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March 2007

This month, Texas C-BAR recognized exemplary legal work by Katy Wells and AMD that provided critical assistance to the Hays-Caldwell Women's Center. “This effort could very well have saved lives by maintaining the confidentiality of our location,” Marla R. Johnson, Executive Director of Hays-Caldwell Women's Center explained after the matter was concluded. A phone directory and an online resource had accidentally included the physical address of this women's shelter, intended to provide an escape for women in abusive relationships.

Confidentiality is key to the ability of many women’s shelters to save the lives of their clients who are the survivors of domestic violence. In 2006, the Hays-Caldwell Women's Center was horrified to discover that despite their best efforts, a public directory had published the shelter's physical address, thereby creating a danger for the women and children seeking their shelter services.

It was vital that the information be removed immediately and steps taken to prevent any repeat occurrence. Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for AMD Katy Wells, who offered her time and expertise to this nonprofit, recounted how “[the nonprofit was] very, very concerned that they had tried to correct this problem themselves and their location was still being published. … It was just a matter of helping them through a few more steps to make sure a couple of other parties had made the necessary changes and were prevented from making the same mistake again.”

Hays-Caldwell Women's Center is especially grateful for this effort and the seventy-five hours that Wells worked sorting out their legal quandary. Johnson of Hays Caldwell Women's Center wrote Texas C-BAR that, “I wanted to tell you that it was truly wonderful to work with Patricia Kathleen “Katy” Wells. She treated our issue with professionalism and she was very thorough in researching the best options for us. We were in desperate need of legal assistance for this matter and it was invaluable to be able to access this service without being required to divert funds from our program.” While the task was vitally important, the partnerships that saw it accomplished were a pleasure for both sides. For Wells of AMD recounted that, “It was a great pleasure to work on it and we had a nice response from the other parties involved.”

AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) incorporated back in 1969 by eight friends who recognized the growing need of electronic-equipment manufacturers for technological support. Three years later, the company went public. AMD designs and produces innovative microprocessor and graphics and media solutions for the computer, communications, and consumer electronics industries and over the years has become a household name within the electronics field. They have achieved great things in their field. Now, Hector Ruiz, CEO of AMD, has stated that "the IT industry has proven it has a brain; now it is time to show the world it has a heart." AMD's Austin-based legal department is making the effort to show that very thing. Harry Wolin, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for AMD first made the connection with Texas C-BAR back in 2005 and has done a great deal to encourage the partnership with Texas C-BAR that allows AMD attorneys to assist their communities.

As Wells pointed out, “many large law firms have entire sections devoted to pro bono work. That's not how it usually works in a corporation. Finding appropriate pro bono opportunities can sometimes be a challenge for in-house counsel. … I really appreciate Texas C-BAR's efforts to reach out to us.” Pro bono work frequently offers opportunities that can't be found any other way, and we are able to match attorneys with nonprofits for the best fit possible. Wells was particularly pleased to help a women's shelter because “When this opportunity came along it was a perfect fit for me. … I found it very rewarding because I take a personal interest in this kind of community service.” Since this partnership began, AMD's legal department has taken on tasks ranging from explaining liability and funding issues to one nonprofit to creating release forms for another.

Texas C-BAR recognizes all that AMD has done to assist Texas nonprofits and looks forward to a long and productive future continuing to make Texas better.