fall 2004 vol. 10 no. 2                                                                                                                  Return to Contents
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pro Bono

Lisa Ivey’s Love of Children

Lisa Ivey’s eyes light up as she flips through vacation photos of Chase and Ethan grinning from Destin beach. The photos of her six and three year old sons show little boys blessed with a loving family.  Many children do not experience family life the way Chase and Ethan do. But their mother is committed to helping those other children live a better life. As a result of those efforts, the Legal Assistants Division of the State Bar awarded Lisa its 2004 Pro Bono Exceptional Service Award.

A legal assistant in the appellate section of Haynes and Boone LLP, Lisa has spent hundreds of hours working as a part of a team filing amicus (friend of the court) briefs on behalf of children across the country. The team works through a national child advocacy group, Justice for Children, which protects child victims of abuse and neglect. In the past year alone, Lisa has spent close to 100 hours volunteering her services on cases dealing with the termination of parental rights, the “parental alienation syndrome,” and other important child abuse and neglect issues.

Through her tireless efforts and those of her team, a Houston judge terminated the rights of abusive biological parents and awarded custody of three brothers to their foster families; a New York court denied access to an abusive father of his children’s psychological reports thereby upholding the privileged nature of such reports; an Illinois appellate court reversed the decision of a trial judge and terminated the parental rights of a mother who had killed her first son.  “I hope I am helping to raise public awareness about child abuse,” she says. “I feel like I am personally responsible for helping to make a difference in children’s lives.”

Alene Levy, Haynes and Boone appellate partner and national amicus counsel for Justice for Children, explains, “Lisa volunteers her time from her heart, not as a requirement of employment. We simply could not effectively help these children without her.”
Lisa started working on the Haynes and Boone Justice for Children team six years ago and since that time has helped file at least 25 briefs. She spends countless hours learning and applying complex rules of procedure in courts nationwide to ensure that the amicus briefs comply with those rules. She also painstakingly reviews each amicus brief to ensure that the proper form is consistent throughout and that all authorities are cited correctly. She also supplies record references, drafts related correspondence and handles correspondence.

She loves the legal system. After obtaining her B.A. from the University of Maryland, she decided to become a legal assistant rather than a lawyer. She felt the profession would afford her a better quality of life when she and her husband, Bryan Ivey, began their family. Lisa joined Haynes and Boone in 1994 and has contributed to major appeals in state and federal court, including many of national and statewide significance.

Lisa Ivey (left) of Houston accepts Exceptional Pro Bono Award
from Melissa Sherman, CLA, President

Lisa says the reward for all of her work is “when courts decide in favor of a party seeking protection of the child or children.” The reward to the rest of us is that Chase and Ethan’s mom is helping some children live a better life.

Texas Paralegal Journal © Copyright 2004 by the Legal Assistants Division, State Bar of Texas.

Top of Page