Legal News

A Haitian Orphanage Falls: A Chat With Kirkland?s Chris Greeno

By Ashby Jones

Kirkland & Ellis announced earlier this week that, in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday, the firm would make a $100,000 donation. Half of it would go to an organization with a household name: the Red Cross. The other half would go to the Grace House of Hope, an orphanage for girls outside Port-au-Prince.

That Kirkland was giving so sizable a sum to an orphanage — and not another major relief organization — was largely attributable to the work of one man, Kirkland partner Chris Greeno. Greeno, a private-equity partner in Kirkland’s Chicago office, had recently developed close ties with the woman who runs the orphanage, Marie Majors, and did a host of pro-bono work for Majors and Grace House, which houses several dozen girls and operates a school that serves about two hundred girls.

We chatted with Greeno Friday afternoon to find out more about the orphanage and to get his thoughts on Haiti’s future. (Click here for an article out Friday from the La Porte, Ind., ArgusHerald on Majors and the Grace House.)

Hi Chris. Thanks for taking the time. Tell us how you found out about the Grace House of Hope.

I first became interested in Haiti through my church, the Wheatland Salem Church in Naperville, Ill. The church was a supporter of the Grace House, and Majors came to talk to the church, to update on how things were going. I met Majors then.

In about February of last year, the Grace House approached me, knowing I was a partner at Kirkland and told me the orphanage would like some help in doing succession planning and that it needed some legal assistance. I located a local Haitian law firm in Port au Prince and arranged to go on a trip with a Christian missionary organization that also did work with Grace House. That was my first trip to Haiti.

How was it?

I’d been on missionary trips before. I’d been to India, for instance. But the level of poverty and destitution in Haiti wasn’t anything I’d seen before. Haiti is an entirely different animal.

Anyway, I spent the better part of a week there. Half of the time, I was doing legal work with the orphanage doing succession planning. The other part of it was the mission part. As much as I love the law, the mission component was more rewarding. Getting to spend time with the girls and help care for them was unforgettable.

What were your impressions of the legal system?

Well, before going, I was wary. There’s a fair amount of corruption throughout Haiti, and it’s no different in the legal system. You’ve got to pick your lawyers carefully. You’ve got to find someone you can trust. So I sent an email around Kirkland and got one response concerning a lawyer who was well-regarded.

It turns out, he was great. He did a lot of his work pro-bono as well.

So let’s talk about the earthquake. Have you heard word on how the orphanage is doing?

Well, the orphanage and accompanying school are really comprised of three buildings. One orphanage building and the school are in one location, and the second orphanage is in a separate location. The word we’ve gotten is that the second orphanage is fine, but the first collapsed, though they were able to get the children out alive. We hear that one girl who attended the school [but was not part of the orphanage] may have been killed.

I’m sorry to hear that. What are the girls from the collapsed orphanage doing now?

We hear they’re sleeping outside, on a sort of gravel yard.

And what are you doing? What sort of relief efforts are you encouraging people to take?

Yeah, what’s been written is sort of true, that money is the issue. The thing is that even before the earthquake, the country was just in a state of devastation. It had a fundamental lack of infrastructure that was hard to comprehend. You add the earthquake on top of that, and it’s left a country just totally bereft.

But the best thing people can do is give money. Hopefully over the course of the next few days you’ll start to see some of the streets cleared. Access will get better and conditions will slowly improve.

Any plans for you to go down?

Possibly. Our church has been trying to get a flight down, but it’s been extremely difficult. We’re collecting food and clothing and are trying to ship a container of supplies down.

Have you gotten much billable work done in the past few days?

It’s been very hard to work. The firm’s been wonderfully supportive. The night it happened, I stayed up all night long writing letters, sending emails. Since then, I’ve been returning literally hundreds of emails and calls. It’s been crazy. Around the clock. It almost feels like we’re closing a deal. But I’d much rather be doing this than watching it in front of the television.

Have any of your private equity clients stepped up? Offered their support?

They have. I do a lot of work for Code, Hennessy & Simmons, GTCR Golder Rauner, Madison Dearborn Partners and Oaktree Capital. All four have offered significant financial support.

How do you expect Haiti will recover from this? How is it even possible?

I have hope. I’ve been very impressed with Haitian people. They’ve long suffered corruption and devastation. They live in the most difficult circumstances. But now the eyes of the world are on Haiti and there’s hope. My hope is that we’re in the first stages of a new Haiti.

Best of luck with everything. Thanks for taking the time.

My pleasure. And thanks for your interest.

Photo: Julie Platner for The Wall Street Journal

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 16, 2010 (boomark / email).