Haynes and Boone, LLP Counsel Luis Campos and Associates Brent Beckert, Paloma Z. Ahmadi, and Wesley Lewis have been selected by the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) to receive the Kristi Couvillon Pro Bono Award.
The lawyers will be honored at the TCRP’s 2019 Bill of Rights Dinner on Nov. 7 in Austin. The award is named for Kristi Couvillon, a former TCRP law clerk and strong advocate for social justice who worked tirelessly with the Texas Defender Service before passing away in 2010.
TCRP recognized the Haynes and Boone lawyers for their “tireless work defending immigrants and asylum seekers at the Texas-Mexico border.”
Haynes and Boone has recently teamed with TCRP and other firms and lawyers on multiple cases in which refugees detained at the border are pursuing asylum claims and challenging deprivations of their constitutional rights.
Currently, Haynes and Boone and TCRP are representing asylum seekers who have sued U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Brownsville, Texas federal court, seeking improved detention conditions.
The two organizations also partnered in representing “Mr. A,” a Salvadoran father who had fled his home country with his two young children, fearing for their lives. After turning himself in to border patrol authorities, he was detained and separated from his children for seven months. Haynes and Boone represented Mr. A during his bond hearing with the assistance of TCRP. At the hearing an immigration judge agreed to release Mr. A from the detention center. He was then finally reunited with his children on May 8, 2019.
Haynes and Boone has long been committed to providing pro bono legal aid, believing that a fulfilling professional career is much more than simply handling major business transactions or trying complex commercial lawsuits. The firm’s lawyers focus their pro bono efforts on helping those who need it most but are least able to afford legal services.
In June of 2018, Haynes and Boone lawyers and staff became grew increasingly concerned about reports of refugee families being separated at the South Texas border and potentially rushed through deportation proceedings. The firm assembled a team of lawyers and staff to travel to the South Texas border to interview detainees and assist them with their asylum cases. Haynes and Boone has since been retained by almost 20 adult detainees and their children, a pro bono undertaking that continues to this day and is among the most comprehensive in firm history.
Haynes and Boone is an international corporate law firm with offices in Texas, New York, California, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Washington, D.C., London, Mexico City and Shanghai, providing a full spectrum of legal services in energy, technology, financial services and private equity. With more than 550 lawyers, Haynes and Boone is ranked among the largest U.S.-based firms by The National Law Journal, The American Lawyer and The Lawyer. It also ranks among the nation’s most recommended law firms by general counsel, according to BTI Consulting Group’s “Most Recommended Law Firms 2019” report.