Global law firm Reed Smith today proudly announces that Senior Pro Bono Counsel Chris Walters is among 14 business professionals selected to receive a 2024 Veterans in Business Award from the Philadelphia Business Journal. Profiles of this year’s honorees will be published in the Business Journal on November 8. The honorees also will be recognized at an event at the Museum of the American Revolution on November 7.
Each year, the Philadelphia Business Journal recognizes area veterans who have gone on to successful civilian careers, contributed to the community through volunteer work, and given back to active-duty military members and veterans.
Walters served with the U.S. Army, including two years full-time active duty with a one-year deployment to Vietnam, and three years reserve duty. He achieved the rank of captain before his discharge and is a recipient of the Vietnam Service Medal and the Bronze Star for his military service.
Walters has managed the firm’s day-to-day global pro bono program since 2005. In this role, he is intricately involved in the firm’s pro bono work, with attorneys dedicating 85,000 pro bono hours each year around the world. The firm’s pro bono focus includes protecting voting rights, providing refugee settlement and immigration services, meeting the needs of children in underserved communities, combating human trafficking, providing natural disaster relief, and obtaining justice for individuals wrongly convicted or sentenced.
Reed Smith’s Lamp Lifeboat Ladder program, which has provided resettlement to Canada of 90 refugees from the Middle East, earned the firm the top award among law firms for innovation in pro bono at the 2024 Legal Week Leaders in Tech Law Awards.
Walters has had a lead role in the firm’s pro bono efforts to support military veterans through the National Veterans Legal Services Program. Reed Smith works with NVLSP to assist veterans with legal challenges and appeals to receive appropriate disability and retirement benefits to which they are entitled.
Throughout his legal career, Walters has personally handled numerous pro bono cases, including a housing discrimination lawsuit, a 16-year death penalty case, and a 2004 high-profile election integrity case. Prior to his pro bono role, he founded the firm’s Philadelphia Litigation Group and led the practice for a decade.
In addition to his role at Reed Smith, Walters is a founding board member of Advancing Real Change, Inc. (ARC), and previously served as vice chairman. This nonprofit works in the criminal justice system to achieve fairer sentences in capital criminal cases, assists with investigations to gather mitigating information and provides mitigation training.
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