Morrison & Foerster Aids Construction of Home For Family in Mexico
Many organizations and individuals need legal services on various issues, but a lot of people can’t afford it.
But there’s an answer: pro bono work, when firms provide free legal service to those in need.
Two San Diego law firms recently were recognized for their pro bono work.
Hayes Simpson Green LLP was awarded the Legal Pro Bono Program Outstanding Law Firm Award of 2001 by the Legal Aid Society of San Diego at a June 29 luncheon, while Robert Gerber, a partner with Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, was honored May 10 by the Tom Homann Law Association.
Hayes Simpson was active in the Legal Aid Society’s Youth Mediation Program. One of the firm’s attorneys, C. Hartzog Clamon, received the Legal Aid Society’s Wiley M. Manuel Pro Bono Services Award, presented by the State Bar of California to an individual providing pro bono work.
Hayes Simpson attorneys Mimi Stockton, Sophie McNeil, Jennifer Britt and Toni Martinson received awards as pro bono program volunteers.
Gerber, of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, received the Co-President Award for his pro bono work from the Tom Homann Law Association.
Gerber worked on behalf of Geovanni Hernandez-Montiel, a Mexican citizen who had been prosecuted in his homeland because of his sexual orientation, Gerber said. The case reached the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in August 2000, which ruled Hernandez-Montiel was entitled to political asylum in the United States.
The three-judge panel overruled a U.S. immigration judge and an U.S. immigration appeals board, which previously had ruled Hernandez-Montiel was not being “persecuted as a member of a particular social group.”
Gerber’s work on the case and his victory before the Ninth Circuit Court were featured in media worldwide, including Newsweek, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, as well as BBC Radio and “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News.
Gerber provides a significant amount of pro bono work through the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program.
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From Courtroom To Construction:
About 40 lawyers, summer associates and staff employees of Morrison & Foerster traded in their suits and law briefs for jeans and hammers recently.
The firm took part in the construction of a home for a family in Tecate, Mexico. The firm partnered with Corazon Inc., a non-denominational family and community support organization in Laguna Hills.
Morrison and Foerster’s employees also contributed the funds needed to cover construction expenses and provide scholarships for 13 village public school children.
Minutes:
George Fleming, senior counsel in the San Diego office of Baker & McKenzie, recently became a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Arthur Moreau III has returned to the office of Klinedinst, Fliehman & McKillop P.C. David Plouff and John Kyle, attorneys with Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch, recently passed the exam for registration to practice cases before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, known as the patent bar exam. Richard Gerry, a founding partner of Casey Gerry Reed & Schenk, recently was inducted into the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego’s Past Presidents’ Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. Monty McIntrye, a civil litigation attorney with Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek, was elected president of the county Bar Association for the 2002 term.
The deadline for the next Law Column is Thursday, July 12. Send items to dward@ sdbj.com.
