In this issue of P.S., we highlight an example of pro bono collaboration as volunteers from Baker Botts, Koch and The Beacon provided wide-ranging legal assistance at a Pasadena driver’s license restoration clinic. We also report on the bestowment of The Center for American and International Law’s highest award to legal trailblazer Harriet Miers for her decades of leadership and advocacy for justice. Also, the Texas Bar Foundation renewed its support for youth-focused nonprofit One Heart Project, helping continue programming for incarcerated youth. Plus, the Texas Access to Justice Commission is now accepting nominations for its 2025 Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Award and The Texas Lawbook is seeking stories about your pro bono cases or public service projects involving veterans.
‘Small Bit of Miracle Working’
A team of lawyers and non-attorney volunteers with Baker Botts, Koch and Houston’s nonprofit organization The Beacon hosted a driver license restoration clinic in Pasadena on Wednesday.
But the volunteers did so much more, said Baker Botts partner Keri Brown.
Nearly 20 people went to the clinic seeking help with a wide array of questions about topics including divorce, child custody and powers of attorney. The team of legal minds pulled together to try to address each need.
One client needed help getting a passport. A lawyer in the room had worked on Capitol Hill and recalled that the U.S. representative offices could help with passport issues, so they got on the phone with the representative’s office for that client, Brown said.
“It was just a small bit of miracle working happening in that room,” Brown said.
One of Koch’s chemists even stepped in to help translate for a Spanish-only-speaking client, said Matt Ellis, chief counsel for commercial and pro bono for Koch.
Koch and its outside counsel at Baker Botts have partnered to host driver’s license clinics in Louisiana, and Koch has held some in Kansas. They’ve found the clinics to be helpful in removing barriers for people in the communities where they work, Ellis said.
When a team of Koch environmental health and safety workers planned to be in Houston for business meetings, they reached out to Baker Botts about putting on a pro bono clinic in the area, Ellis said.
“There is a dire need for pro bono services in Texas and the nation and this is an easy way to help folks with really important issues in their lives,” Brown said.
Justice Award Goes to Legal Pioneer Harriet Miers
Legal trailblazer Harriet Miers was recently honored with The Center for American and International Law’s highest award, the Achievement in the Pursuit of Justice for All Award.
Miers, a former White House Counsel to President George W. Bush, accepted the award and spoke in a fireside-style chat during the center’s Legacy & Leadership Awards Luncheon May 7 in Dallas.
Miers is believed to be the first woman to lead a major law firm in Texas when she was elected president in 1996 of the firm then called Locke Purnell Rain Harrell. She became co-managing partner when Locke Purnell merged with Houston-based Liddell, Sapp, Zivley Hill & LaBoon, and served in that leadership role until she joined the Bush administration.
Miers was also the first woman to serve as president of the Dallas Bar Association, when she was selected in 1985, and the State Bar of Texas when she won election in 1992.
Now senior counsel at Troutman Pepper Locke, Miers “has spent decades leading with integrity, advocating for access to justice, and breaking barriers in a field that hasn’t always made it easy,” the center said.
Texas Bar Foundation Fuels Year Two of Youth Program
The Texas Bar Foundation has renewed a one-year $10,000 grant to One Heart Project to continue its work with incarcerated youth in Rockwall County.
The Texas-based nonprofit organization teaches skills to incarcerated and at-risk youth and pairs them with a youth development specialist.
With help from the Texas Bar Foundation, One Heart Project is entering its second year with Rockwall County Juvenile Services. The county’s first One Heart Project cohort graduated from the program in February with all seven participants finishing.
“We are deeply grateful to the Texas Bar Foundation for their generous support again this year,” said Brandon Manley, One Heart Project National Program Director. “Their initial investment in two years of female programming in Nueces County laid the groundwork for lasting impact, and their continued partnership allowed us to successfully launch a program in Rockwall County. Thanks to their ongoing commitment, we can continue serving youth and their families in collaboration with Rockwall County Juvenile Services.”
Call For Nominations
The Texas Access to Justice Commission is accepting nominations for its 2025 Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Award.
The nomination period closes at 4 p.m. on May 23.
Since 2009, the Texas Access to Justice Commission has awarded corporate counsel and in-house lawyers who actively provide pro bono legal services to people in need and promote a pro bono culture within their companies.
“This award represents a spirit of compassion, diligence, and generosity that can restore hope and dignity to thousands of our most vulnerable Texans,” said Scott Young, managing counsel at Toyota North America and the incoming chair of the State Bar’s Corporate Counsel Section. Young will present the award with Texas Supreme Court Justice Brett Busby at the State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting in June.
Nomination criteria and instructions may be found here.
Tell us your stories: In honor of Memorial Day, The Lawbook is seeking stories about your pro bono cases or public service projects involving veterans. Please email Krista Torralva at krista.torralva@texaslawbook.net