MEXICO CITY – Dec. 6, 2019 – The Mexico City office of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP received the Pro Bono Program of the Year Award at the Chambers Diversity & Inclusion Awards: Latin America 2019, held Dec. 5 at the Sheraton Buenos Aires Hotel & Convention Centre in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The award celebrates a firm’s dedication to offering legal assistance to their local or global community.
“Our legal team has enthusiastically participated in our pro bono program. We are happy to see that we can positively contribute to our community. This award reinforces our commitment to public service,” said José Raz Guzmán, managing shareholder of the firm’s Mexico City office and co-chair of the firm’s Latin America Practice.
The annual Chambers Diversity & Inclusion Awards celebrate in-house legal teams and law firms that are furthering the advancement of diversity and inclusion across Latin America, according to the organization’s website.
“This recognition reinforces our commitment to effective pro bono work,” said Víctor Manuel Frías Garcés, shareholder in the firm’s Mexico City office and head of the office’s pro bono efforts. “We restructured our pro bono program several years ago with two objectives: to pursue structural changes, and broaden access to legal representation for people with a complicated financial situation. Today, 80% of our office attorneys are involved in an organized pro bono program that has impacted our legal system and made a difference in people’s lives.”
Accepting the award for Greenberg Traurig were Marc M. Rossell, co-chair of the firm’s Latin America Practice, and Elba B. Gutiérrez, an associate and pro bono coordinator in the Mexico City office.
Attorneys from Greenberg Traurig’s Mexico City office have dedicated more than 7,000 pro bono hours since 2017 to address a variety of issues, including sexual and reproductive rights, indigenous rights, asylum and migration, integral reparation in human rights violation cases, and a program for legal education for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), among others.
“Greenberg Traurig takes great pride in our longstanding commitment to global pro bono service and we are dedicated to providing pro bono legal support as part of our efforts to give back to the communities we serve,” said Caroline J. Heller, who leads the firm’s Pro Bono Program.
Greenberg Traurig’s Mexico City office’s Pro Bono Program has been recognized by Latin Lawyer, Appleseed Mexico Foundation, and USAID, among others. It was the first law firm in Mexico to sign a collaboration agreement with Mexico City’s Human Rights Commission, and with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Among its many important pro bono efforts, the Greenberg Traurig team has handled almost 50 cases pro bono from the UNHCR to achieve the recognition of the refugee status of Central American and African migrants.
About Greenberg Traurig’s Pro Bono Program: Greenberg Traurig lawyers across the firm’s offices provide pro bono legal services to the indigent and working poor, as well as to numerous civic and charitable organizations dedicated to assisting them. The firm focuses its resources on specialized and interrelated issues including civil rights and affirmative action, anti-human trafficking, family law matters, criminal appeals, immigration and political asylum, housing, and homelessness.
About Greenberg Traurig Mexico: Greenberg Traurig’s Mexico City office offers clients innovative, strategic advice and legal services that span both traditional fields and contemporary regulatory sectors. The office has more than 60 bilingual attorneys who have been contributors to major national projects in Mexico and leverages the resources and reach of the firm’s global platform to provide clients with tailored legal services reflective of the specific industry and market conditions in which they operate. The Mexico City office is an integral part of the firm’s award-winning Latin America Practice, and has been recognized with leading banking, corporate, M&A, infrastructure, real estate, privacy, energy, administrative litigation, and competition practices in Mexico.
About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2100 attorneys in 41 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. Web: www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law.