© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
(March 5) – William R. Buck, the general counsel of Exxon Mobil Corporation’s Upstream Companies, has a message for lawyers in corporate legal departments and business law firms in Texas: You need to do your fair share of pro bono, too.
The Houston Bar Foundation announced that Buck is succeeding prominent plaintiff’s lawyer John Eddie Williams, Jr. as the new chairman of the organization.
Buck will get a lot of support as several of the foundation’s new officers and board members are general counsel at some of Houston’s most prestigious companies.
The HBF, which is the charitable arm of the Houston Bar Association, provides funding to pro bono civil legal services for low-income Texans through the Houston Volunteer Lawyers, as well as other community service and education programs. Last year, the foundation’s 65th Harvest Celebration raised a record $670,000 in underwriting for pro bono needs.
“More law firms seem to show up when a general counsel is involved,” said Buck, who is the former chair of the Oil & Gas Practice Committee of the Institute of Energy Law, which is a division of the Center for American and International Law in Plano.
“But I plan to remind all attorneys – whether they work in-house, at large law firms or law firms new to Houston – that they have pro bono obligations,” he said. “We in-house lawyers are more than capable of handling some of these pro bono needs.
“In-house lawyers are lawyers, too, and we need to get out there and do our fair share,” he said.
Buck said he became involved in legal services for the poor through his oil company’s internal pro bono efforts.
“Susan Sanchez is a driver for all the lawyers at Exxon Mobil being involved in pro bono. I would not be here without Susan,” he said. Sanchez is a Houston corporate lawyer who has been counsel at the Irving-based energy company for 46 years and helped develop its widely acclaimed and award-winning pro bono outreach efforts.
As a member of the Tahirih Justice Center Advisory Council in Houston, Buck said he is particularly interested in pro bono legal needs for poor and abused women and children who are immigrants. Tahirih helps scores of women annually who are victims of the most horrible abuse, including female genitalia cutting, torture, human trafficking and rape.
“These are women who have no place else to go,” he said.
Buck also plans to focus heavily on funding programs that assist military veterans who desperately need legal assistance but do not have the money to hire a lawyer.
“Lawyers can have an immediate impact on the lives of these men and women,” he said. “There are soldiers who need our help now.”
Jeffrey Kaplan, the new chief legal officer at Houston-based LyondellBasell Industries, is the foundation’s new vice chair. Tom Godbold, the general counsel at Twin Eagle Resource Management, is the group’s treasurer.
The foundation also appointed EOG Resources General Counsel Michael Donaldson, Veronica H. Foley, the vice president of legal at Precision Drilling Corporation, and Baker Botts partner Travis J. Sales to its board of directors.
Completing two-year terms as directors are Timothy McConn of Andrews Kurth and Denise Scofield of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, who also is chair-elect.
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