Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is pleased to announce the winners of the firm's annual Frank Wheat Memorial Award. The Frank Wheat award is given to those in the firm who demonstrate leadership and initiative, obtained significant results for their pro bono clients and/or serve as an inspiration to others through their pro bono work. 

The team award will be presented to a team of Gibson Dunn New York attorneys for their efforts on behalf of disabled New Yorkers whose food stamps benefits were improperly withheld. The individual award will be presented to Dallas of counsel James C. Ho for his pro bono appellate matters involving the First Amendment and immigration issues.

"This year's Frank Wheat winners have shown a strong and consistent passion for providing high quality, pro bono legal services," said Ken Doran, Managing Partner of Gibson Dunn. "We are proud to recognize their efforts. They exemplify the firm's commitment to giving back to the community."

"We have donated more than 72,000 attorney hours to pro bono work in 2007, and over the last three years, we have increased our annual number of pro bono hours by 200 percent," said Scott Edelman, Chair of Gibson Dunn's Pro Bono Committee. "We are very proud of our lawyers’ involvement in the community. Gibson Dunn encourages its attorneys to get involved with issues that matter to them, and we have a long tradition of providing pro bono services to a wide variety of causes, including children advocacy, civil rights, First Amendment, landlord-tenant disputes, asylum and immigration and human rights law."

A team of Gibson Dunn New York attorneys successfully settled a class action, Harris v. Eggleston, that will return millions of dollars worth of food stamps to thousands of disabled New Yorkers whose benefits were erroneously eliminated.

On September 27, 2007, Judge Richard Berman of the Southern District of New York approved a settlement orchestrated by a team of Gibson Dunn attorneys on behalf of a certified class of as many as 30,000 disabled New Yorkers whose food stamp benefits were improperly withheld when they transferred from state public assistance to federal disability benefits.  Despite a federal law that explicitly allows individuals to receive both federal disability benefits and food stamps, many disabled New Yorkers were automatically cut off from food stamps when they qualified for federal Supplemental Security Income benefits.  The New York Attorney General's office estimates that the settlement could provide over $71 million in erroneously withheld food stamps benefits to class members. 

Representing the plaintiffs, along with Urban Justice Center, were New York partners Robert Weigel, Jim Walden and associates Oliver Olanoff, Jennifer Colgan Halter, Kristen Hendricks, Kate Shih, Mildred Ojea and Zachary Klughaupt.

James C. Ho has focused substantial attention and energy, including 625 pro bono hours during the last fiscal year, to developing pro bono opportunities, for both himself and other Gibson Dunn lawyers.

Ho has participated in a series of matters involving the First Amendment over the past year. Most notably, he persuaded the Supreme Court of Texas to grant the petition for review in Barr v. City of Sinton and argued the case on the merits last year. The case involves a challenge under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act to a local zoning decision intended to expel from city limits a faith-based ministry designed to help rehabilitate recently released non-violent criminal offenders.

He has also taken a special interest in immigration issues. He served as lead counsel in Razaq v. Gonzales, in which he presented an issue of first impression before the en banc panel of the Fifth Circuit on behalf of an Afghan native and permanent U.S. lawful resident who was seeking relief from deportation under both federal immigration law and the Convention Against Torture. In addition, Ho has been active in defending the constitutional right of U.S.-born children of immigrants, including undocumented persons, to birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment, including testifying as a legal expert on the issue before two committees of the Texas House of Representatives.

Ho was appointed co-chair of the pro bono committee of the appellate section of the State Bar of Texas and has worked closely with colleagues at the State Bar of Texas to launch a series of new pro bono initiatives at various appellate courts. He is also a member of the board of trustees of Human Rights Initiative of North Texas.

Ho works regularly with Asian advocacy groups, including the Asian American Justice Center and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and was recently honored for "Outstanding Contributions to Law" by the Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce.

The award is named for the late Frank Wheat, a former Gibson Dunn partner who was deeply committed to community service and pro bono work. A recognized leader in corporate transactions, Wheat served as a commissioner of the Securities Exchange Commission and as president of the Los Angeles County Bar. He also founded the Alliance for Children's Rights and served as founder and trustee of the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, a leader of the Sierra Club and a board member of the Center for Law in the Public Interest, which established a fellowship in his name to train young lawyers in public interest litigation. The award recipients will receive $5,000 to be donated to a pro bono organization of their choice.