Pro Bono - Serving a Common Good
At Haynes Boone we believe that a meaningful professional career is much more than just handling major business transactions or trying complex lawsuits. Our lawyers actively use the law for helping those people and organizations who need it most but are least able to pay. We are committed to supporting such opportunities for pro bono service and believe this kind of leadership is the right thing to do.
The matters that our lawyers undertake are as diverse as society’s needs. For example, we represent:
- Abused and neglected children, and unaccompanied immigrant children in the U.S.
- Seekers of political asylum who face violence or death if they return to their home countries
- Indigent clients who need help ranging from family violence situations to defense in death penalty cases
Often our efforts result in well-deserved recognition. A team of Haynes and Boone lawyers received the 2008 W. Frank Newton Award for outstanding pro bono effort after a seven-year fight to free two indigent Mexican nationals wrongly convicted and sentenced to life for murder. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered that both defendants be given new trials, and a grand jury declined to indict them, setting both free after 12 years in prison. In 2010, the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program (DVAP) presented the Dallas Office of Haynes and Boone, LLP with the Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year Award for donating about 1,500 hours of pro bono services to DVAP clients. The next year, DVAP honored the firm with its Gold Award for Pro Bono Service when 122 Haynes and Boone lawyers and staff volunteers worked a total of 2,003 hours on pro bono matters referred to the firm by DVAP.
Meanwhile in Fort Worth, in December 2013, Clayton Youth Enrichment Services (YES!), a non-profit organization providing before and after school child enrichment programs at elementary and middle schools in Tarrant County, awarded Partner Karen Denney the Friend of Clayton Award (for nine years of service as an active board member, most recently serving as the board of director’s vice president), and Associate Lisa Normand the Community Champion Award (for pro bono services in advising on Clayton YES!’s trademarks relating to several child enrichment programs). Haynes and Boone and American Airlines were honored by Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas (LANWT) with the 2011 Outstanding Law Firm of the Year Award for taking pro bono cases providing quality civil legal representation to deserving low income clients.
In Houston, the firm has won designation as the Outstanding Firm Contribution Award from the Houston Bar Foundation for significant contributions and volunteer work on behalf of the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program.
