities that match the interests or concerns of the in-house lawyers.”
As corporate in-house lawyers enjoyed food and drinks, they visited booths set up by 11 agencies, including Human Rights Initiative, Dallas CASA and the Veterans Legal Clinic. (A full list of the organizations is below.)
Young says that lawyers in corporate legal departments face different challenges in doing pro bono than attorneys at law firms and the Pro Bono Fair, which is sponsored by Norton Rose Fulbright, is designed to help address the issues.
“Some in-house counsel are able to do a limited amount of pro bono each month, but are not able to tackle a long, time-consuming case,” Young says. “Other in-house counsel moved to Texas with their companies from another state and are not licensed to practice law in Texas. So, they need to team up with local lawyers on a project.”
Young and others say that the ACC-DFW Pro Bono Fair allows in-house counsel to learn about opportunities that are within the lawyer’s limitations or abilities.
But the ACC’s interest in doing pro bono can have an additional benefit for the non-profit organizations: attract more outside lawyers to volunteer to do more work.
“Nothing gets the attention of a lawyer at a law firm more than telling them they will get to work side-by-side on a pro bono project with a lawyer from Toyota or another company,” Young says. “It is a great motivating factor because we know outside lawyers will be more likely to take on a case if they know that they get to spend time with an ACC member.”
Norton Rose Fulbright partner Jarrett Reed says the involvement of ACC-DFW is extremely helpful in raising awareness of the legal needs of local charities.
“Corporate legal departments like Toyota are making pro bono a much bigger priority,” says Reed, who specializes in real estate law. “We are proud to partner with ACC on the Pro Bono Fair and we believe it makes a real difference.”
The 11 agencies that participated in the ACC-DFW Pro Bono Fair were:
• Mosaic Services, which is a safe haven for survivors of human rights abuses;
• Human Rights Initiative, which assists survivors of violence from all over the world;
• Dallas CASA, which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates and works with child in custody and parental termination cases;
• Veterans Legal Clinic, which strives to make a difference in the lives of veterans;
• Housing Crisis Center, which aims to make the community a better home for everyone;
• Texas Lawyers for Texas Veterans and Tarrant Volunteer Attorney Services, which connects Texas attorneys with those who can not afford representation;
• Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program (DVAP), which provides free civil legal help to low-income people in the Dallas area;
• RAICES, which stands for Refuge and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, and is helping with asylum and other immigration-related legal matters;
• Disability Rights Texas, which works for the protection and advocacy of people with disabilities in Texas;
• Justice For Our Neighbors – DFW; and
• Texas Civil Rights Project.