The Houston Bar Foundation was established in 1982 as the charitable arm of the Houston Bar Association. Since that time, the Foundation has supported programs that help provide legal representation to the indigent, promote community understanding of our legal system, and foster the administration of justice.
In 1981, James B. Sales of Norton Rose Fulbright was serving as president of the Houston Bar Association (HBA). Under his leadership, the HBA established the Houston Volunteer Lawyers (HVL) and the Dispute Resolution Center (DRC) to assist low-income Houstonians. The HBA sought a way to sustain these and other HBA community service programs.
It was proposed that the HBA form a Foundation that would enable the bar to accept contributions from members and other Foundations to support these charitable programs. Judge Joe Draughn was serving as HBA president then, and he tasked board member John D. Ellis, Jr. with preparing and submitting an application to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to establish the Houston Bar Foundation. The IRS approved the application when William K. Wilde was HBA president, and Wilde appointed James B. Sales to serve as the first chair and Harry Reasoner of Vinson & Elkins to serve as vice chair. Kay Sim, who was then HBA executive director, agreed to serve as the secretary.
The HBA made an initial startup grant of $10,000 to the Foundation, with the stipulation that the Foundation board would need to raise all future additional funds. Sales said he told his vice chair, “Harry, I guess we now start knocking on doors.” They did, and were able to raise some contributions from law firms, the Rockwell Fund, M.D. Anderson Foundation, and other foundations and companies. The inaugural board also created the Fellows Program, giving individual members of the HBA the opportunity to support the Foundation.
In early 1984, the Foundation inaugurated a black tie event at River Oaks Country Club. The HBF annual celebration eventually became a luncheon, the HBF Annual Luncheon, where new officers and directors are installed and the Foundation bestows the James B. Sales Pro Bono Leadership Award, honors outstanding pro bono service in the greater Houston community, legal writing for The Houston Lawyer, and long-term volunteerism through the Dispute Resolution Center.
Along with the HBA, the Foundation continues to support HVL and its crucial pro bono legal services through the Annual Harvest Celebration campaign, which celebrates the generosity of our legal community to support access to justice and will celebrate its 75th Anniversary in 2024.
In 2019, the Foundation launched the Kay Sim Endowment for Access to Justice in Houston Campaign, the purpose of which was to make the Foundation self-sustaining. We are getting ever closer to reaching that goal. With many generous donors and with prudent management by the Foundation, a robust Fellows program, and continuing support from our legal community to the Annual Harvest Celebration Campaign, the Foundation has a portfolio of approximately $22 million that will allow us to support access to justice for years to come.
