PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

By Barrett H. Reasoner Gibbs & Bruns, L.L.P.

A Perfect Match

Of the many exciting opportunities this office offers, one of the best is the honor of looking over all of the great things our Bar does and trying to find ways in which we can do more to serve our community. As part of that process, I had occasion to talk to many people about the wide variety of service projects and programs going on in our great city. One of those conversations was with a friend who serves on the school board. He mentioned that the Houston Chronicle has an internship program for high school students. I let him know that Communities In Schools (“CIS”) has for many years had a program dedicated to summer internships at law firms for Houston high school students. In fact, my firm has participated in the program for about ten years.

 For those of you not familiar with the program, the students selected are high school kids who are performing very well in at risk schools. The program provides exposure to a professional environment and allows students to begin to see some of the many career opportunities that exist both inside and outside of the legal profession. The feedback from kids about the program over the years has been very positive, and many have achieved great things in their lives. Gladys Montes, who has interned for two summers with my firm, graduated fourth in her class and is on her way to Texas A&M in the fall.

After my conversation with the school board member, however, I contacted CIS to find out the overall status of the internship program. What I discovered was that, in spite of CIS’s substantial efforts, the program was down to placing only nine students after having once placed as many as 30. It occurred to me that if CIS would have us, the legal internship program would be a natural fit for a partnership between the HBA and CIS. We reached out to CIS and they were delighted to join forces with us.

The comedian Fred Allen, who had a popular radio show in the ‘30’s and ‘40’s, once said that: “A committee is a group of important people who individually can do nothing, but who can together agree that nothing can be done.” I believe the work of the HBA’s committees proves that this bit of humor is not always true. And no HBA committee has started out stronger than the new HBA Communities In Schools Committee. I appointed the committee only three months ago, with Bill Kroger of Baker Botts and Christina Bryan of Smyser, Kaplan and Veselka serving as co-chairs. Bill actually came up with the idea of the legal internship program for CIS when he began his legal career in the early ‘90’s. Chris is one of those people who does an outstanding job at everything she undertakes. I asked the group to do two things: 1) recruit more law firms and corporate legal departments to take interns; and 2) enhance the programs and events the students attend in conjunction with their internship duties. Historically, the kids have participated in mock trials, met with judges, and toured justice facilities. While the experience of working in a professional environment is a benefit in and of itself, our hope is to provide additional “extra curricular” activities to enrich the experience.

The teamwork between the HBA and CIS has been extraordinary. When we asked whether CIS could find and supervise additional qualified students if we could find the jobs, the CIS team answered the challenge. We also had a stroke of extraordinarily good luck. Just as we were getting our efforts off the ground, we learned that CIS received a grant through the Houston Galveston Area Council that would pay the hourly wages for a substantial number of interns. This opened up an incredible opportunity to place students in the public sector. We now have students interning this summer at the Harris County District Attorney’s office, the Harris County District Clerk’s office, the Federal Courthouse, Lone Star Legal Aid and the HBA’s Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program.

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