The first deposition Joe Van Asten ever handled in his career was on behalf of the SPCA of Texas in a pro bono probate case. Also while an associate at Jones Day, where Van Asten has spent his entire 12-year legal career, he worked on a matter for MetroPCS with Chris Luna (who, post merger with T-Mobile, eventually became vice president of legal).
Fast forward to last month, and the paths of Luna — now CEO and president of SPCA of Texas — and Van Asten — now a partner at Jones Day — crossed again. Van Asten was walking the halls at work when he passed a conference room where he spotted Luna and Jones Day Dallas managing partner Hilda Galvan. When Van Asten later asked Galvan what the meeting was about, she explained that Luna was looking for a law firm to partner with to handle SPCA’s legal matters pro bono. Van Asten raised his hand to spearhead the partnership.
As of mid January, Jones Day is the SPCA’s primary pro bono outside counsel. The partnership helps conserve the nonprofit organization’s resources so that the SPCA, with Luna at the helm, can keep its sights on expanding its operations and the necessary fundraising to serve more animals in need.
Supporting the organization’s mission hits home for Van Asten, who has owned two rescue dogs that he and his wife adopted while living in Connecticut and Florida. But the new pro bono partnership is also an opportunity for him to pay it forward and provide young lawyers the same opportunities to gain experience that he had when representing SPCA on pro bono matters as an associate.
“One of the real benefits of pro bono clients is they often aren’t as particular about which lawyers are handling their matters and are much more willing to have junior lawyers who we trust to be able to handle a matter to give them those opportunities to take a front and center role,” Van Asten said.
Van Asten said the firm is already handling a pro bono employment discrimination lawsuit for the SPCA and he gave the assignment to one of Jones Day’s junior labor and employment attorneys. For this partnership, Van Asten said he envisions the firm helping the SPCA “with anything and everything” in terms of its pro bono legal needs — from real estate issues to board governance to contracts and probate issues.
“I firmly believe that we as lawyers … have a real obligation to give back to our community,” Van Asten said. “We’ve got very special skills that can be very expensive, both for charity organizations and for other individuals in our community, and it’s imperative that we provide those services where we can.”
“We all have to keep the lights on at our various firms, but in connection with doing so there are plenty of opportunities to give back to the community in this way.”
Luna’s New Forever Home
Before Luna became a well-known figure in the corporate in-house community, he was known as “Landslide Luna” for his closely won seat on the Dallas City Council at age 30 in a 1991 election; he beat his opponent by 156 votes.
As Luna worked his way up the ladder in his legal career — from bankruptcy lawyer at Akin Gump to running his own law firm to several high-ranking legal positions in the telecom industry — he always knew he wanted to end his career returning to public service.
“Originally I thought I’d do government service or elected politics again, but the current environment in politics is so acrimonious and toxic,” he said. “So I thought about other ways I could serve [the public] and nonprofit fit the mold.”
Last year, around the time of Luna’s April retirement from T-Mobile, a search firm contacted him about the open CEO and president position at SPCA of Texas.
“From a mission alignment standpoint, it was spot on,” Luna said. “I’ve had a rescue dachshund and a rescue cat. I love animals. It matched my passion and I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to serve the community.”
Currently, Luna and his husband, Kent Macklenburg, have an 18-year-old Maltese named Bacio. Luna’s new role at the SPCA is just one of many examples of Luna serving his community. In the past, he’s served on the boards of several organizations, including the Dallas Zoo, Dallas Foundation, Parkland Health & Hospital System and Garland Housing Finance Corporation. He is also a past president of the Dallas Hispanic Law Foundation, which aims to advance Hispanics in the legal profession.
Founded in 1938, SPCA of Texas is the longest-serving animal welfare agency in North Texas. Beyond caring for stray pets in its shelters, connecting them with foster families and facilitating adoptions, SPCA works to keep pets in their original homes by providing financially strapped owners temporary support (pet food, spay/neuter services and veterinary care) and prevents and prosecutes animal cruelty — rescuing abused and neglected animals, investigating reports of animal cruelty with local law enforcement and providing forensic veterinary services to authorities and prosecutors.
Last year, SPCA’s drive thru pet pantry gave more than 100,000 pounds of food to thousands of households that fed tens of thousands of dogs and cats. Its Animal Cruelty Investigations Unit prosecuted multiple animal cruelty cases, including obtaining a six-and-a-half year prison sentence for a North Texas man who abused an ex-girlfriend’s cat and filing criminal charges against a Van Zandt County animal owner who cruelly confined 17 dogs and one cat.
Since starting the job in late November, Luna said he’s been immersed in learning about the world of animal welfare — meeting with staff, learning about hot issues and meeting with other rescue organizations.
At T-Mobile, Luna said the mantra was “what are the barriers, what are the pain points and how do we resolve or address them” — an approach he said he’s bringing with him to the SPCA. He said he’s also adopting T-Mobile’s “frontline first” focus by making sure that SPCA invests in training and development with the customer-facing employees at the adoption centers and clinics. Customer satisfaction — ensuring both the people and animals are taken care of — is also a priority, he said.
“I think my time at T-Mobile has taught me a lot of things that I’ve brought here,” Luna said.
At least once a day, Luna walks from the administration portion of SPCA’s office building to the area where the cats and dogs are cared for.
“I think sometimes rescues get a bad rap. [People] think, ‘Oh, there must have been something wrong with them for their owners to give them up,’” Luna said. “That couldn’t be further from the truth. The animals that come here all have different backstories but they’re all so sweet and so adorable and are just looking for a loving home.”
“I fall in love every other day.”