Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
After 12 years at SMU Dedman School of Law, where she built and led its public interest and pro bono programs, Laura Burstein has joined O’Melveny & Myers as its first Texas pro bono counsel.
In this edition of P.S., Jackson Walker has established the Jackson Walker Endowed Scholarship Fund in Memory of Emma Hackney at SMU Dedman School of Law, honoring a former associate in its banking and finance practice who was killed in a car wreck last year. The scholarship “represents the very best of who Emma was: a warm, kind and thoughtful person who put others ahead of herself,” said Justin Shipley, a finance partner in the Dallas office where Hackney worked.
The San Antonio Legal Services Association held its annual luncheon this week, bringing together attorneys, judges, business leaders and community advocates committed to expanding access to civil legal services for low-income Texans in San Antonio and surrounding counties. Find out who was recognized at the premier fundraising event.
The Haynes Boone offices in Houston and The Woodlands raised a record $185,000 through a year-long campaign benefiting the United Way of Greater Houston. The effort is part of a broader campaign among law firms, with Haynes Boone ranking as the top contributing law firm.
We highlight the pro bono work of Haynes Boone attorneys who have spent years helping students secure patents for innovations that are aiding a Malawi refugee camp. That and much more in this edition of P.S.
Luke Schamel became an officer in the U.S. Navy to serve his country. Now a Houston associate at Yetter Coleman, Schamel is continuing his public service in a different uniform. He is representing the Veterans of Foreign Wars on a pro bono basis in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that challenges a rule that petitioners say denies veterans the full education benefits that they have earned.
At the center of the case is the VA’s “break-in-service” rule, which petitioners argue improperly requires veterans to have a gap in military service before they can access the full 48 months of education benefits available under the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
In this packed edition of P.S., we highlight the charitable giving of the Barnes & Thornburg Foundation, collectively funded by firm lawyers and staff. Each year, five firm offices are selected to direct grants to charities in their local communities. The Dallas office was chosen this year, and it awarded a $50,000 grant to Project XVI, a Dallas-area nonprofit helping children identified as belonging to at-risk communities. Their work addresses problems that most people would drive by, said Barnes & Thornburg Dallas managing partner Thomas Haskins. Read on for more about what drew the firm to Project XVI.
Also in P.S., we report on fundraising efforts to endow a scholarship in memory of the 8-year-old twin daughters of attorneys John and Lacy Lawrence who were lost in last summer’s Hill Country floods.
Plus, Dallas was the site of the 47th Annual Texas High School Mock Trial Competition, Houston prepares to host Law Rocks and more.
In this edition of P.S., women across Houston’s legal community shared their career insights and celebrated each other’s growth in a Women’s History Month event sponsored by Beck Redden.
In observance of Ramadan, hundreds of guests attended an annual Iftar hosted by Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing.
We also highlight a general counsel program sponsored by Dorsey & Whitney’s Dallas office that featured an all-Hispanic panel of legal professionals.
In this edition of P.S., see which of your favorite attorney-led bands earned bragging rights and helped set a fundraising record with Law Rocks Dallas, a “battle of the bands” style fundraiser for local charities. In Houston, the Houston Volunteer Lawyers honored firms and attorneys making significant pro bono contributions. We also spotlight Susman Godfrey partner Krisina Zuñiga’s graduation from a national Latina leadership program and a $30,000 donation from attorney Jim Mueller honoring Michael Hurst to support pro bono legal services through the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program.
Coming up, the Association of Corporate Counsel DFW Chapter and the Texas General Counsel Forum will mark International Women’s Day on March 8 with a screening of A Law Unto Themselves: How Women Lawyers of Dallas Transformed Law and Community - Together. Produced by the Dallas Women Lawyers Association and J.L. Turner Legal Association, the film is currently available only through small screenings hosted by member organizations, making this an exclusive opportunity to view it.
Also in this edition of P.S., the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston celebrated the addition of former Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman to the nameplate at Wright Close Barger & Guzman and Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr offered a look at its 2025 charitable giving. The Texas Lawbook invites law firms and corporate legal departments to share their annual financial contributions to public service and the community for feature consideration.
Savannah Hostetter Benac, a partner at Shackelford, McKinley & Norton, and her husband, Dylan Benac, a corporate lawyer in Bracewell’s Houston office, found a rare opportunity to work together professionally on a pro bono matter for a client they care deeply about. The litigator and deals lawyer helped lead a real estate transaction that allowed Radiate Coalition to acquire a seven-acre property near Houston valued at approximately $2.5 million, which the nonprofit plans to redevelop into a transitional home for girls aging out of the Texas foster care system.
In this edition of P.S., several attorneys are among the competitors in this year’s Dancing with the Ellis County Stars benefitting TBHC Foster Care and Adoption, which places children who are removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect.
Readers may remember The Texas Lawbook’s feature last year on Matt Maupin, an associate in Dykema’s San Antonio office, who rushed to join the frontline recovery efforts in the Texas Hill Country following the deadly July Fourth weekend flooding. This month, The Baylor Line is honoring Maupin with the Outstanding Young Alumni Award at its 61st Annual Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony.
And the Houston Bar Foundation recognized law firms, legal departments and individual attorneys for their pro bono and community service during the organization’s annual luncheon, where a new chair stepped into the helm.
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