Case William

The Williams Companies, Inc. Best Practices in Pro Bono Pro Bono Contact: Craig Rainey, Assistant General Counsel Program Background In Fall 2006, Jim Bender, General Counsel of The Williams Companies, Inc. joined other legal department members for a visit to the Legal Aid offices in Tulsa. After meeting with the dedicated Legal Aid staff, Williams’ legal department was moved by the unmet need for legal services among the community’s poorer population and sought a way to assist the organization in meeting those needs. Subsequently, the University of Tulsa Law School advised Legal Aid that it was discontinuing its Older Americans Law Project clinic, which had provided free legal services to persons sixty years of age or older. Legal Aid contacted Williams to see if they could help fulfill this urgent community need. Williams’ legal department held a meeting to discuss the opportunity presented and to ask for volunteers. Williams approached Hall Estill, Tulsa’s largest firm, asked the firm to join in the effort, and managed to recruit approximately forty lawyers and paralegals to sign on as Legal Aid volunteers. Nearly two-thirds of Williams’ legal department in Tulsa participates in the program. This marked the largest influx of volunteers ever absorbed by Legal Aid and surpassed their long-term volunteer recruitment goals. Without Williams’ support, Legal Aid would not have been able to provide many of the services needed by the elderly poor in the community. Before beginning their work with Legal Aid, however, the volunteers needed to receive training about the elder law issues they would be dealing with. They recruited a local attorney, Bob Farris, and Judges Theresa Dreling and Linda Morrisey to hold sessions on a variety of relevant issues. The training sessions were videotaped and, along with other instructional materials, were added to the Legal Aid website so that they could be easily accessed by subsequent volunteers. Williams periodically offers updated...