in partnership with
for their global collaboration delivering vital legal assistance through sustainable approaches and pioneering an innovative, replicable disaster-response legal model
Honeywell Technologies**, Appleseed México, DLA Piper*†, and Houston Volunteer Lawyers (HVL) developed an impactful collaboration that delivers vital legal assistance through sustainable approaches, signature initiatives, and an innovative, replicable disaster-response legal model.
For several years, Honeywell and DLA Piper have come together across multiple cities, practice areas, and service models to address urgent legal needs in communities that lack access to legal support. Through a sustained investment in pro bono and strong relationships with local legal services and other nonprofit organizations, their work supports important community needs, including serving veterans, assisting immigrants seeking humanitarian relief, and developing a cross-border collaboration to respond to disaster-related legal needs.
In Texas, Honeywell and DLA Piper team up with HVL to provide direct legal services to low-income individuals and veterans through recurring clinics and advice programs. In 2025, Honeywell and DLA Piper co-sponsored two in-person clinics, a LegalLine advice clinic and a Veterans Legal Clinic, providing free legal assistance to more than 50 individuals, including 38 veterans. Clients received help with a range of civil legal issues, including family law, estate planning, veterans’ benefits, and consumer matters. For many people, these clinics are their only opportunity to speak with an attorney. Honeywell and DLA Piper’s joint efforts to serve veterans also include pro bono initiatives in Arizona and Georgia, reflecting a sustained, multi-city commitment through recurring engagement.
Recognizing that natural disasters create profound legal vulnerabilities long after immediate humanitarian aid ends, Honeywell and DLA Piper expanded their collaboration internationally in Mexico City, which is highly vulnerable to seismic risks. They worked with Appleseed México and Universidad Panamericana to pioneer a replicable legal disaster response brigade. This project is innovative in its substance as well as its approach working with an academic institution. Through the training of students, faculty, and volunteers, as well as the development of practical tools, such as updated legal guides on earthquake response, the initiative strengthens emergency preparedness and helps safeguard the rights of those most at risk.
In 2025, Honeywell launched the Pro Bono Decathlon, an annual, week‑long service initiative that brings together employees, law firms, and community organizations across multiple cities to serve those in need. In its first year, the Decathlon engaged volunteers in eight cities, delivering more than 800 volunteer hours through clinics and pro bono events. In 2026, DLA Piper is working with Honeywell to expand the effort to include additional cities serving diverse needs.
Honeywell’s commitment to pro bono is both substantial and growing. In 2025, more than 270 Honeywell employees contributed more than 1,700 pro bono hours, serving more than 500 individuals globally. Through collaborative projects with DLA Piper, HVL, and Appleseed México, such as the legal disaster response brigade, Decathlon, and recurring clinics, Honeywell is mobilizing volunteers and strengthening communities through innovative, scalable solutions for expanding access to justice.
About Honeywell Technologies
Honeywell Technologies is a global, pure-play automation company with a legacy of innovating to help solve the world’s most mission-critical challenges, enhancing the quality of life for people and communities around the world. We serve the building, industrial, and process sectors with a broad portfolio of services, solutions, and products, underpinned by our Honeywell Technologies Accelerator operating system and Honeywell Technologies Forge intelligence layer. By combining the deep domain expertise of our more than 50,000 employees with decades of data from our global installed base, we are uniquely positioned to lead the industrial sector’s transition from automation to autonomy. For more news and information on Honeywell Technologies, please visit Honeywell Technologies Newsroom.
About Honeywell Technologies’ Pro Bono Program
Honeywell Technologies’ global pro bono program works with law firms, customers and non-profits around the world to volunteer hundreds of hours of pro bono service to positively impact the communities in which their lawyers live and work.
About Appleseed México
Appleseed México is a non-profit civil society organization dedicated to expanding access to justice through free legal assistance, the mobilization of pro bono legal services, and legal research on issues of public interest. Its work combines direct support for civil society organizations and vulnerable communities with systemic change initiatives aimed at removing structural barriers to justice, strengthening civic space, and improving institutional responses to society’s most pressing challenges. Through systemic projects, Appleseed México develops practical tools, recommendations, legal guides, and cross-sector partnerships that transform legal knowledge into sustainable solutions with lasting impact for the most vulnerable communities.
About DLA Piper
DLA Piper’s pro bono mission is to pursue justice in our communities by helping individuals, families, and organizations. Through collaborative and creative pro bono projects, we promote security, dignity, and access to justice for everyone. Our focus areas include advocating for children, serving veterans, assisting immigrants seeking humanitarian relief, and combating hunger. DLA Piper defines success by the positive impact we have on our communities and around the world and the dedication of our people to pro bono. In North America in 2025, the firm devoted more than 125,000 hours to pro bono and community engagement. We are proud to work alongside firm clients, legal service providers, and others to broaden the impact of our efforts.
About Houston Volunteer Lawyers
Founded in 1981 by the Houston Bar Association, Houston Volunteer Lawyers (HVL) provides free, civil legal services to low-income residents of Harris County by linking qualified applicants with attorneys who volunteer their time on a pro bono basis. HVL is an equal opportunity agency, providing services to clients without regard to race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, national origin or religion.
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About the CPBO Pro Bono Partner Award
The PBI Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO) project created the CPBO Pro Bono Partner Award to recognize innovative pro bono collaborations of in-house legal departments with law firms and public interest organizations. Pro bono partnerships that include at least one in-house legal department with one or more law firms and/or public interest organizations are eligible. The CPBO Advisory Board selects the award recipients.
The award honors legal departments and the organizations with which they partner in the provision of legal services to those in need. The award recipients are departments, law firms, and public interest organizations that have demonstrated an impact in their community through their partnership project, shown substantial involvement in the project by in-house lawyers, made tangible steps toward sustaining the relationship among the partners, developed innovative substantive or structural approaches in support of the partnership’s effort, and addressed a critical legal need or assisted a particularly vulnerable community or target population.
* denotes a Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® signatory
** denotes a Corporate Pro Bono Challenge® signatory
† denotes a Law Firm Pro Bono Project® member
