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.
Dallas was the site of the 47th Annual Texas High School Mock Trial Competition, and Houston prepares to host Law Rocks, the popular battle-of-the-bands style competition featuring attorneys with musical chops.
Speaking of the intersection of law and music, you might’ve recently read in The Texas Lawbook about a Texas death row inmate who got some help from the hip hop and rap community as he tries to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to grant a stay of his execution. His legal team from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison are representing him pro bono.
Barnes & Thornburg Foundation Awards $50K Grant to Dallas-Area Nonprofit
When funding fell short last year, Jade Burrowes made the difficult decision to suspend youth programming at her Dallas-area nonprofit, Project XVI.
She turned to prayer.
“God, if this is still something that you want me to do, you’re going to have to pretty much send a ram in the bush,” Burrowes recalled saying.
The ram arrived this year in the form of an unexpected $50,000 grant from the Barnes & Thornburg Foundation.
“We are ecstatic about this grant,” Burrowes said. “Nonprofit work can get discouraging sometimes, but this just restored my hope.”
The award is one of five grants the foundation will distribute nationwide this year. Funded through a weeklong annual giving drive supported by the firm’s lawyers and staff, the foundation selects five offices each year to direct funding to local charities, said Dallas managing partner Thomas Haskins. Since its establishment in 2020, the Barnes & Thornburg Foundation has raised more than $1.6 million through employee contributions, Haskins said. The Dallas office, last selected in 2023, previously awarded a grant to the Buried Alive Project.
Project XVI focuses on transforming the lives of minority children in at-risk communities through a three-pillar approach — education, exposure and mental well-being. Burrowes said the new funding will help expand mental health counseling services and life-skills workshops, while volunteers work to build partnerships with schools to broaden the organization’s reach.
To select this year’s recipient, the Dallas office convened a committee of lawyers, staff and business professionals. Haskins said Project XVI stood out for its focus on needs that might otherwise go unnoticed.
“We come into the office every day, usually leaving our home or apartment, getting in our car, driving to the garage, getting out, going up the elevator and then repeating that on the way back. And sometimes it’s easy to not actually look out your window when you’re driving through,” Haskins said. “Project XVI is doing the work to look out the window and make sure that folks in our direct community who have needs that aren’t necessarily being met by the companies in the area are being met, and that’s unique.”
He added that the organization’s commitment to youth is especially impactful.
“They’re really passionate about making sure that the young people in our community who might struggle with time after school or might struggle with mental health issues are getting the attention that they need and that they deserve,” Haskins added.
Burrowes, a former co-host of the K104 “DeDe in the Morning” show who is also known as Lady Jade, began laying the groundwork for Project XVI in 2005.
As a radio personality, she said her favorite part of the job was speaking to students on school visits.
“I always knew that my purpose in having this platform wasn’t for me to be known in the city,” she said. “It was really to have influence.”
Project XVI has served well over 15,000 students, she said, through services such as therapy, college tours, etiquette classes and field trips.
Visit Project XVI’s website here to learn more about their work.
UT Law Class of 2006 Honors Memory of Classmates’ Daughters with Scholarship Fund
The University of Texas School of Law Class of 2006 is raising funds to endow a scholarship in memory of Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence, the 8-year-old twin daughters of alumni John and Lacy Lawrence who were lost in last summer’s Hill Country floods.
The girls were campers at Camp Mystic when devastating floods struck Central Texas over the Fourth of July weekend. Their older sister also attended the camp but survived.
Donations may be made here. The scholarship’s final name will be decided by their parents. John Lawrence is a partner at Baker Botts, and Lacy Lawrence is a partner at Akin Gump. They are based in Dallas.
“As we approach our twenty-year reunion, the Class of 2006 from the University of Texas School of Law is endowing a scholarship to honor the memory of Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence — the twin daughters of our classmates John and Lacy Lawrence — who were tragically lost in the devastating Hill Country floods last summer,” Austin-based Cleveland Krist Partner Tim Cleveland wrote on LinkedIn. “We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of so many who have allowed us to officially endow this scholarship. With the blessing of John and Lacy, we are making the broader announcement so anyone can contribute to this scholarship, and bless a generation of future UT law students in the name and memory of these wonderful girls who were lost too soon.”
Dallas Hosts 47th Annual Texas High School Mock Trial Competition
More than 25 high school teams from across the state competed Saturday in the 47th Annual Texas High School Mock Trial Competition at the George Allen Courthouse in Dallas.
Students argued a hypothetical civil case written by Dallas Bar Association attorneys. The case was used by about 170 schools, culminating in the state competition.
At the contest, judges and attorneys served as jurors and selected the winning teams.
The team from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas (pictured above) took first place and will advance to the National High School Mock Trial Competition in Des Moines, Iowa, in May.
Uplift North Hills Preparatory in Irving finished second, while El Paso High School and Talkington School for Young Women Leaders in Lubbock tied for third place.
The following students also received individual awards.
- Outstanding Advocate Award: Reese Elder, Booker T. Washington
- Outstanding Witness Award: Price Jenkins, Providence Classical School in Spring
- Courtroom Artist competition winner: Ainslie Ely, Plan West Senior High School (right)
The courtroom artist winner will also advance to the national competition.
The lawyers and judges who volunteered as judges for the final round were:
Jennifer Scherf, Alli Assiter, Tatianna Witter Robinson, Aaron T. Hubbard, Julien Tagnon, Dennis Saumier, Christy Hester, James Young, Emily Webb and Dallas Magistrate Judge David L. Horan.
Paul, Weiss Pro Bono Team Fighting to Save Texas Death Row Man
A New York-based team of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison lawyers are fighting to save a Texas man from execution.
Attorneys Steven Herzog, Pietro J. Signoracci, Eva Gao, Julie J. Chandler and David O. Ceasar are representing death row inmate James Broadnax on a pro bono basis.
Broadnax’s case has received considerable national attention due to support he’s received from the hip hop and rap music community. Last week, our litigation team reported on amicus briefs filed by artists T.I., Fat Joe, N.O.R.E., Young Thug, Killer Mike and Travis Scott.
Prosecutors in Broadnax’s 2009 capital murder trial showed jurors his handwritten rap lyrics and argued they amounted to a confession. Broadnax’s lawyers now argue that evidence exploited racial stereotypes and transformed his artistic expression into a death warrant.
Broadnax’s execution is scheduled for April 30. An application for a stay of execution is before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Battle-of-the-Bands Charity Fundraiser ‘Law Rocks’ Heads to Houston
Six lawyer-led bands will rock out for charity at the Law Rocks Houston battle-of-the-bands style fundraiser on March 26 at White Oak Music Hall.
The tour is returning to Houston for its sixth year. Last year, the event raised more than $129,000 for local nonprofit organizations. Law Rocks has hosted the charity events in cities across the country since 2009.
The bands are judged by how much they raise in donations, ticket sales and sponsorships and their score with a panel of judges. You can track how much each band is raising for their charity and purchase tickets here.
The bands and the charities they are raising money for are:
- Joint Custody (Mo Lovett Law) for Houston Area Women’s Center
- The Overcommitments (Chamberlain Hrdlicka and Beck Redden) for Children at Risk
- Twenty 24 Souls (Brown Rudnick and Baker & O’Brien) for Home Base Texas
- Material Breach (Latham & Watkins) for Belong Kitchen
- Blackacre (McDowell Hetherington) for Boys and Girls Club of Greater Houston
- Little Victories (Andrews Myers) for Lone Star Legal Aid
In addition, the Law Rocks organization awards a Music Matters grant to one local organization that supports music education. This year, Law Rocks Houston benefits AFA – American Festival for the Arts.