100% of US Lawyers at Hunton&Williams Work on Pro Bono, Miami office provides more than 2,200 hours

April 17, 2012 - PRLog -- Hunton & Williams LLP, with its heritage of pro bono service, continues to lead the way in serving the community throughout the United States. During the firm’s last three fiscal years, 100 percent of the firm’s full-time U.S. lawyers worked on pro bono projects. This represents 4.28 percent of the firm’s gross billable hours and commemorates 17 continuous years of meeting or exceeding the Pro Bono Institute’s Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge© of donating at least 3 percent of the firm’s annual billable hours to pro bono service.

“Our philanthropy and community service began more than a century ago, with the founders of our firm. I am very proud that we have continued to honor their commitment of providing legal services for those who can’t afford representation and the disadvantaged,” said Wally Martinez, managing partner of Hunton & Williams.”

George Hettrick, who chairs the Pro Bono Leadership Committee, added: “We live out this tradition of service every day and we value our pro bono accomplishments. We take great pride custody in our community activities, whether counseling military veterans, protecting children in and guardian cases, or fighting for those wrongfully convicted in our country.”

By the end of the firm’s fiscal year, the Miami office of Hunton & Williams dedicated 2,277 hours to pro bono service. This represents more than 3.5 percent of the billable work dedicated to pro bono efforts, surpassing the goal of 3 percent set by the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge. For the firm’s fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, 100 percent of the lawyers practicing full-time in Miami participated in pro bono work.

Tom Julin, who heads the Miami office’s Pro Bono Committee, added: “It is our responsibility to use our talents and experience to help better our community, simultaneously improving the justice system while helping those with economic barriers. In light of these trying economic times, our skills are needed now more than ever.”

Lawyers in the Miami office have worked with Legal Services of Greater Miami, Lawyers For Children America, U.S. veterans, Catholic Charities Legal Services, Kristi House, Florida Attorneys Saving Homes (FLASH), Put Something Back, the Volunteer Lawyers' Project for the Southern District of Florida, Kids and the Power of Work program (KAPOW, sponsored by the Miami-Dade County Public Schools), Dade County Bar Association's Legal Line, the Guardian ad Litem Project, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Miami, Child Victim Rapid Response Program, the Dan Marino Foundation, e-Mentoring Program, United Way, United Way Center for Excellence in Early Education, and the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Symmetry School Foundation.

Hunton & Williams recently won full habeas corpus relief for its client Michael Wayne Hash. Working with the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, the firm established that Hash’s capital murder conviction was the result of prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel and the conviction was vacated. The firm was named as Pro Bono Partner of the Year 2011 by the National Veterans Legal Services Program, in recognition of a firmwide project in which more than 100 lawyers and staff worked with older veterans and active duty personnel seeking military and veteran benefits for themselves and their families. Hunton & Williams also received a National Law Journal 2011 Pro Bono Award for advocating with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for Haiti immigration relief; a Beacon of Justice Award by The National Legal Aid & Defender Association in honor of the extraordinary commitment to immigration pro bono legal representation; and the 2010 Chief Justice’s Law Firm Commendation Award from the Florida Supreme Court in recognition of service to local communities.

About Hunton & Williams LLP
Hunton & Williams LLP provides legal services to corporations, financial institutions, govern¬ments and individuals, as well as to a broad array of other entities. Since our establishment more than a century ago, Hunton & Williams has grown to more than 800 lawyers serving clients in 100 countries from 19 offices around the world. While our practice has a strong industry focus on energy, financial services and life sciences, the depth and breadth of our experience extends to more than 100 separate practice areas, including bankruptcy and creditors rights, commercial litigation, corporate transactions and securities law, intellectual property, international and gov¬ernment relations, regulatory law, products liability, and privacy and information management.  For additional information visit our website at www.hunton.com.