This edition of P.S. highlights Attorneys Serving the Community’s annual fundraising luncheon benefiting a Dallas-area women’s substance abuse recovery center, several attorneys who will be recognized by the State Bar of Texas next week for their pro bono work and the five Equal Justice Works fellow sponsored by the Texas Access to Justice Foundation.
The Latest Charitable Happenings
— Today, Attorneys Serving the Community closed out its fundraising season benefiting nonprofit Nexus Recovery Center at its 36th annual luncheon at the Thompson Hotel in Dallas. ASC is a group of Dallas area volunteer women lawyers and judges who pull together their resources and networks to raise a significant amount of money for a nonprofit of choice each year through a series of fundraising events. The current beneficiary, Nexus, provides a range of services for women — especially mothers — struggling with substance abuse. The nonprofit provides residential and outpatient treatment as well as continuing care and recovery support. It is one of the few treatment centers that provides childcare so that mothers do not have to separate from their children while receiving treatment — a common barrier for many women seeking treatment. Before today’s luncheon, ASC had raised more than $450,000 in revenues, and hopes to raise a total of $480,000.
The keynote speaker was veteran reporter and New York Times bestselling author Beth Macy, who recently served as the executive producer of Dopesick, the film adaptation of her book of the same title. Macy’s writing focuses on the sweeping devastation of the opioid crisis based on her three decades of experience reporting from the same Virginia communities.
ASC’s current lead chair is Kilpatrick Townsend counsel Maeghan Whitehead and the co-chair is Sheppard Mullin partner Jennifer Klein Ayers. ASC’s membership consists of dozens of high-powered female attorneys, including North Texas Tollway Authority General Counsel Dena DeNooyer Stroh, Sidley Austin global management committee chair Yvette Ostolaza and Northern District of Texas federal district judges Barbara M.G. Lynn and Karen Gren Scholer.
A slew of law firms, corporations and individuals are sponsoring this year’s luncheon, but some of the top sponsors include D CEO, Fragomen, JMA Firm, Locke Lord, Platinum Intelligent Data Solutions, Jennifer and Aric Asplud, The Cochran Firm, Gibson Dunn, Kilpatrick Townsend, Kroll, the Schelin family, Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann, Sheppard Mullin, Marketing Connection and Spencer Fane.
— Two Yetter Coleman employees, partner Amy Farish and paralegal Courtney Smith, will be recognized at the State Bar of Texas annual meeting in Austin with awards for their pro bono work. Farish and Smith account for two of three women at Yetter Coleman who have been recognized this year for their pro bono contributions. The first was senior counsel Jane Ray, who was recognized in February as the winner of the Harris County Bench Bar Pro Bono Award in the individual category at the Houston Bar Foundation’s annual luncheon.
Next Thursday, Smith will receive the pro bono support staff award as part of the State Bar’s Pro Bono Excellence Awards, a series of awards that recognizes individuals and groups who exemplify a deep commitment to pro bono service. On the same day, the State Bar’s litigation section will honor Farish with the Outstanding Young Litigator Award — but predominantly for her recent work with pro bono clients instead of paying clients. Farish is Yetter Coleman’s pro bono coordinator, and since taking on that role, she has fostered 100 percent participation by all the Houston litigation boutiques associates in meaningful pro bono work — beyond donating a couple of hours to a legal clinic. Farish led the same immigration case for which Smith’s work is receiving recognition.
— Farish and Smith are not the only ones who will receive an award for pro bono work at the State Bar annual meeting. Several more will be recognized in various categories. Here they are below:
Hillary Holmes of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher will receive the Frank J. Scurlock Award, which honors an individual attorney who has provided outstanding pro bono work. The Houston-based corporate partner has handled pro bono cases since she got her law license, and she has consistently maintained a docket of family law and asylum law cases through Houston Volunteer Lawyers, the pro bono arm of the Houston Bar Association, and has dedicated more than 200 hours of pro bono work in the last four years alone. Holmes serves as treasurer of the Houston Bar Foundation’s board and also has played leading roles in the pro bono programs at Gibson Dunn as well as her previous firm, Baker Botts.
Fort Worth lawyer Monique Lopez-Hinkley will receive the J. Chrys Dougherty Award, which recognizes an outstanding legal services staff attorney. Lopez-Hinkley is the managing attorney of the Fort Worth of Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas. She is responsible for the organization’s 22 lawyers and the multifaceted legal operations that LANWT is involved in, including its Medical Legal Partnership with mental health facility MHMR Tarrant County and partnerships with several other organizations, the legal clinics and pro bono programs with the Tarrant County Bar Association, and Housing Preservation Project that handles eviction cases exacerbated by the pandemic.
The Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program will receive the Pro Bono Award, which honors a volunteer attorney organization that has made an outstanding contribution toward guaranteeing access to the legal system for the poor. DVAP has heavily invested in partnerships with volunteer lawyers, private firms, corporations and the public sector. DVAP worked tirelessly to keep its work going during the pandemic by launching virtual clinics in April 2020, which helped expand its network of volunteer attorneys. DVAP also runs several legal representation services supporting unrepresented litigants to develop their legal knowledge and advocate for their rights pro se.
The Pro Bono Coordinator Award will go to Julie Stranger, a Houston-based in-house lawyer at Chevron. This award goes to an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the delivery of and access to legal services for the poor while serving as the pro bono coordinator for a volunteer attorney organization or group, local bar association, law firm, law school, corporate legal department, or other legal organization. Stanger is an active member of the Houston Bar Association and Houston Volunteer Lawyers. In response to learning that HVL has struggled with getting volunteer attorneys to raise their hand to work on divorce cases, Stanger made pro bono divorce cases the main priority in 2023 for pro bono projects handled within Chevron’s legal department in Houston. Chevron’s Houston pro bono committee has also gotten lawyers from the company’s California offices and other out-of-state locations involved in pro bono cases on a virtual basis.
Gibson Dunn will receive the W. Frank Newton Award, which recognizes the pro bono contributions of attorney groups — law firms, corporate legal departments, government attorney offices, etc. — whose members have made an outstanding contribution in the provision of, or access to, legal services for the poor. Gibson Dunn’s Houston office in particular is credited for the firm getting this award. The office has six first-year associates (The Pro Bono Squad) who collectively contributed 694 hours to 26 pro bono projects in 2022 and has a long history in general of providing pro bono services in Houston and across Texas. It also supports several community outreach programs such as the Houston Food Bank and Boys and Girls Club of Greater Houston. During the HVL’s 2022 Equal Access to Justice Champions program, 30 lawyers from Houston contributed more than 1,764 hours serving 54 individuals and families needing pro bono legal services.
Retired public defender Michelle Moore will receive the Warren Burnett Award, which recognizes an individual for their extraordinary contributions to improving the quality of criminal legal representation to indigent Texans. Before retiring, Moore was a public defender at the North Hill Country Public Defender’s Office in Burnet County. She has worked with the Innocence Project of Texas to exonerate several wrongfully convicted individuals. She founded the Burnet County Public Defender’s Office in 2011, and by 2021, expanded the office to two more counties.
— This week, the Texas Access to Justice Foundation announced its sponsorship of five fellows of the 2023 Equal Justice Works Fellowship Program, which provides an opportunity for recent law school graduates all over the country to launch their careers through public interest law projects of their own creation. The five TAJC-sponsored fellows are based in Texas. They are:
Christy Ramos of Houston, who will work at Catholic Charities of Galveston-Houston and protect the legal rights of immigrants fleeing high-conflict areas such as Afghanistan and Ukraine. She is a 2023 graduate of the University of Houston Law Center.
Monica Palma of San Antonio, who will work at the San Antonio Legal Services Association (SALSA) providing effective legal education and services to the special needs community the Multi-Assistance Center at Morgan’s Wonderland, an accessibility focused theme park. Palma is a 2023 graduate of St. Mary’s University School of Law.
Tabitha Dwyer of Lubbock, who will work at Disability Rights Texas to provide legal representation and outreach to students with disabilities in rural North and West Texas who have been subject to illegal discipline in violation of their constitutional rights. Dwyer is a 2023 graduate of the Texas Tech University School of Law.
Gladys Marcos of McKinney, who will work at Legal Aid of Northwest Texas providing immigration legal services to pro bono clients affected by labor trafficking and exploitation in rural Texas. Marcos is a 2023 graduate of Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law.
Chris Rogers of El Paso, who will work at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid to assist noncitizen U.S. military veterans in Southwest Texas facing deportation through outreach, education and representation in services such as naturalization, Veterans Affairs benefits and public assistance. Rogers’ fellowship is co-sponsored with Greenberg Traurig. He is a 2023 graduate of The University of Michigan School of Law.