Texas Bar LGBT Section Honors Akin Gump for Pro Bono Marriage Equality Work
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(San Antonio) – Akin Gump is proud to announce that the LGBT Law Section of the State Bar of Texas recognized the firm for its “Advocacy for Equality in Texas” at the section’s annual meeting on June 18, 2015.
The expression of appreciation was based on the firm’s pro bono representation of two same-sex couples in De Leon v. Perry, in which the plaintiffs are seeking to overturn elements of the Texas Constitution and Texas law that prohibit same-sex marriage and recognition of same-sex marriages performed out of state.
An Akin Gump team co-led by litigation partners Neel Lane and Barry Chasnoff won an initial victory in February 2014, when U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia entered an injunction blocking enforcement of challenged provisions. In February 2015, Mr. Lane argued the case, appealed by the state, before the 5th Circuit, which has yet to issue its ruling. (Learn more here.)
The award was accepted by Mr. Lane, with team member senior counsel Michael Cooley and former Akin Gump deputy general counsel Frank Stenger-Castro, who originally brought the De Leon matter to the firm.
Founded in 1945, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
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