Haynes and Boone, LLP was featured in the October 2024 edition of Headnotes from the Dallas Bar Association for their pro bono efforts.
Read an excerpt below.
As the Equal Access to Justice Campaign gains momentum this fall, the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program (DVAP) was fortunate to receive the generous support of Haynes and Boone, LLP, with a $25,500 donation. This makes an impressive total of $239,000 donated by Haynes Boone since 1997.
Why do the firm’s accomplished attorneys support equal access to justice?
“One reason I became a Haynes Boone lawyer was because of the firm’s profound commitment to community leadership, civic engagement, and support for pro bono legal work,” Partner and 2025 Equal Access to Justice Campaign Co-Chair Tim Newman said. “This commitment to DVAP is continuing a long tradition of Haynes Boone helping to make the Dallas community a better place.” So far this year, the firm’s lawyers have donated over 8,610 hours to pro bono work and over 626 hours to pro bono with DVAP. The firm’s Dallas office was honored by the State Bar of Texas in June with the W. Frank Newton Award for their pro bono contributions. Haynes Boone further expanded its pro bono commitment this year by hiring Rachel Elkin as the firm’s first Pro Bono Counsel to oversee the firm’s global pro bono program.
“Our attorneys continue to demonstrate their commitment to pro bono and improving our community each year,” Rachel said, “whether through the hundreds of hours spent representing DVAP clients and participating in DVAP clinics or contributing to the Equal Access to Justice Campaign. The compassion and dedication of our attorneys to DVAP and its mission are unmatched.”
Each case placed with a volunteer attorney by DVAP can lead to lifechanging results—one more parent with access to their children, one more veteran with access to benefits earned, one more grandparent able to adopt a child whose parents are absent, or one more person who is able to finally secure employment due to an old criminal charge being expunged.
Haynes Boone Associate Hannah Shoss is currently representing “Diana,” a DVAP client, in a divorce that she has waited almost three years to obtain. “We don’t always think of a divorce as something to celebrate or as an essential need. But for my client, it will mark the start of a new life. Soon, she will win back her personal and f inancial autonomy, confidence in her ability to choose her own path, and her own name—an essential piece of her identity. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this process and to witness my client’s resilience and bravery,” Hannah said.
Haynes Boone Associate Sam Mallick recently helped “Olivia,” a DVAP client whose former landlord charged improper fees and refused to return her security deposit. Eventually, the landlord sent a collections agency after Olivia, and the hit to her credit score made it impossible to find a new place to live. Sam got the collections agency to back down and fix her credit score, the landlord to drop the erroneous charges, and finally got the security deposit returned. Although the case only involved a few hundred dollars, it ensured that Olivia could keep a roof over her head.
“I have worked on other pro bono cases outside of DVAP, but the DVAP cases are special. They aren’t cases that will get written about in a press release or even sound very interesting most of the time, but the people who come to DVAP really need help. Some cases only take a few hours of attorney time but can greatly impact the client. When I’ve taken a DVAP case, it is ready to go right from the start, and the support from DVAP staff along the way has been incredible. DVAP makes it easy to do pro bono,” Sam explained.
“Our attorneys provide access to justice to those in need in every way imaginable, and supporting the 2025 Equal Access to Justice Campaign is definitely one of those ways,” Haynes Boone Partner and Pro Bono Committee Co-Chair David Taubenfeld said. “We love devoting time and will always devote the hours it takes to represent our pro bono clients, but without the money the EAJ Campaign raises to fund the system, we simply would not be able to represent as many folks as efficiently as we now can.”
To read the full edition of Headnotes, click here.
