ABOUT US

Community Service

Civic Participation and Community Involvement

The firm and its lawyers are committed to their communities as evidenced by their participation in many charitable, civic and community organizations and activities. The firm’s participation has included financial support and involvement in many community organizations and events such as:

• 100 Black Men of Greater Mobile
• Distinguished Young Women
• Coastal Conservation Association
• Mobile Symphony
• Mobile Museum of Art
• Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce
• Business Council of Alabama
• Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance
• Downtown Mobile Alliance
• Centre for the Living Arts
• Big Brothers Big Sisters
• Child Advocacy Center
• Lakeshore Foundation

Individual lawyer’s participation includes serving on the board of directors and otherwise volunteering for many organizations such as Easter Seals Goodwill Industries, The Salvation Army, Alabama Coastal Foundation, Senior Bowl Committee, Boys and Girls Club of Alabama, Community Foundation of South Alabama, United Way, Alabama Volunteer Lawyers Program, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Alabama, United Cerebral Palsy, the Family Counseling Center of Mobile, Athens-Limestone County Chamber of Commerce, Civitan Club of Ardmore, Madison County Chamber of Commerce, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Legal Services Alabama, The Child Advocacy Center, Main Street Mobile and Junior League of Mobile.

As a result of this commitment, the firm and its lawyers have been recognized for many contributions, including:

• The Hand Arendall, Real Estate, Land Use & Timber Law Group received the EPA Gulf of Mexico Program’s 1st Place Gulf Guardian Award for 2006 in the Business Category for their “Hand Arendall Conservation Awareness Program.”
• The Real Estate, Land Use and Timber Group of Hand Arendall received the annual Environmental Award for medium size businesses at the Partners for Environmental Progress 2006 Annual Meeting.
• Jack Edwards inducted into the University of Alabama Communication Hall of Fame.
• Hand Arendall named 2002 Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year by the Alabama State Bar Association for its work with low-income citizens.
• J. Burruss Riis named 2003 Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year by the Mobile County Bar Association.
• Jaime W. Betbeze named Main Street Mobile 2003 Outstanding Citizen for contributions to historic preservation and improving quality of life in Downtown Mobile.
• Neil C. Johnston awarded the 2003 National Wetlands Award for contribution and education outreach regarding conservation and restoration of the nation’s wetlands.
• Jack Edwards honored as a Coastal Conservation Hero by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, the Friends of Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, and The Weeks Bay Reserve Foundation, October 2003.
• Hand Arendall received the 2004 Environmental Award at the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting.
• Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program involves seven companies (al.com)
• YMCA Mentoring Program 2011 (al.com)

Henry Callaway, III Has Received the American Bar Association's Pro Bono Publico Award

Wednesday, Jul 20th, 2011

Henry Callaway, III, a member at Hand Arendall LLC, has received the American Bar Association's Pro Bono Publico Award, the ABA's most prestigious award for public service. Callaway is the first Alabama lawyer to receive the Pro Bono Publico Award, which the ABA awards to five recipients each year. He will be honored at the ABA's 2011 meeting held in Toronto on August 8.

Henry Callaway was recognized for his innovative work at both the local and state levels to increase access to justice in Alabama.

Callaway became the president of the pro bono committee of the Mobile Bar Association (MBA) in 1996, a post he held for seven of the next 12 years. During his tenure, he transformed the MBA's Volunteer Lawyers Program (VLP) into a highly successful program in which 67 percent of local attorneys now participate. Through a series of recruitment campaigns and recognitions, he enlisted the strong support of the Mobile legal community and judiciary. Callaway persuaded Hand Arendall to become 100-percent volunteer lawyers and lobbied other firms to do the same. He oversaw the VLP's conversion to a non-profit corporation and its admission to United Way. When a survey showed only 20 percent of Alabamians knew of the existence of fee legal services, Callaway developed a public awareness campaign that included television and radio ads, posters, billboards, brochures and a promotional DVD.

At the state level, Callaway spearheaded the development of user-friendly pro se forms in many areas of the law, including consumer matters and family law. He heads a state bar committee that is working to revise Alabama's court rules to make it easier for lawyers to represent low- or middle-income clients on a limited scope, low-fee basis. He also worked with heads of Birmingham's Bar Association to help that city revitalize its volunteer lawyers program.

As a result of the depth and breadth of his pro bono work, Callaway was named Alabama's 2010 Volunteer Lawyer of the Year by the state bar association. He currently serves as chair of the Alabama Access to Justice Commission and as president of the Mobile Bar Association.

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