HBA Milestones Houston Bar Foundation:
The Foundation of Vital Community Programs
T
By Natasha Breaux
he Houston Bar Foundation (“HBF”) was established in 1982 as the charitable arm of the Houston Bar Association (“HBA”).1 At that time, the HBA had commissioned a long-range planning committee to consider what should be done to meet the challenges of the future.2 One of the committee’s recommendations was to create a nonprofit charitable organization that could more effectively discharge the Bar’s responsibilities to the legal profession and the community. And so, the HBF was born. According to the HBF’s first chairman, James B. Sales, it took “shoe leather” and “knocking on doors” to obtain initial donations. The first annual budget was $240,000, which went towards a variety of community service projects. Sales and John D. Ellis, Jr., who served as the fourth chair of the Foundation, were instrumental in establishing it as a section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The Foundation’s directors are appointed by the Houston Bar Association and Foundation board members choose the chair, vice chair, and treasurer. The HBA president and HBA executive director serve as ex officio members of the HBF board, with the executive director also serving as secretary. The HBF has no paid staff; the HBA staff provide administrative and communication services. From its beginning, the primary beneficiary of the HBF has been the HBA’s Houston Volunteer Lawyers (“HVL”), which provides pro bono legal services in civil matters to low-income residents of Harris County, linking qualified applicants with attorneys volunteering their time on a pro bono basis. Through annual grants from the HBF and other organizations like the Texas Access to Justice Foundation, HVL helps low-income citizens that other programs often cannot serve, such as those who may not meet the financial criteria of other legal assistance programs. HVL volunteers make a difference in the lives of lowincome clients, their families, and communities every day. Today, the HBF continues to “provide critical funding to
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close the justice gap across the greater Houston area,” including providing financial support for HVL, says Polly Fohn, the 2021 chair of the HBF. In 2019, the Foundation created the Kay Sim Endowment for Maintaining Access to Justice in Houston, named after the HBA’s former longtime executive director, who remains a champion of pro bono service. Inaugural co-chairs were David Beck, Beck Redden LLP; Shauna Clark, Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP; Robin Gibbs, Gibbs & Bruns LLP; T. Mark Kelly, Vinson & Elkins LLP; Christine LaFollette, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld L.L.P; Neal Manne, Susman Godfrey L.L.P.; Jason M. Ryan, CenterPoint Energy, Inc.; and John Eddie Williams, Jr., Williams Hart LLP. Along with many other contributors, the Endowment Campaign helped to sustain future annual funding for pro bono legal services through HVL. Fohn further explains that the HBF’s “success is in large part due to its Fellows Program through which a small number of HBA members are nominated each year to support the Foundation’s crucial efforts.” The HBF, she says, is “proud to have more than 2,000 Fellows, including many of Houston’s most prominent lawyers and judges.” After four successful decades, the HBF investment portfolio has grown to over $18 million. The HBF supports the following programs: • Legal Clinics—An opportunity for low-income individuals to apply for assistance with HVL and receive free legal advice. • Veteran’s Legal Initiative—Service to low-income military veterans. • Consumer, Elder, and Family Law Handbooks—Free printed and electronic handbooks that explain common legal issues and remedies. • Self-Help Divorce Clinics—Assistance to self-represented litigants. • Continuing Education Grants—Education programs, which improve administration of justice for all, for Harris County court staff. • Texas Children’s Hospital Medical-Legal Partnership— Legal assistance for low-income patients. • Houston Area Women’s Center—Legal advice and assistance with protective orders for domestic violence victims. • Center for Urban Transformation—The Foundation has made grants the past two years for the juvenile diversion program that seeks to disrupt and end the 5th Ward’s school-to-prison pipeline and build a culture of compassion. The mission of the HBF “has never been more important to our community as over the past year,” explains Susan L. Bickley, 2020 chair of the HBF, when “many Houstonians found
