Esther F. Lardent, Esq.
1946-2016
PBI Founder and First President & CEO
In 1996, Esther F. Lardent established PBI to be a leading voice in the cause of equal access to justice and an important agent in the transformation of pro bono legal services. The work of PBI stands as a tribute to Esther’s deep personal commitment to the constitutional principle of “equal justice for all” and forms a part of her enduring legacy to the legal profession and to American society.
Esther passed away in April 2016, after having stepped down as PBI President & CEO in 2015.
In 1993, as head of the Law Firm Pro Bono Project initiative – a precursor to PBI – Esther launched the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® initiative to increase the amount of pro bono services to individuals of limited means and organizations serving them by major law firms. In 1996, Esther established PBI to administer the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge initiative and to provide supportive informational and consulting services to law firms interested in deepening and expanding their pro bono commitments.
In 2000, PBI expanded its mission to encourage pro bono services in corporate law departments, creating the Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO) project. This effort led, in 2006, to the launching of the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge® initiative, an effort to encourage major corporate law departments to embrace pro bono services.
Collectively, signatories to the two PBI Challenge initiatives have provided more than 100 million hours of pro bono services over three decades. It is no exaggeration to say that Esther’s tireless energy and efforts led to a transformation in pro bono services in both law firms and corporate law departments.
A daughter of Holocaust survivors, Esther’s commitment to civil rights and serving the needs of the poor and underprivileged came early. Before founding PBI in 1996, Esther served as an independent legal and policy consultant for the Ford Foundation, the American Bar Association, state and local bar associations, and public interest and legal services programs, among others. From 1977 to 1985, she was the founder and first director of the Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association, one of the nation’s first organized pro bono programs, and, in conjunction with that position, administered a nationwide pro bono technical assistance effort from 1981 to 1985. She was a member of the ABA Board of Governors from 1996 to 1999. Esther also served as Co-Chair of DLA Piper (US) LLP’s innovative global pro bono project, New Perimeter, as well as a member of the Global Advisory Committee for Ashoka’s ASE program.
Esther also served in the ABA’s House of Delegates and had served as chair or member of numerous ABA committees and task forces, including the Commission on Immigration, Consortium on Legal Services and the Public, Commission on Domestic Violence, Task Force on Terrorism, and various ABA committees on pro bono and legal services.
Esther received her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from Brown University, and her J.D. from the University of Chicago. Esther received a number of awards in recognition of her public service contributions, including the Exemplar Award from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association; the Philadelphia Bar Association Founder Award; the William Reece Smith, Jr. Award from the National Association of Pro Bono Coordinators; and the National Association for Public Interest Law’s Public Service Award, and was named one of the 90 greatest lawyers in Washington, D.C. by the Legal Times. In 2013, Esther was named one of The American Lawyer’s top 50 innovators. She received Merck & Co., Inc.’s Kenneth C. Frazier Equal Justice Award (2014); the Western Center on Law & Poverty’s Earl Johnson Equal Justice Award (2015); and The American Lawyer’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2015).
James W. Jones IV
1945–2024
Chair Emeritus, PBI Board of Directors
Jim was a champion of PBI’s mission, pro bono, and access to justice, and served as the founding Chair of the PBI Board of Directors for 27 years.
He also served as Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Law Firm Pro Bono Project from 1990 to 1996 and Co-Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the Corporate Pro Bono Project (co-sponsored by PBI and the Association of Corporate Counsel) from 1999 to 2003. In these capacities, Jim worked closely with PBI’s Founder and first President & CEO, Esther F. Lardent, to build PBI into the vibrant organization that it is today.
Jim was instrumental in the creation and launch of PBI’s Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge initiative, initiated in 1993 and implemented in 1995. The Challenge established a standard for use by major law firms in assessing the scope and quality of their pro bono programs. Signatories to the Challenge publicly acknowledged their institutional, firm-wide commitment to provide pro bono legal services to low-income individuals and nonprofit groups serving them and provided a narrow, but thoughtful, definition of pro bono.
With the leadership and support of Jim and his fellow Board members, and with the tireless commitment of its dedicated staff, PBI also explored and identified a variety of other ways to enhance the provision of legal services to the poor, disadvantaged, and other individuals or groups unable to secure legal assistance to address critical problems.
Jim was also instrumental in guiding PBI through the transition following the untimely death of its Founder, Esther Lardent, in 2016.
Jim’s commitment to pro bono was not limited to his activities at PBI. Growing up in the shadow of American apartheid, Jim’s early years were shaped by the realities of segregation and the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement. Witnessing these injustices firsthand sparked in him a deep desire to challenge inequality and build a more just society.
In college, at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, where he served as Student Body President and graduated magna cum laude with honors, Jim was first introduced to the ways in which the law could be used to change society for the better. He was awarded the Root Tilden Scholarship at NYU Law School, specifically focused on using the law to achieve social justice, and graduated cum laude with his Juris Doctor.
As an associate and partner at Arnold & Porter from1973 to 1995 and as Managing Partner of the firm from 1986 to 1995, he was an active participant in pro bono work. Indeed, the first case he ever handled was a pro bono matter. In 1998, Jim chaired a special initiative in the D.C. Bar to help create pro bono opportunities for transactional lawyers, a project for which he was recognized with the Frederick Abramson Award for Pro Bono Service in 1999. In 1993, Jim received a special award for leadership in the development and implementation of the Law Firm Pro Bono Project from the ABA Fund for Justice and Education. And, in 1999, he received a special award for public service and pro bono contributions from the ABA Law Firm Pro Bono Project. Jim received the PBI President’s Award in 2024.
Apart from his activities relating to access to justice issues, Jim’s public service extended to many other organizations in the Greater Washington Area including the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, where he served as a member from 1994 to 2006 and chairman from 2003 to 2006 of the Board of Trustees; Children’s National Medical Center and the Children’s Research Institute, where he served as a member of the Board of Trustees from 1995 to 2002; Bearacuda Re (captive insurance company of the Children’s National Medical Center), where he served as a member from 1997 to 2021 and chairman from 2009 to 2021 of the Board of Trustees; and The Greater Washington Board of Trade, of which he served as President in 1993.
