The GeorgiaAdvocates.org pro bono community salutes Melissa B. Garrett as their April Pro Bono Leader.

Garrett is an associate with the Atlanta office of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP.

As a member of the pro bono committee at Paul Hastings, Melissa has devoted numerous hours to the administrative tasks that underlie the pro bono work that is done at Paul Hastings--thereby facilitating the pro bono work of countless attorneys. Melissa handles Paul Hastings' pro bono budget requests-- which have doubled during her tenure on the pro bono committee, schedules and coordinates many pro bono-centered events for the firm and acts as a mentor to attorneys in the firm. Paul Hastings strongly encourages each and every lawyer (partners and associates alike) to do at least 50 hours of pro bono work each year.

According to Garrett's admirers at the firm, not only does Garrett spend hours on administrative pro bono tasks, she also has devoted an unprecedented (especially in the big firm context) number of hours to pro bono work. In her biggest pro bono case, Melissa worked over 600 hours over the course of just the last couple of years. The case evolved from a seemingly simple wage and hour dispute to Melissa almost single-handedly uncovering, exposing and crippling an immigrant forced labor racket being run in Atlanta. Garrett has also found time to take on even more pro bono matters as well as substantively oversee pro bono matters taken on by more junior attorneys.



* GeorgiaAdvocates.org, Georgia's statewide volunteer lawyer and advocate support website, recognizes outstanding pro bono lawyers each month. Send your nominations to mike@gabar.org.