In-house counsel face structural challenges to getting involved in pro bono projects. In this episode, hear how Amazon’s in-house team joined forces with a Big Law firm and a social services organization to make a difference for unhoused people in Seattle.
FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE
Yousri Omar
Yousri Omar is a Director and Associate General Counsel at Amazon where he leads the global business conduct and ethics team. Currently, Yousri manages a team of about 40 spread all over the world. He has been with Amazon for eight years. Before Amazon, Yousri was a white-collar criminal defense attorney in Washington, D.C. with the firm of Vinson & Elkins. He started his career as a law clerk to the Hon. Michael F. Urbanski in Roanoke, Virginia. Yousri received a BS in Finance and a BA in International Studies from Virginia Tech, and a Juris Doctor from Washington and Lee.
Yousri has always had a penchant for community service and pro bono work. While an undergraduate, he worked with underserved immigrant families in the Roanoke area. During law school, he helped serve the community as a volunteer income tax preparer for low-income families. After Hurricane Katrina, Yousri mobilized law firm donations to fund a spring break trip for 25 law students to travel to New Orleans to provide legal assistance and manual labor to nonprofits working to rebuild the city. During his time at the law firm, Yousri maintained an active pro bono practice and was an officer of the Bar Association of DC. In that capacity, he helped run legal clinics for people in need in Southeast DC. He was also a co-chair of the annual Equal Justice Campaign for the Legal Aid Society of DC. In 2021, Yousri co-chaired the annual Servant of Justice Awards Dinner for the Legal Aid Society of DC, which raised $1.45 million.
Turning to his time at Amazon, Yousri has been involved with pro bono work from Day 1. Most of his work has focused on his relationship with Mary’s Place. Starting in 2017, Yousri partnered with K&L Gates in Seattle to establish a legal clinic for guests and to provide legal services to the organization. Pre-pandemic, the clinics were in person with a quarterly clinic at the Day Center and one additional quarterly clinic at a rotating site around King County. At the beginning of the pandemic, Yousri helped the team pivot to a weekly virtual clinic model that still runs today on a more limited basis. Yousri is looking forward to a return to in-person clinics in 2023 to maximize impact and assistance to guests. In 2020 alone, the team provided over 700 hours of pro bono service to Mary’s Place. In addition to his efforts on the pro bono side, Yousri co-chaired the 2021 and 2022 Dream Big fundraising luncheons. Yousri has been and is committed to continuing to be an ardent supporter of Mary’s Place and its guests.
Shannan L. Frisbie
Shannan L. Frisbie is a partner in the Seattle office of K&L Gates and the practice group coordinator for the Firmwide Technology Transactions and Data Protection practice group. Shannan’s practice focuses on transactions involving technology and intellectual property. She helps companies move from the inception of an idea to the launch of a product or service, advising on how to protect intellectual property, drafting and negotiating contracts, and navigating regulations that apply to a client’s technology or industry. Shannan represent developers, licensors, licensees, buyers, and sellers in a wide array of industries, including consumer electronics, telecommunications, media, hardware, software, energy, automotive, real estate, agriculture, food and beverage, and fashion.
Shannan is a first-generation college graduate who cares passionately about housing insecurity, food scarcity, and equality of access to educational opportunities. She has put in many public service and pro bono hours in support of these causes. Shannan has worked with Amazon over the past five years to launch and maintain a pro bono legal clinic at Mary’s Place, a homeless shelter for women and children in King County, Washington.
Marty Hartman
Marty Hartman has led Mary’s Place since its inception in 1999. She is a strong and convincing advocate for women and families experiencing homelessness. Marty is a creative problem solver who, along with partners and donors, has secured funding and loaned properties to open and operate five emergency family shelters in King County that provide safe respite for over 700 family members each night, and housing and employment resources each day. Mary’s Place also operates a drop-in women’s day center that serves over 100 women every day.
Marty and her staff work tirelessly to keep the need for family shelter before stakeholders in the community and local government. She never stops thinking about the hundreds of women and families who will sleep outside tonight and how to build partnerships in the community to keep them in their hard-won homes, meet them where they are with the resources they need in cars and tents, or bring them inside, safe and together.
