About twice a week, I receive an email telling me that I’m on some list of "top" or "best" or "most outstanding" lawyers in (choose one) Houston/Texas/the United States/the Universe.
Coincidentally, every one of these emails informs me that I am now eligible to purchase one of their beautiful (and expensive) plaques to hang on my wall to let the world (and my clients) know how incredibly outstanding I am. Now I am sure that there must be some legitimate organization that actually make an effort to determine which of my colleagues are deserving of recognition, but at this point it’s hard to tell the forest of plaques from the trees.
However, every now and then I’m involved with something that receives an award for which I am really proud. And a short time ago, that happened.
I learned that the Texas Access to Justice Commission have bestowed their Pro Bono Service Award to the Collaborative Law Pro Bono Project, giving recognition to an almost two-year effort by Collaborative Divorce Texas and the Collaborative Law Section of the State Bar of Texas. No plaque was offered, just a $1000 prize to be used to support the project.
The award will be presented on July 16, 2016 at a Bar Leaders Conference luncheon in Houston, and Collaborative Divorce Texas will be donating its share of the award to Houston Volunteer Lawyers (HVL). Thanks to Alissa Rubin Gomez, the Executive Director of HVL, a large number of volunteers will be available to provide their pro bono collaborative services to low-income Texans. I treasure my involvement with this effort more than any number of plaques that I could hang on my office walls.
This article is from Norma Levine Trusch, a Houston-based family law, former Collaborative Divorce Texas board member, and longtime collaborative law advocate.
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