The Harris County judiciary, in conjunction with the Harris County bar, presented the second annual Harris County Bench Bar Pro Bono Awards to law firms, corporate legal departments and an individual in a special ceremony on May 10 at the Harris County Civil Courthouse. The keynote speaker was Justice Jane Bland of the First Court of Appeals.

The awards program was established to recognize outstanding pro bono service through local legal service providers, and to encourage law firms, corporate legal departments and individual attorneys to volunteer direct legal services to low-income Harris County residents. A committee of seven judges and five attorneys selected the recipients in five self-nominated categories. This year, the selection committee added a new category for small corporate legal departments.
Judges presented the following awards for outstanding service:

• Large Firm– Bracewell& Giuliani LLP
• Mid-size Firm – Gibbs & Bruns LLP
• Small Firm – Jackson Gilmour & Dobbs, PC
• Large Corporation – Marathon Oil Company
• Small Corporation – Rosetta Resources, Inc.
• Individual – Judith Ann Ritts of the Law Office of Judy Ritts
  

Each year, the award winners names will be featured on permanent plaques in the lobbies of the Civil Courthouse, Criminal Justice Center, Family Law Center and Juvenile Justice Center in downtown Houston.


In a Weak Moment
Remarks of Justice Jane Bland Keynote Speaker, Harris County Bench Bar Pro Bono Awards

In a weak moment, you said, "yes." The call came on a Friday afternoon, on a beautiful spring day, and you were feeling harmonious with the world. Or the person on the other end of the line was someone that you just could not say "no" to—after all, he does so much for our profession himself. As happens all too often with the people gathered here, your heart simply overruled your head, and you found yourself nodding. Yes, you will take the case. Yes, you will take it "for the good," which in Latin is "pro bono." And all of you thought it meant "for free." It does not. Nothing in life is free. No, you took that call, and you said "yes," and you did it "for good."

Then comes Monday morning. There is a feeling of "What have I done?" You run a law department at a big company. Like all companies right now, management is not feeling flush. The powers that be want your department to do more work with fewer people, and cost-cutting is in the air. Or you work at a law firm. Goodness knows, now is not the time to commit your lawyers to more unbillable work when everyone is scrambling to find work that pays. Or you are a solo, and everyone from your paralegal to the light company depends on you to pay the bills at the end of the month. You ruefully walk into a colleague's office and explain what you have done. He wryly looks up and says, "Well, good luck with that." But underneath the humor, he understands that he has just become part of your team.

You meet your client. She needs you. Not a website, not an unending menu of voicemails to nowhere. She needs a listener. An expert. One who entertains office visits, and even makes house calls. She has a problem, and she is looking to you to settle her affairs, to make sense of the legal trouble that the messy business of life has thrust her into. You can help. The fact that you have a bar card uniquely qualifies you to offer this kind of help. You are not an expert in family law, or in veteran's affairs, or in elder care law, so it is going to involve some work and some phone calls to other lawyers to seek their counsel. She is worth it.

The matter is not without its frustrations. With a free lawyer, the law of supply and demand does not operate, and some days you field far too many phone calls, and she is looking for answers that have no legal solution. Her worries become yours, and her sleepless nights are occasionally contagious. As Stan Schneider recently described it, you feel the "pain of caring." And the crush of your paying work and that little league coaching job you took on are stress enough.

But there is the inspiration you find in working for her, and, through her, for the common good. Your work is life-affecting: it addresses basic human needs. Shelter. Marital relationships. Parenting. Children. Liberty. The relationship is personal, and it is intense. This makes it deeply satisfying. With this legal work more than any other kind, you recognize the dignity of the human person. Inside, you cannot feel more alive. The giver's high is like a runner's high: potent, and overcoming any aches or bumps in the road that hit you along the way.

The people in this room know this feeling. It crept up on you, and filled you with the energy and the determination you needed to put your effort on the line for these most important of clients. You, in turn, invigorate our profession. This we need. You are the Duke Blue Devils this year. Your weak moment was really one shining moment. On behalf of my colleagues in the judiciary, I thank you for what you have done. May your future legal career be filled with more weak moments.