Stewart Gagnon
LAW FIRM: Fulbright & Jaworski
CATEGORY: Excellence in Social Responsibility
WEB SITE: http://www.fulbright.com
At Fulbright & Jaworski, the Houston-based law firm that dates back to 1919, a decades-long commitment to pro bono work recently turned into an embarrassment of riches.
Last year the law firm was ranked 50th in the American Lawyer 200's Pro Bono Commitment Survey. moving halfway up the chart from its 2003 position. Fulbright worked a total of more than 44,000 pro bono hours, logged by nearly half of the
firm's 840 attorneys for a total of between $8 million and $10 million in donated fees for such clients as the Gospel Rescue Mission, Reading to Learn, the Texas Special Olympics and the YMCA Refugee Project. What's more,
several of the firm's attorneys were recognized for their volunteer efforts by the American Bar Association (ABA), including the legal assistance the attorneys provided on behalf of poor children living in Harris County, Texas.
Stewart Gagnon, a partner who joined the firm in 1974, was honored with the 2004 "John Minor Wisdom Public Interest and Professionalism Award" by the ABA Section of Litigation, given annually to the one U.S. lawyer who made the greatest contribution to
serving the public interest. Gagnon also received the "Ann Clarke Snell Award" from the Women's Advocacy Project (WAP), a nonprofit that promotes the use of legal protections to end violence against women.
Gagnon takes the kudos in stride, pleasantly surprised, perhaps, but hardly shocked considering that pro bono work is embedded within the firm's DNA. "We have a reputation as a culture that's very involved in community," he says, "and feel very good
about helping people who can't help themselves."
Fulbright drives home that message through multiple PR efforts, including an annual luncheon in each of the firm's nine offices honoring those in-house attorneys who have done extensive pro bono work. The contents from the luncheons are converted
into a power-point presentation, which then is distributed to legal associations (and also made available for legal-oriented publications).
The firm also holds summer meetings plugging pro bono efforts for recent law-school graduates who may be interested in joining the firm; a brochure illustrating Fulbright's commitment to helping communities is a major part of the recruitment process. It
also conducts Saturday-morning clinics that teach best practices in pro bono.
Fulbright - which helped form the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical establishment in the country and the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program -garners fairly consistent coverage for its pro bono efforts in the Houston
Chronicle and various law journals in Texas.
"It's a matter of our ethics," Gagnon says. "People want lawyers who share the same ethics as they do. And when they learn the significant contributions we make in pro bono work, it has an impact for our entire clientele."