preSident’S meSSAge

By Bill Kroger Baker Botts l.l.P.

the houston bar assoCiation: 150 Years of Progress

It is a remarkable time to be celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Houston Bar Association. We have just had a Presidential Election in which a record number of citizens exercised their right to vote. We are also experiencing another COVID-19 wave, with more than 150,000 new infections each day across the country. Countries across Europe are undergoing a second shutdown of their economies due to COVID-19, while the direction of our own economy is uncertain. Many law firms are working remotely. So is the HBA.

We have been through difficult periods before this one. Indeed, such times are part of the founding of the City of Houston. When Millie Gray arrived in Houston from Virginia on January 2, 1839, one of her first observations about the city was its sickly water: “This must render any country intersected by these Bayous unhealthy, I should think.” These words proved prescient, as her husband died within a few years, leaving her son, Peter W. Gray, to provide for the family. Sam Houston came to Gray’s aid and gave him a start as Houston District Attorney. His career unfolded over time.

By 1870, the city had grown, but had also seen turmoil and strife. The capital had been moved in 1839 to Austin. The Republic of Texas had collapsed, and Texas became a state. The horrors and sins of slavery had imposed unimaginable hardships on the city’s Black residents. Many formerly enslaved people, now called Freedmen, were setting up their own communities in town, wanting to participate in the building of the city. Tragically, Jim Crow laws, segregation, violence, and racism stood in the way of that dream for the next 100 years.

Still, Gray had an idea that if Houston lawyers pulled together, they could do much good in the new and growing city. Thus, the Houston Bar Association was formed. It was far from perfect—it was segregated, for one. Nevertheless, the work of many Houston lawyers transformed the city into a transportation hub, first consisting of railroads and canals to haul timber and cotton; later, adding a ship channel, pipelines, transmission lines, and highways to move power, hydrocarbons, and manufactured goods. This growth required capital and larger commercial enterprises, and thus lawyers helped form the first banks, railroads, utilities, and energy companies. This brought prosperity to the city. Over time, Houston also became known for education, retail and commercial development, restaurants, health care, the arts, entertainment, and even space travel. Lawyers were involved in the creation and operation of each of these enterprises and activities. By 1970, three of the ten largest law firms in the United States were in Houston. It was then, and remains today, a “lawyer’s town.”

Lawyers did more than just advance their own economic interests. They also helped the city work toward a just society. Again, this work wasn’t perfect—lawyers were sometimes on both sides of these issues. Still, Houston lawyers helped lead the efforts to desegregate lunch counters, businesses, schools, and neighborhoods. The HBA was desegregated in 1965. The first Black and female lawyers joined major Houston firms as partnership-track lawyers in the early 1970s and started becoming partners in the early 1980s. Over time, Houston became known for its diversity, something we are proud of today. Houston lawyers played a role in that, too.

By the 1980s, Houston lawyers also embraced their responsibilities to provide pro bono legal services. The predecessor to the Dispute Resolution Center, which mediates low income disputes, was formed in 1980. Houston Volunteer Lawyers was formed in 1981 under the leadership of James B. Sales and every year provides thousands of hours of pro bono legal services to the poor. The Houston Bar Foundation was formed in 1982 to help fund those services. Over the past 40 years, Houston lawyers have raised millions of dollars for pro bono representation. Finally, LegalLine was created in 1986. Every year, lawyers serving in that program answer thousands of calls from their fellow Houstonians, some of whom have a problem that needs to be solved, while others just need to hear a kind voice on the phone.

Today, the Houston Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary city bar associations in the United States. As in 1870, the HBA today is a leader in helping the City of Houston recover from hardships the city faces. Throughout the pandemic, the HBA has continued to offer a myriad of activities, including virtual mediations, virtual clinics, and virtual phone outreach by hundreds of HBA volunteers to thousands of Houstonians. We have been on the front lines—helping people who face evictions, organizing more than 20 blood drives, and helping feed the needy with the Houston Food Bank. We have diligently worked with the courts to reopen and restart civil, criminal, probate, and family law proceedings. We have advised our member firms on how to run their law firms safely, and how our members can deal with stress during lockdown. And we have never been more diverse, advocating for improvements in social justice and implicit bias training.

Our actions demonstrate the importance of the Houston Bar Association in helping build a stronger, more diverse, tolerant, just, and economically successful city.

Happy Anniversary.