Pro Bono Experience
Baker Botts Partners with Neighborhood Centers Inc.
Baker Botts has assisted Neighborhood Centers Inc. (Neighborhood Centers) with several governance and organizational matters, including advising Neighborhood Centers on non-profit governance practices. Baker Botts has also aided in the restructuring of Neighborhood Centers and several of its subsidiaries, including the merger of Neighborhood Centers’ social services organizations for senior citizens, to better facilitate the services Neighborhood Centers provides to the Houston community.
Neighborhood Centers is the largest charitable organization in Texas and strengthens emerging neighborhoods in the greater Houston area by providing resources, education and connection to more than half a million people each year through a network of over 70 services sites.
Lawyers from the firm's corporate, real estate and tax departments have donated over 415 hours to serving Neighborhood Centers on a pro bono basis.
Baker Botts Provides Pro Bono Assistance to Second Servings of Houston
Baker Botts provided pro bono legal assistance to Barbara Bronstein, the founder of Second Servings of Houston, in forming the non-profit entity in 2014, assembling the initial board of directors, establishing general corporate governance guidelines and obtaining the organization’s non-profit tax exemption from the Internal Revenue Service. Baker Botts also assisted in obtaining trademark protection for Second Servings upon its formation.
Neighborhood Centers is the largest charitable organization in Texas and strengthens emerging neighborhoods in the greater Houston area by providing resources, education and connection to more than half a million people each year through a network of over 70 services sites.
Second Servings of Houston is the only prepared and perishable food rescue organization in Houston. It is a non-profit organization that picks up unserved and unsold food from distributors, retailers, hotels, sports venues and other food businesses and delivers it safely and promptly to approved charitable meal providers such as shelters, soup kitchens and low-income housing. Second Servings of Houston is addressing both hunger relief and waste reduction in a new and innovative way. Since its formation in 2014, Second Servings has rescued food valued at approximately $10 million from more than 175 donors in Houston. This summer, Second Servings is expanding with a third refrigerated van and two additional drivers, keeping the nonprofit rolling toward more and more food from its donors.
Baker Botts Lawyers Present “Organizar, Proteger y Crecer Su Negocio” at Volunteers of Legal Service Event
Baker Botts lawyers delivered a two hour program, “Organizar, Proteger y Crecer Su Negocio,” or, “Organizing, Protecting and Growing Your Business,” during a Volunteers of Legal Service (VOLS) Microenterprise Project event. The program was presented all in Spanish at the Small Business Development Center at LaGuardia Community College which is part of the City University of New York.
Baker Botts took part in the presentation through VOLS Microenterprise Project in New York which helps small business owners and microentrepreneurs access high-quality, free legal services from a network of pro bono lawyers. Baker Botts lawyers regularly partner with VOLS to offer community-based legal workshops and pro bono legal assistance to small business owners in New York’s underserved communities.
Baker Botts Wins Veteran's Benefits Appeal in Pro Bono Case
Baker Botts announced a win for firm pro bono client U.S. Army veteran, Edward Liszewski, in his recent successful appeal of a decision made by the Board of Veteran's Appeals.
Baker Botts lawyers represented Mr. Liszewski in challenging a decision from the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) that denied his claim for benefits pursuant to "service connection" for an injury that developed while Mr. Liszewski served as an airborne infantryman from 1971 to 1972 and has plagued him since. The Board initially relied on a medical conclusion from a VA medical examiner to override Mr. Liszewski's testimony as to his symptoms.
The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program asked Baker Botts to represent Mr. Liszewski in his appeal of the Board’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Following the filing of multiple motions and briefs over 16 months, the appellate court in December reversed the Board’s decision and remanded the matter for the Board to consider whether service connection is proper under a theory of continuity of symptomatology. Accordingly, the Board must now re-evaluate Mr. Liszewski’s claim based on the theory advanced in his appeal by Baker Botts.
Baker Botts Prevails in Ninth Circuit Appeal for Immigrant-Detainee
Baker Botts lawyers in our Washington, D.C., office prevailed in a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in pro bono representation for an immigrant-detainee facing deportation. The client, a lawful permanent resident with a U.S.-born child, is a Mexican immigrant who does not speak or understand English. He had been convicted of a Nevada offense for possession of a controlled substance. This led a federal immigration judge to deem him removable. Among the client’s problems was that he had missed a filing deadline for the Board of Immigration Appeals after mistakenly relying on an attorney from a legal services organization who had visited him at his immigrant-detainee holding facility. Following Baker Botts’ arguments, the U.S. Department of Justice took the unusual step of agreeing to remand to the Board for full consideration the merits in the case, which would specifically include consideration of three U.S. Supreme Court decisions that are favorable to the client and should provide a strong basis for vacatur of the immigration judge’s underlying removal order. The government also committed that it would not seek deportation of the client while the remand proceedings are pending. The Ninth Circuit granted the consent motion on July 28, 2015. This amounted to a complete victory for the client with respect to the issues before the Ninth Circuit.
Baker Botts Scores Victory for Private School in Property Tax Dispute
Baker Botts lawyers scored a pro bono victory for a private nursery school against the Travis Central Appraisal District in an administrative dispute regarding the school’s entitlement to a private school property tax exemption. The district’s lawyers challenged both the School’s status as a non-profit school and its entitlement to a tax exemption for any portion of the property, since the entire property was not used “exclusively” for school purposes. Our lawyers prevailed and a three-member panel determined that the school met private school requirements and granted a tax exemption. The decision entitles the school to substantial savings in property taxes in future years, as well as a refund of property taxes the school paid under protest in the past five years ─ an amount (with interest) that totals tens of thousands of dollars.
