Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP is pleased to share that the firm has been recognized as a 2026 Equal Access to Justice Champion by Houston Volunteer Lawyers (HVL), a service of the Houston Bar Association. The honor celebrates firms who have fulfilled or exceeded their pro bono pledge for the most recent bar year of July 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026.
At the start of the bar year, firms, corporate legal departments and solo practitioners pledge to handle one pro bono case per every five attorneys in their Houston office. In the last bar year, Equal Access to Justice firms represented 668 individual clients with urgent legal needs and served 2,480 hours providing crucial advice to Houstonians through HVL’s legal advice clinics. Hunton alone dedicated 3,250 hours to HVL-related matters spanning a variety of legal issues including divorces, wills and estates, expunctions, guardianships, name changes, housing matters, and tax issues. Hunton also dedicated 126 hours to HVL's LegalLine program, an opportunity for individuals seeking civil legal help to receive legal advice from pro bono attorneys, and clinics.
For 125 years, Hunton has prioritized a commitment to providing pro bono services, encouraging individuals to provide legal representation to those in need, whether through local projects or partnerships with clients. The firm’s pro bono program connects its attorneys with clients seeking assistance in areas such as housing, immigration, civil rights, small business, non-profit assistance, and veterans’ issues, among others. As evidence of the firm’s emphasis on and commitment to pro bono, associates and paralegals receive billable hour credits for up to 150 hours of pro bono time. This year also marks 33 continuous years of the firm meeting or exceeding the Pro Bono Institute's (PBI) Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® by donating at least three percent of its annual billable hours to pro bono service. Hunton was among the 48 law firm signatories to charter the Challenge in 1993, and has embraced the founders’ vision of making pro bono a core institutional value rather than only the responsibility of individual lawyers.
About Houston Volunteer Lawyers
Founded in 1981 by the Houston Bar Association, Houston Volunteer Lawyers has delivered free legal services to low-income residents of Harris County for more than 40 years by linking qualified applicants with attorneys volunteering their time on a pro bono basis. Houston Volunteer Lawyers helps low-income citizens that other programs often cannot serve, such as those who may not meet the financial criteria of other legal assistance programs and non-US citizens. Over 3,000 Harris County attorneys serve as Houston Volunteer Lawyers' volunteers, each making a difference in the lives of low-income clients, their families, and communities.