Bracewell & Giuliani’s Glenn Ballard Takes Office as 2013 Houston Bar Foundation Chair
Giuliani Gives Keynote Address
Glenn A. Ballard, Jr. of the Houston office of Bracewell & Giuliani LLP took office as 2013 Chair of the Houston Bar Foundation on February 7 at the Foundation’s Annual Meeting and Luncheon at the Four Seasons Downtown. Welcoming him and serving as keynote speaker was Rudolph W. Giuliani, name partner in the New York office of Bracewell & Giuliani, former Mayor of the City of New York and former Presidential candidate.
Ballard succeeded Robert J. McAughan of Sutton McAughan Deaver PLLC as chair of the Foundation, the charitable arm of the Houston Bar Association that provides grants to support pro bono civil legal services for low-income Texans through the Houston Volunteer Lawyers, as well as other community service and education programs.
Gregory Ulmer of Baker Hostetler LLP was elected vice chair of the Houston Bar Foundation and Craig Glidden of LyondellBasell Industries was elected treasurer. New directors are David Brinley of Shell Oil Company; William R. Buck of Exxon Mobil Corporation; andDenise Scofield of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. Completing terms as directors are Christopher J. Arntzen of CenterPoint Energy; Chris Popov of Vinson & Elkins LLP; and John Eddie Williams of Williams Kherker Hart Boundas, LLP. McAughan will serve on the board as immediate past chair.
Ballard is head of Bracewell & Giuliani’s trial section, where his practice focuses on complex commercial litigation with emphasis on intellectual property, real estate, banking and energy disputes. He served as president of the Houston Bar Association in 2006-2007, when he created the Equal Access to Justice Champions Program that significantly increased pro bono legal services to low-income Houstonians. Ballard also served on the board of directors of the State Bar of Texas. He is a graduate of Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law and is board certified in Civil Trial Law.
Giuliani served as Associate Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan, supervising all U.S. Attorney Offices, federal law enforcement agencies, the Bureau of Corrections, the DEA and the U.S. Marshals. In 1983 he was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he led the effort to fight organized crime. He was elected Mayor of New York City in 1994 and rallied the city and the nation in response to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Giuliani ran for the Republication nomination for President of the United States in 2004.
Established in 1982, the Houston Bar Foundation is the charitable arm of the Houston Bar Association, providing grants for a number of community programs, including the Houston Volunteer Lawyers (HVL) and the Veterans Legal Initiative (VLI). HVL provides pro bono legal assistance in civil matters to Harris County residents who could not otherwise afford legal representation. The VLI provides legal services to veterans and spouses of deceased veterans through free legal clinics in a 17-county area.