Christine Leatherberry
Volunteer of the Month – January 2020 Christine Leatherberry is the Director of Alumni Relations at SMU Dedman School of Law. 1. Describe your most compelling pro bono case. Last year, I helped two grandparents adopt their grandson. My clients’ daughter died at just 30 years of age from medical complications less than a couple weeks after she gave birth. After so much tragedy and heartache losing their daughter, they were able to adopt their grandson to raise him as their own son. Without the adoption and without a court order, many of their rights…
Megan Ladriere
Volunteer of the Month – December 2019 Megan Ladriere is a Senior Associate at Baker Botts, L.L.P. 1. How did you first get involved in pro bono? My firm, Baker Botts, actively encourages young associates to get involved with pro bono activities early in their career. When I received the DVAP monthly emails on available cases, I took a simple divorce to get started! DVAP made it very easy and I felt supported so that I was able to successfully represent my client in a new area of law for me. I’m also on the…
Mike Pangrac
Volunteer of the Month – November 2019 Mike Pangrac is a transactional associate with Kirkland & Ellis LLP. 1. What types of pro bono cases have you accepted? I have tried to get as much exposure to different types of cases as I can. Over the last year, I have helped with a non-profit merger, researched state specific laws and policies related to youth homelessness, assisted a client with a record expungement request, and performed some preliminary work for a will. 2. Why do you do pro bono? Lawyers…
Samire K. Elhouty
Volunteer of the Month – October 2019 Samire K. Elhouty is a civil rights attorney for a federal agency. He also provides legal services to his own clients in estate planning and business transactions. 1. How did you first get involved in pro bono? Volunteer work has been a priority for me for as long as I can remember. I spent a significant amount of time volunteering in college, so it remained a natural part of my career once I became an attorney. When I graduated from law school and returned to California, I happened to live close to the…
Preston Moore
Volunteer of the Month – September 2019 Preston Moore is an associate in the Corporate Department of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. He also served as Weil’s 2019 Lend-a-Lawyer, spending two months working full-time at DVAP on pro bono matters. 1. How did you first get involved in pro bono? My experience with pro bono legal services started during law school. I worked in the UT Law Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic. The clinic provided pro bono transactional business law representation to low-income entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations, and community groups throughout Austin. Now, as a licensed…
Vinita Tandon Singh
Volunteer of the Month – August 2019 Vinita Tandon Singh is Legal Counsel at Accudyne Industries, LLC. 1. How did you first get involved in pro bono? My first time doing pro bono work was during my first semester of law school at the University of North Carolina School of Law, when I spent my fall break traveling to the North Carolina coast to assist Legal Aid with an expunction clinic. My law school’s robust Pro Bono Program allowed me to spend multiple winter and spring breaks attending legal clinics in various areas of North…
Thelma Clardy
Volunteer of the Month – July 2019 Thelma Clardy is a sole practitioner, specializing in family and probate law. 1. How did you first get involved in pro bono? I initially got started when I worked for Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas years ago (then Legal Services of North Texas), and continued it throughout my career. 2. What clinics have you assisted with? I have assisted at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center in the past, and most recently I have assisted at the clinic at Friendship West Baptist Church. 3. Describe your most…
Julia Pendery
Volunteer of the Month – June 2019 Julia Pendery is Of Counsel with Cowles & Thompson. 1. How did you first get involved in pro bono? When I rejoined Cowles & Thompson in 2016, they regularly forwarded the DVAP list of available pro bono cases. I was interested, but my areas of expertise are civil appeals and eminent domain, so those were not likely to be needed by DVAP. I thought I could pick something fairly simple and learn it from the DVAP attorneys, which I have. 2. Describe your most compelling pro bono case?…
Eric Pfeifle
Volunteer of the Month – May 2019 Eric Pfeifle is a partner at Holland & Knight. 1. How did you first get involved in pro bono? I first became involved when I was a young associate and took on a no kids/no property divorce through DVAP after a visit from Chris Reed-Brown to our office. As a baby transactional lawyer, I was nervous to take that case on, but I loved it and it proved to be a great springboard into doing more cases. 2. What types of cases have you accepted? I’ve been very…
Rob Anderson
Volunteer of the Month – April 2019 Rob Anderson is a sole practitioner. 1. How did you first get involved in pro bono? I pursued pro bono work to jump-start my work as a lawyer, which is actually my second career. After graduating from Pitt Law School 1990, I went on to get my CFA charter and spent 27 years as a wealth management advisor and private banker. After retiring from banking in 2017, I was looking for a new challenge, and I decided to return to my roots in the law. I was admitted…
