Texas business lawyers made a lot of money in 2024, and now they are giving back.
From Texas-based firms such as Gray Reed and Akin Gump to national operations Greenberg Traurig, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Norton Rose Fulbright, O’Melveny & Myers and Winston & Strawn, lawyers are adopting angels, families, children centers and food banks. They are providing gifts for foster children, families that have been the victims of abuse and homeless veterans.
A prime objective of the Texas Lawbook Foundation is to employ journalists who showcase the public service and pro bono work of lawyers in Texas — to demonstrate that law is more than a great paying job. It is an honorable profession.
In this weekly issue of P.S., The Texas Lawbook continues to highlight specific public service efforts of nine law firms in Texas.
The staff of The Lawbook thanks you for being a good citizen.
Winston & Strawn
The Dallas office of Winston & Strawn has been participating in a toy drive for Brother Bill’s Helping Hand, a West Dallas nonprofit that provides food, healthcare and education programming to families in need. Winston lawyers collected about 80 toys and “a significant amount of cash earmarked for the purchase of additional gifts.”
For many years now, Winston’s Houston office is participating in the annual Santa’s Wish List Sponsorship for the nonprofit group Child Advocates, Inc. The lawyers receive the wish lists of 40 children’s wish lists and then the attorneys and staff select a child and shop for them. The Winston team makes sure that nearly all the children receive everything on their list. The gifts are taken to the staff at Child Advocates for sorting, wrapping and delivery.
The Houston lawyers for Winston also support families from Houston’s Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory School during the holidays and throughout the entire year. Winston attorneys adopt entire families and provide support for those families. Winston’s partnership with Cristo Rey Jesuit “empowers students to be college ready and career prepared,” the firm states. High school students intern in the office four days a week, learning from leaders, managers, and staff. A beneficial partnership/internship, where students are exposed daily to a wide range of assignments and projects.
O’Melveny & Myers
O’Melveny’s Dallas office was recognized last week, but its Austin and Houston were determined not to be outdone. They selected A World For Children as the beneficiary of their community holiday voluntary giving efforts. A nonprofit agency, AWFC contracts with and is licensed by the State of Texas to provide foster and foster-to-adopt services for abused and neglected children across the state.
The children enter AWFC foster homes with terror, uncertainty, physical scars, and emotional trauma. AWFC’s foster parents, along with the 24-hour support of AWFC’s staff, spend every day changing uncertainty into undying stability, mending physical injuries, and providing in-depth treatment for emotional trauma. O’Melveny has a personal connection to AWFC that has brought the organization’s mission close to its heart. Ashleigh Wilkes, who has served as the general counsel and now executive director of AWFC, is the wife of O’Melveny partner Greg Wilkes.
O’Melveny lawyers actively support AWFC annual Christmas parties in which each child provides a Christmas wish list and Santa delivers those gifts at the Christmas parties.
Norton Rose Fulbright
The staff and attorneys in Norton Rose Fulbright’s Houston office are also taking part in the Houston Young Lawyers Foundation’s Adopt-An-Angel gift drive. Colleagues in Houston adopted 60 Angels, fulfilling wish lists for 60 underserved children who would otherwise be without during the holidays.
The Dallas office of Norton Rose Fulbright employed a holiday party raffle to raise $5,410 for Genesis Women’s Shelter, a local nonprofit that provides safety, shelter and support for women and children who have experienced domestic violence.
The firm’s San Antonio office started a toy drive on Dec. 11, which will continue through Dec. 18 for B.I.G. Love Cancer Care. The nonprofit was recently broken into, and the toy drive will assist in restocking toys, toiletries and gift cards for the hospitals and families they serve.
And finally, Norton Rose Fulbright’s Austin team is actively raising money to support the Central Texas Food Bank this holiday season through a virtual food drive.
Latham & Watkins
Lawyers and staff in the Houston office of Latham have participated in the Houston Fire Department’s Operation Stocking Stuff for the past 10 years. Each year, the Latham Houston team donates about 2,000 toys. Here is a link to the Operation Stocking Stuff website.
Kirkland & Ellis
The Austin and Houston offices of Kirkland focused this holiday on the Adopt-an-Angel gift drive. Lawyers in those two offices adopted nearly 400 Angels. In fact, Kirkland-Houston received enough contributions to “adopt” the entire student body at Houston’s Young Elementary School.
Kirkland’s Dallas office employed a canned and shelf-stable food drive for the North Texas Food Bank that operated for the entire month of November with the mission of helping close the hunger gap in the region.
Jackson Walker
Ever collected Squishmallows? Never heard of Squishmallows?
The lawyers and staff of Jackson Walker can help you out. They are collecting Squishmallows for children at Helping Hand Home in Austin and hosted a cookie decorating event where children could choose their Squishmallow.
In Dallas, Jackson Walker is participating in the Angel Tree program organized by St. Paul United Methodist Church by providing holiday gifts to children with incarcerated parents. The firm’s Houston office is also participating in its local Adopt-an-Angel program.
Jackson Walker also conducted a canned food drive in collaboration with the North Texas Food Bank to support community members facing food insecurity, collected toys to benefit Fort Worth’s WFAA’s Santa’s Helpers, and hosted a diaper drive benefiting the Texas Diaper Bank and collected gift cards and essential items for Roy Maas Youth Alternatives in San Antonio.
Greenberg Traurig
The Austin office of Greenberg Traurig recently volunteered at the Junior League of Austin’s 38th annual Coats for Kids Drive. Since its inception, Coats for Kids has collected and distributed more than a million coats, helping children in need stay warm during the winter months. The firm’s Dallas office is scheduled to assemble toiletry kits for homeless veterans at Austin Street Center. The shelter offers a wide range of services for veterans, including job assistance, retraining programs, benefits guidance, and, most importantly, support in securing housing.
Gray Reed
The lawyers and staff in Gray Reed’s Dallas office recently concluded a three-week holiday gift drive that benefited 30 “adopted” children at The Women’s Center of Tarrant County, a Fort Worth-area nonprofit center that supports those facing mental health issues and victims of sexual abuse, violence and poverty.
Gray Reed’s Dallas team also donated an assortment of toys to Family Gateway’sstore as part of the organization’s Hope for the Holidays event, which allows parents experiencing homelessness to shop for their children free of charge. The firm’s donation is expected to reach dozens of kids in need.
Akin
Members of the women’s initiative in the Dallas office of Akin participated in a thankfulness project to support Mosaic Family Services, which is dedicated to serving survivors of human rights abuses by creating access to opportunities for its clients and empowering them toward independence. The firm collected donations to purchase hygiene products that Mosaic regularly needs to support its clients and then assembled care packages, which Mosaic then handed out to its clients. The women staff and attorneys at Akin gave their time to prepare over 120 individual reusable bags with toiletries and donated over 6,400 diapers and many other household goods.
The Houston office of Akin is participating in the Houston Young Lawyers Foundation’s Adopt-an-Angel program, which is an annual gift drive organized by HYLF that pairs donors with children who may not otherwise receive a present. Participants are paired with a child or angel and donate gifts based on their wish list. This year, the Houston office adopted 50 angels.