WASHINGTON, D.C. – Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO) is honored to present Exxon Mobil Corporation (ExxonMobil) in partnership with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston (Catholic Charities) the 2019 CPBO Pro Bono Partner Award – Large Law. The Award recognizes the partnership between ExxonMobil and Catholic Charities for their strategic collaboration breaking down barriers to legal services for immigrants in Texas. The award will be presented at Pro Bono Institute’s (PBI) 2019 Annual Dinner on October 10 at Gotham Hall in New York. CPBO is a project of PBI.
ExxonMobil lawyers and staff have been performing pro bono service in Houston and other communities as part of a well-established program since the mid-90s. Together, Catholic Charities and ExxonMobil are essential in bridging the gap in legal services to those in need in and around Houston.
ExxonMobil’s partnership with Catholic Charities began more than eight years ago. They have worked to provide hundreds of individuals with immigration legal advice and representation, ranging from Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), citizenship, and adjustment of status for refugees, asylees, and Cubans, and have assisted more than 540 clients who completed and filed citizenship applications.
“I salute ExxonMobil and Catholic Charities for helping so many—clients, families, and community members—scale the barriers to access to justice. This work is more important than ever,” said Eve Runyon, PBI President and CEO.
ExxonMobil’s Vice President and General Counsel, Randall Ebner, stated, “The partnership between ExxonMobil and Catholic Charities is a source of great pride for ExxonMobil’s Law Department. We are honored to receive this award and look forward to continuing this great partnership and helping those in need of critical pro bono legal services in our communities.”
ExxonMobil has engaged more than 100 lawyers and 40 support staff in this pro bono partnership, including retiree lawyers, thereby widening the net of those providing pro bono legal support to Catholic Charities. The partnership has developed innovative service models, including a large-scale workshop model for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to serve more than 100 clients and a unique adjustment of status workshop. Moreover, ExxonMobil has introduced new partners to support Catholic Charities’ mission, encouraging law firms to collaborate on clinics and to sponsor similar pro bono efforts within their firms. ExxonMobil has also engaged other legal services providers to broaden community involvement.
To help ensure their program continues to flourish and meet clients’ needs, ExxonMobil and Catholic Charities review their work every year. They also continually seek new opportunities – new models, places, and people to serve – as the landscape of immigration changes in the community.
About the CPBO Pro Bono Partner Award
Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO), a project of Pro Bono Institute, 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 Corporate Pro Bono 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 on 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.
Over the years, the impact and innovation of the projects supported by the award recipients have been tremendously important both in the projects’ ability to address the legal needs of the communities being served and in the role the partnerships have played in supporting and furthering pro bono work, especially within the in-house community. Through these partnerships, legal departments, law firms, and public interest organizations have devised programs that contribute to the legal profession’s efforts to close the justice gap and that create strong legacies of effective pro bono service.
About Corporate Pro Bono
Founded in 2000, Corporate Pro Bono is a global project of Pro Bono Institute (PBI). CPBO’s mission is to explore and identify new approaches to and resources for the provision of legal services to the poor, disadvantaged, and other individuals or groups unable to secure legal assistance to address critical problems. CPBO does so by supporting, enhancing, and transforming the pro bono efforts of in-house legal departments in the U.S. and around the world.
About Pro Bono Institute
Founded in 1996, Pro Bono Institute (PBI) is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization. With an unparalleled depth of knowledge, resources and expertise, PBI is the respected resource for all things pro bono. Through our work with law firms, in-house corporate legal departments, and public interest organizations, PBI is the global thought leader in exploring, identifying, evaluating, catalyzing, and taking to scale new approaches to and resources for the provision of legal services to the poor, disadvantaged, and other individuals or groups unable to secure legal assistance to address critical problems.
About ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest publicly traded energy providers and chemical manufacturers, develops and applies next-generation technologies to help safely and responsibly meet the world’s growing needs for energy and high-quality chemical products.
About Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston brings help and hope to people in need, especially the poor and vulnerable. Through a network of life-changing programs that work together to alleviate poverty, we serve an average of 85,000 people each year from locations in Harris, Fort Bend and Galveston counties. As the social services arm of the Archdiocese, we are guided by the Catholic faith to serve people of all beliefs in achieving self-sufficiency so they can live with dignity. Catholic Charities is a United Way agency, founded in 1943. We are people of faith, helping people in need.
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