Community Impact

Community Impact

At Adams & Reese, our commitment to serving others helps define our culture, as we continually look for opportunities to give back to the communities in which we work and live.

Recognizing that the growth of our firm is intrinsically linked to the health, prosperity, and quality of life of the people who live in our own cities and towns, we strongly encourage our people to participate in a wide range of worthwhile and rewarding volunteer efforts. And, our attorneys and staff respond by consistently demonstrating their dedication to volunteerism.

We appreciate that so many of our clients hold these same values, just as they say they appreciate ours. Often our paths cross in the community as we conduct our outreach service efforts to those in need, which enhances our relationships with clients, creates a ripple effect of goodwill, and fosters mutual respect. Most importantly, it’s also the right thing to do.

Founded in 1988, the firm’s HUGS Program (Hope, Understanding, Giving and Support) represents the embodiment of the firm’s emphasis on giving back through hands-on volunteerism. Through HUGS, attorneys and employees across the firm donate their time to more than 100 charitable organizations in various philanthropic projects. Since the founding of HUGS almost forty years ago, our attorneys, employees, and their community spirit keep this program alive and thriving. 

HUGS allows our attorneys, advisors and employees to contribute hands-on work to meaningful projects and events that forge and build on connections and friendships. We involve families and friends in the hands-on projects throughout the entire year — not just during the holidays. Some volunteer service becomes an annual tradition that people fondly look forward to throughout the year, such as the basketball tournament we organize and sponsor for students at a special-needs school.

Some of the organizations touched by our HUGS corporate volunteer program include: Appleseed Legal Justice Center, Boys Hope Girls Hope, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Susan G. Komen Foundation, Special Olympics, Stewpot Ministries, American Cancer Society, Child Advocacy Center in Mobile, Hands on Nashville, Second Harvest Food Bank, Salvation Army, Ronald McDonald House, Dress for Success St. Andrew’s Village, St. Michael’s Special School, STARC of Louisiana, SOLACE, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, All Faiths Food Bank in Sarasota, and the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce Operation Partnership Program for Military Veterans.

Our Pro Bono Work

At Adams & Reese, we believe in giving back to the communities where we work and live. Our firm's pro bono policy requires that every lawyer in the firm annually perform a minimum of 20 hours of pro bono work.

Adams & Reese averages over 6,136 pro bono hours per year as the law firm's attorneys continue to help those in legal need who cannot afford it and volunteer for pro bono and nonprofit organizations across the firm's regional footprint in each of its 20 offices and cities across ten states and Washington, DC.

The firm's numbers have helped Adams & Reese rank among the Top 200 Law Firms in the nation by pro bono hours by American Lawyer. Adams & Reese has been ranked on the Am Law pro bono list since 2007.

Adams & Reese also partners on initiatives with and takes pro bono cases from: National Appleseed, Louisiana Appleseed, The Baton Rouge Bar Foundation Pro Bono Project, Legal Aid Society of Tennessee, SaveOneSoldier.org, Alabama Appleseed, Birmingham Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Program, Child Advocacy Center, Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program/Houston Bar Foundation, Memphis Area Legal Services, Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Program, New Orleans Pro Bono Project, South Carolina Legal Services, Bay Area Legal Services, Inc., Are You Safe, Gulfcoast Legal Services, Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Pro Bono Program and the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project.

Across the firm, Adams & Reese attorneys tackle a diverse scope of pro bono matters, including writing wills for first responders and helping people with estate planning matters; setting up 501(c)(3) organizations and nonprofit applications; volunteering for bar association and pro bono project legal workshops; resolving heirship property titles and land issues; easing banking concerns among foreign citizens working after natural disasters; handling indigent capital appeals; dealing with divorce and custody matters, also across International borders; setting up a fund service and retrieving pensions for war veterans; and partnering with organizations to help victims gain access to justice in domestic violence disputes.

Adams & Reese pro bono awards and recognitions are due to our attorneys' dedication to public service and pro bono work. Our firm recognizes our attorneys who perform outstanding pro bono work by awarding the Caring Adams & Reese Employee award or CA&RE Award to those who devote time above and beyond the minimum requirements set by the firm.

Recognitions

• Community Award - Thomy Lafon Award, Odyssey House, 2019

• Community Award - Corporate Citizen Finalist 

• Birmingham Business Journal Nonprofit Awards, 2016

• Community Award - Business of the Year (Sarasota) 

• Goodwill Manasota, 2016

• Community Award - Innovator of the Year Adams and Reese Partnership with Louisiana Appleseed and ConocoPhillips, New Orleans CityBusiness, 2007

• Excellence in Corporate Community Service, Points of Light Foundation, Washington, DC, 1993

• Corporate Philanthropist of the Year 

• Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater New Orleans Chapter, 2006