Corporate Counsel Volunteers

HOUSTON -- Shell Legal Services US ("Shell Legal ") volunteers participated this fall in a pro bono project in cooperation with the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program ("HVLP").

The Shell Legal pro bono project spanned portions of two days, October 17 and November 1, 2005, and took place at Houston’s Third Ward Multi-Purpose Center, located southeast of downtown Houston. The project consisted of providing two types of pro bono legal advice: testamentary planning and general legal advice.

On the morning of October 17, the estate planning team and the general legal advice team met separately for training provided by HVLP staff attorneys. Attorneys and paralegals that attended the training sessions were eligible for 1.0 to 1.5 hours of continuing legal education credits, depending upon the training session that they attended.

Later that day, the teams went to the Third Ward Multi-Purpose Center and met with the clients, who had been pre-screened by HVLP to ensure that they met the organization’s financial criteria for pro bono legal services.

The estate planning teams interviewed their clients to gather the information needed to prepare various estate planning documents, including among others, a Last Will and Testament, Statutory Durable Power of Attorney, Medical Power of Attorney, Directive to Physicians and Family Surrogates and Declaration of Guardian in the Event of Later Incompetence or Need of Guardian.

The general legal advice teams provided legal guidance on various issues, including domestic relations, landlord/tenant, and consumer/credit issues. Several of Shell Legal’s law firms partnered with the legal advice teams by providing subject matter experts in specialized legal areas.

On November 1, the general legal advice teams held a second advice session at the Third Ward Multi-Purpose Center for another group of clients.

Also on that date, the estate planning teams met again with their October 17 clients to review the estate planning documents that the teams had prepared on behalf of each client back at the office and to have the clients sign the documents before witnesses and a notary public in order to finalize them.

Shell Legal’s participation in the project was high, as over 100 Shell employees (55 attorneys, 20 paralegals, and 25 support staff) participated in the project. Volunteers served as greeters, witnesses, notaries, IT support and translators, as well as providing legal advice.

Shell Legal was able to provide pro bono legal services to a total of 61 people (32 estate planning clients and 29 general legal advice clients.) The volunteers celebrated the completion of the project with a social event at Drexler’s Bar-B-Que.

The consensus among the volunteers was that the project was a rewarding contribution to the community and they look forward to doing similar pro bono projects in the future.

"The clients really appreciated our efforts in helping them with their estate planning and assisting them with their legal issues, " said Kris Mira, Oil Products - Retail, Manufacturing and Distribution.

Catherine Lamboley, Shell Oil Company General Counsel and a member of the Texas Access to Justice Commission's Corporate Counsel Committee, hopes that other corporate legal departments will become more active in providing pro bono assistance to help fill this significant and growing need in our community. Besides providing valuable legal advice to persons in need, participation in the program was beneficial to the volunteers.

Lamboley said, "[it] was heartwarming to see this large room filled with Shell Legal staff and clients who needed our help. I felt proud to be a lawyer and a Shell employee. What was most striking to me was how my client’s face lit up when we completed the execution of the estate planning documents. Her smile and her eyes conveyed her relief that this important part of her life planning had been taken care of and her appreciation for our help."