Gibson Dunn is exceptionally proud of its pro bono program. We deeply appreciate the continued recognition our firm’s pro bono program receives each year from myriad community and professional organizations. A few of these recognitions from recent years are reflected below. Additionally, we as a firm take the time annually to honor our own lawyers for the impressive pro bono work they do. The most notable example of this is our Frank Wheat Award, given out every year to the individual and team of lawyers who have done some of the most exemplary pro bono work for that year. We invite you to read more about this award and the recent winners below.
Each year, Gibson Dunn acknowledges the exemplary pro bono work done by its lawyers that has changed lives and, in some cases, changed laws. To that end, we created the Frank Wheat Memorial Award.
Frank Wheat, a former Gibson Dunn partner who passed away in 2000, was not only a giant in the legal community — a superb transactional lawyer, an SEC commissioner and president of the Los Angeles County Bar – but a giant in the nonprofit community as well. He founded the Alliance for Children’s Rights, was a founder and trustee of the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, a leader of the Sierra Club, and a former board member at the Center for Law in the Public Interest, which established a fellowship in his name to train young lawyers in public interest litigation. The Frank Wheat Memorial Award is given annually to the lawyer and group of lawyers who have:
The recipients of the Frank Wheat Award receive a $2,500 cash prize, which is donated to the pro bono organization or organizations that they designate.