19-Year-Old Pro Bono Client Obtains Asylum
Jose, now 19 years old, left his native country of El Salvador and came to the United States in 2013 due to ongoing mistreatment and harassment by members of his community. After being arrested shortly after crossing the U.S. border, he was sent to His House Children’s Home in Miami, FL while the government initiated proceedings to deport him to El Salvador. He was released into the custody of his uncle, who lives in Houston, pending the results of the proceedings.
Baker Botts lawyers in the Houston office took on the client’s case at the request of Immigration Equality. In July 2015, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approved the client’s request for asylum.
Baker Botts lawyers continue to represent Jose to dismiss the current proceedings in Immigration Court and to help him obtain certain benefits which he is now entitled to as a result of his asylum status. Additionally, the team will represent Jose in the submission to USCIS of his petition for permanent residence. If this petition is successful, he will be able to remain in the United States for the rest of his life without risk of deportation or a forced return to the people who mistreated him.
Baker Botts Achieves Pro Bono Victory in Child Custody Case
On February 8 and 9, 2016, Baker Botts successfully represented pro bono client Marcus Newman, Sr. in his effort to gain custody of his son. In the case Newman v. Bellinger, 2014 DRB 1083, Baker Botts represented plaintiff Marcus Newman, Sr. (the child's father) against defendant Christina Bellinger (the child's mother) and third-party intervenor Frontis Marie Bellinger (the child's grandmother) in seeking custody of his son. After being incarcerated for a portion of the child's life, Mr. Newman turned his life around and wanted to provide a stable home for his son in North Carolina. After a two-day bench trial at the D.C. Superior Court, the judge awarded full custody to Mr. Newman.
Miriam Moskowitz Fights to Clear Name in McCarthy Era Conspiracy Conviction
Miriam Moskowitz sought to clear her name 65 years after being convicted on McCarthy-era conspiracy charges brought against her in an atomic espionage case. While researching her case in preparation to release a tome on her experiences as a victim of the "Red Scare," Ms. Moskowitz found unsealed grand jury testimony in her case which revealed inconsistencies that called into question the prosecutor’s decision to not release testimony would have provided evidence to clear her of all charges.
Baker Botts filed a petition for a writ of error coram nobis - an archaic legal remedy of last resort used to reopen a case to resolve fundamental errors. We argued that matter before Judge Hellerstein in 2014; although Judge Hellerstein denied the petition, it garnered much positive press for Ms. Moskowitz and helped her along the path in her fight to clear her name, a fight that continues today.
Baker Botts Partners with CLSEPA
The Palo Alto office recently partnered with Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto (“CLSEPA”) to represent clients in its asylum cases at San Francisco Immigration Court. With the support and guidance of CLSEPA, Baker Botts associates have teamed up to provide legal assistance to immigrants in and around East Palo Alto, where two-thirds of the population is Latino or Pacific Islander. Currently, eight associates represent three asylum-seekers and their children.
The cases are in their early stages, but the participating associates are eager to provide high-quality representation to immigrants who fear that persecution would await them if they were to return to their home countries.
Death Row Inmate Granted New Hearing
A Texas court granted Linda Carty, who has spent more than 10 years on death row, a new hearing to assess recently uncovered evidence in her case.
The hearing, granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, will review evidence that the key witnesses in Ms. Carty’s trial gave false testimony on the witness stand as a result of intimidation and threats from the prosecutor.
The Baker Botts Team unearthed this evidence. Baker Botts is handling the appeal in a pro bono capacity in this case.
Over the past 11 years over 130 lawyers and paralegal staff have worked on this case.
Jesuit Volunteer Corps Regional Organizations Merge to Form National Jesuit Volunteer Corps
Baker Botts has long provided pro bono corporate and tax counsel to Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC), the largest Catholic lay volunteer program in the country.
In one instance, Baker Botts lawyers donated approximately 1,000 hours in connection with a major strategic transaction for JVC. Through a series of mergers and combination transactions, the non-profit corporations that ran the JVC combined their operations into one national entity. As a result, JVC was thereafter able to provide its services even more efficiently to those in need. Specifically, Jesuit Volunteer Corps: East (Pennsylvania), Jesuit Volunteer Corps: South (Texas), Jesuit Volunteer Corps: Southwest (California), and Jesuit Volunteer Corps: Midwest (Michigan) merged with and into Jesuit Volunteer Corps (D.C.). Additionally, Jesuit Volunteer Corps became the sole member of and entered into a services agreement with Jesuit Volunteers: International, Inc. Each of these corporations is a Section 501(c)(3) organization.
JVC is a national and international program based on four core values: social justice, simple living, community, and spirituality. JVC attracts volunteers to commit one to two years of their life, typically following college graduation, to work with social service organizations that JVC supports. JVC provides group housing accommodations for JVC volunteers, and a small stipend to JVC volunteers for their service. JVC volunteers commit to serve where the need is greatest, to work with people who are marginalized by society and to live in apostolic community with other JVC volunteers. In all, about 300 JVC volunteers each year work in the United States and in seven countries around the world. Hundreds of grassroots organizations across the country count on JVC volunteers to provide essential services to low-income people. JVC volunteers work for and with people who are homeless or unemployed, refugees, people with AIDS, the elderly, street youth, abused women and children, the mentally ill and the developmentally disabled.