Dallas Bar Association
HEADNOTES Focus Business Litigation
October 2016 Volume 41 Number 10
Connatser Family Law: Preserving Access to Justice for All matically qualify for free legal help because they live so close to the poverty level. One person’s divorce, one person’s eviction, one person’s consumer problem, $ is not just someone else’s problem. When that person needs legal advice, needs to understand their rights, needs to have $900,000 a judge rule on their case, their problem is our problem—mak$800,000 ing sure they can do this while preserving access to justice for $700,000 all. Thank you Connatser Family $600,000 Law: Aubrey Connatser, Mike DeBruin, Abby Gregory, Chris$500,000 tine Leatherberry, and Alissa Castro, for your commitment to the Dallas Volunteer Attorney $400,000 Program and the Equal Access to Justice Campaign. $350,000 The Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program is a joint pro bono $300,000 program of the Dallas Bar Association and Legal Aid of North$250,000 West Texas. The program is the only one of its kind in Texas and $200,000 brings together the volunteer resources of a major metropoli$150,000 tan bar association with the legal aid expertise of the largest and $50,0000 oldest civil legal aid program in North Texas. To learn more or make a gift, contact Alicia Hernandez at ahernandez@dallasbar.org or 214-220-7499. HN To Give: www.dvapcampaign.org.
or mistrust our justice system, or find it so financially Aubrey Connatser, of Connatser Family Law has once inaccessible that the system is biased against them from again given $30,000 to the annual Equal Access to Jus- the start. It is about having lawyers fight for them in tice Campaign benefitting the Dallas Volunteer Attor- our established and trustworthy system so people can enforce and protect ney Program (DVAP). A donor since 2006, their rights. It is about Connatser Family Law, a boutique family law freedom and equality for firm, has donated more than $100,000 to the all and not just a priviCampaign. leged few. Impressive? Definitely. Thankful? Cer“Access to justice tainly. Stunned? Some people are wondering should be a right and not why an attorney and her firm would give so a luxury,” said Aubrey. much and ask for so little in return? “Each day we witness the We can tell you. Aubrey believes in our victimization of so many justice system. She believes that all people across the globe by unjust having access to a sound, fair, and democratic legal systems. I believe it way of resolving disputes is a cornerstone of is our duty as practitioour democracy. ners to ensure those most “A person’s ability to pay should not be vulnerable in our society the determining factor when access to our are not marginalized or justice system is necessary to protect a child ignored because of their or right a wrong,” said Aubrey. lack of resources.” For Aubrey, access to justice is about the For DVAP, it is about individual as well as the broader societal the thousands of clients impact of access to justice. It is about her cliwho ask for and receive ents who have suffered years of domestic viohelp every year. It is lence. It is about her clients who needed child about the more than support to pay the bills. It is about clients who 2,500 clients who were just need to move past a failed marriage peacerepresented by pro bono fully and move on with the rest of their lives. attorneys in 2015. It is It is about all her clients—pro bono or about the hundreds of not. However, it is also about your clients. It Aubrey Connatser additional clients who is about all individuals in the court system and those who may need the court system someday. It is about received advice and counsel. It is about every DVAP businesses, both for profit and non-profit, needing a system client who has received services from the program since to resolve disagreements when trying to work things out its start, and the thousands of Dallas lawyers who have informally has failed. It is about making sure our citizens supported access to justice by representing DVAP’s clients. can seek and obtain results from our system of justice. For Dallas, it is about the more than 600,000 people It is about advice, counsel, and understanding one’s legal rights. It is about making sure people do not fear (25 percent of the Dallas County population) who autoBY ALICIA HERNANDEZ
Alicia Hernandez is the director of the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program and the DBA director of community services. She can be reached at ahernandez@dallasbar.org.
THANK YOU TO OUR MAJOR DONORS | Equal Access to Justice Campaign Kicks Off The Dallas Bar Association and Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas kicked off their annual Equal Access to Justice Campaign benefitting the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program. A number of Dallas firms, corporations, and friends have committed major support. Please join us in recognizing and thanking the following for their generous gifts to the Campaign*:
PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL ($30,000) Connatser Family Law Crain Lewis Brogdon, LLP Perkins Coie LLP CHAIRMAN’S COUNCIL ($25,000) Anonymous Foundation AT&T Services, Inc. Payne Mitchell Law Group
PLATINUM ($10,000) Anonymous Dallas Association of Young Lawyers DBA Corporate Counsel Section Exxon Mobil Corporation Gary & Donna Fowler Haynes and Boone, LLP Jackson Walker LLP Jones Day Kastl Law, PC Koons Fuller, PC
GOLD ($5,100+) DBA Business Litigation Section DBA Probate, Trusts & Estates Law Section DBA Real Property Law Section Robert L. Tobey Waters & Kraus LLP *Donors as of press time.
Law firms, corporations, and individuals wishing to make a pledge will be prominently recognized beginning at the $5,000 level each month through January. To donate, contact Alicia Hernandez, ahernandez@dallasbar.org. For more information about the Campaign see www.dallasbar.org/dvapcampaign.
Inside 3 Al Ellis Selected for Professionalism Award 10 Don’t “/s” That Email . . . Just Yet 14 DBF Announces Diversity Scholarship Dinner Fundraiser 17 Using Out of Court “Tweets” at Trial
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