Gauthier, Houghtaling and Williams contributes to our community in many different ways. Our attorneys participate in a wide array of civic and charitable programs.

Ghw Endows High School Scholarship – GHW hopes to encourage young high school students at St. Augustine in New Orleans to follow in the footsteps of Charles R. Jones, the first African-American male to ascend to Chief Judge of the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal. GHW funded the "2012 Chief Judge Charles R. Jones Scholarship" to be awarded to a deserving St. Augustine student.

Loyola University - GHW attorneys John Houghtaling, James Williams and Celeste Gauthier were inducted into Loyola University’s Society of St. Ignatius. The society is comprised of an elite group of supporters of Loyola University in New Orleans. The three were inducted in a special ceremony held in December, 2011.

New Orleans Chamber of Commerce – GHW is a proud member of the city’s Chamber of Commerce. The firm was a Bronze Sponsor of the Chamber’s 2011 Annual Meeting, which attracted over 700 attendees.

YMCA - Gauthier, Houghtaling & Williams is proud to be a sponsor of the 2011 Dryades YMCA Golf Tournament supporting youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility in New Orleans.

Susan G. Komen Foundation - In August 2011, John Houghtaling hosted the 10th Anniversary Summer Susan G. Komen for the Cure Patron Party, an annual fundraiser to promote Breast Cancer awareness.

New Orleans Museum of Art - In the spring of 2011, John Houghtaling opened his home for public view, to benefit the 100 anniversary of the New Orleans Museum of Art. Over 3,000 people showed up to tour the historic Brown Mansion on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans. The event raised over $75,000.00 for the museum.

National Bar Association Louisiana Judicial Council Foundation – John Houghtaling hosted the NBA’s Judicial Council Foundation at his home in March. The foundation is the non-profit charitable organization for all African-American judges in Louisiana. Among their projects, they fund an annual scholarship for one student at each law school. This summer the foundation sent three law students to South Africa to learn about their legal system in the context of a global economy.

Louisiana Center for Women & Government - honored its inductees into its Hall of Fame at a party held at John Houghtaling’s home in March 2011. The Center, based out of Nicholls University, encourages and promotes the leadership of women.

Barrier Islands - A fundraising dinner organized by attorney John Houghtaling and others raised $50,000 for the Barrier Islands Restoration & Development Society (B.I.R.D.S.) and the Bocuse d'Or USA Foundation, a culinary non-profit. The funds were raised as part of a dinner held September 14, 2010 at Chef Scott Boswell's Restaurant Stella! featuring world renowned Chefs Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud and Jerome Bocuse. $50,000 was raised for the B.I.R.D.S. organization and also the Bocuse d'Or USA Foundation, for a total $100,000 donation as a result of the event. Read more in the September 19 edition of the New Orleans Times Picayune and in Houston Magazine.

Gauthier Houghtaling and Williams was a proud sponsor of the2011 Minority Corporate Counsel Association - General Counsel Invitational at Doral Golf Resort in Miami. Association was founded in 1997 to advance the hiring, retention, and promotion of diverse attorneys in legal departments and the law firms that serve them. It collects and disseminates information about diversity in the legal profession.

A Merry Christmas for Good Boys and Girls
About thirty children from the Good Shepherd School joined the staff and attorneys from Gauthier Houghtaling and Williams at their annual holiday party. The children were treated to a special visit from Santa, who brought along a few early Christmas presents for the kids. He even brought along a couple of his reindeer. A snow making machine turned an unusually warm December afternoon into a small winter wonderland at the home of Attorney John Houghtaling. The Good Shepherd School provides an excellent, tuition-free education in a safe and nurturing environment to at-risk children in New Orleans who are admitted from families living in poverty.

Gauthier, Houghtaling & Williams, donated $15,000.00 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation as part of the Celebration Exotic Car Festival - The firm sponsored the first Ferrari Club of America's Challenge Race held at Sebring, Florida on April 17. The FCA race was the first private Ferrari race in the club's forty year history. Participants were private Ferrari owners driving Ferrari Factory racing cars which comprised of three classes of Ferrari models from 1995-2009.

GHW's managing partner, John Houghtaling, came in second in the Ferrari 360 Challenge class. The race was set to promote the Make-A-Wish foundation in conjunction with the Celebration Exotic Car Festival.

The Good Shepard School - Following Hurricane Katrina, John Houghtaling personally endowed an $80,000 scholarship at The Good Shepard School, an all-donor-supported school that provides education to at-risk, inner-city children. The scholarship will fund the education of a child for eight years - the entire elementary education of one student.

PLAN!T NOW - The firm donated $50,000 to Plan!t Now, a non-profit organization founded by actor Morgan Freeman which provides assistance to communities at risk from the effects of storm and hurricane-related disasters. The group provides the information needed to protect families, homes, businesses, resources, and documents from the effects of any disaster as well as direct relief through grants and scholarships to hurricane-affected persons.

Loyola Law School - John Houghtaling and James Williams donated $50,000 to Loyola Law School for a new Career Services Office, which provides job placement for Loyola law students and graduates of the law school. The law school renamed the office the Gauthier, Houghtaling & Williams career services office, and it is located in the Ann and Wendell Gauthier Family Wing at the school.

The Gauthier Family Foundation donated $2.5 million to Loyola Law School for completion of its new Wendell H. and Anne B. Gauthier Family Wing. The four-story, 16,000-square-foot addition, located at the corner of Pine and Dominican Streets, is seamlessly connected to the main law building and will ensure that current and future law students will continue receiving the best legal education possible.

Louis A. Martinet Foundation - $35,000 donation to this non-profit organization dedicated to promoting social justice for our community and the legal profession.

$15,000 to the New Orleans Pro Bono Project, delivering no-cost legal services to needy citizens of our area. Its mission is to provide free, quality civil legal services to the poor by engaging volunteer attorneys to serve clients in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, St. Tammany and Washington parishes.

John Houghtaling is co-founder of the Annual French Quarter Classic, a national meeting of exotic car collectors which gather in New Orleans. In November, 2007, car collectors from around the U.S. traveled to New Orleans for their meeting which provided a needed economic boost for French Quarter businesses. The group delivered toys to patients at Children’s Hospital and raised $15,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Gauthier, Houghtaling and Williams sponsored a toy giveaway for Destiny’s Children, a non-profit organization that helped over 100 inner-city kids.

New Orleans Archbishop Alfred Hughes called upon John Houghtaling to serve as fundraising chair for the Archbishop’s Community Appeal for 2007 which benefits Catholic Charities and other non-profit organizations.

The firm donates regularly to a long list of non-profits in town including the Louisiana Bar’s Pro Bono Project, Louisiana Trooper Association, Susan B. Komen Foundation, Louisiana SPCA, Louisiana Judicial Counsel, New Orleans Martinet Society, and Crimestoppers.

Gauthier Houghtaling and Williams is proud to sponsor the 2010 5/6 Dazzlers Little League Softball team.