The followingis an example of how you can use a pro bono opportunity as team building.

Freescale Pro Bono Team-Building Project: Delivering Special Help for Kids with Special Needs

In case you haven’t noticed, ACC-Austin is really focused on providing its members with easy access to pro-bono opportunities.This year, the Chapter created a dedicated Chair position for this effort, appropriately held by Marc Vockell, Senior Counsel at Dell Computer and Board Member at Volunteer Legal Services (VLS).

“ACC-Austin’s leadership and membership have embraced pro bono and made quick and dramatic positive impacts on the lives of many Central Texans with basic legal needs,” says Vockell.“It has been very inspiring, and one of the most exciting examples has been Freescale’s department-wide team-building event that has focused on helping parents of public school children with special needs.”Along with VLS and Advocacy Inc. (a non-profit legal organization dedicated to solving problems for people with disabilities), Freescale lawyers and paralegals are helping parents of special needs children navigate through the public school system to ensure their children are getting appropriate education.Hopefully this story will motivate you and your colleagues to find an equally fun, engaging and meaningful way to contribute to our community through pro bono services.

It started “way back” in March when Freescale Attorneys Mark Mouritsen and John Holmes attended a Breakfast Summit sponsored by VLS where Trish McAllister, Executive Director of VLS, spoke to leaders in the community from law firms, industry and the bench about collaborating to provide important legal services to those who need it most.This Summitled to an in-person brown-bag lunch presentation by Trish to the lawyers and paralegals at Freescale.This presentation was aimed at 1) identifying the interest level within Freescale’s Law Department for pro-bono activity, and 2) identifying potential areas for service that could also be useful team-building opportunities.According to Tricia Goddard, Business Law Director at Freescale and ACC-Austin Board Member, “It was really important to our General Counsel, John Torres, that our efforts be team-oriented.It’s a great thing to serve the community individually, but when you can serve the community collectively and as a result have a better team for it, all the better.”

During the presentation, Tricia was nervous about the outcome of the brown-bag lunch.She says, “We had about 15 people attend the lunch and since VLS provides legal services in so many different areas, it seemed everyone had their own and different areas of interest, at least in terms of the questions being asked of Trish.I didn’t think we’d ever be able to come to a consensus as to what we should do as a group.”But as Tricia followed-up with the attendees individually after the lunch, she was amazed to learn that virtually everyone wanted to help on the same project…the new clinic offered by Advocacy Inc. in partnership with VLS designed to help parents with special needs children in the public school system.“I couldn’t believe we converged on one project so easily.It certainly made my job as coordinator a whole lot easier.”

Less than two weeks after the lunch, on April 24^th, Advocacy Inc. and VLS held the first clinic.Freescale had 10 members of its Law Department participate in the clinic, including John Torres, the General Counsel.Their involvement and enthusiasm continues with their commitment to staff a clinic at least each quarter.Tricia had several people come to her before and after the first clinic saying that they were sorry that they couldn’t make that particular date but that they really wanted to participate.She thought it was great to see such a high level of interest by Freescale’s Law Department to serve the needs of our community in such a meaningful way.She encourages all in-house lawyers to get involved.

If you are interested in working the Special Needs Clinic as an individual or a small group, you are encouraged to join Freescale--and others who work these clinics, including Dell, Samsung, and State Farm attorneys, along with attorneys from ACC-Austin sponsor law firm Fulbright & Jaworski.

For more information, please contact Tricia Goddard at tricia.goddard@freescale.comor Marc Vockell at marc_vockell@dell.com.