Author: dlipscomb

Earlier this week, The National Law Journal released its annual Pro Bono Hot List, which showcases significant and noteworthy pro bono efforts at major law firms. This year’s issue recognized 10 Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® Signatories and/or Law Firm Pro Bono Project Member Firms for their inspiring and exceptional pro bono initiatives: Arnold & Porter*† (litigating two significant voter identification cases); Chadbourne & Parke*† (providing legal help to immigrant youth fleeing Central America and Mexico); Crowell & Moring* (assisting those affected by unfair sentencing laws in clemency cases); Farella Braun + Martel* (defending a gun safety ordinance in state

Reporting season for the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® will open in January, and Challenge Signatories should be on the lookout for an email with your unique survey link. The deadline for reporting data for calendar year 2014 is February 27. Each year, Challenge Signatories provide a brief, confidential report to the Law Firm Project on their progress in meeting the Challenge. The individual firm data is kept confidential, but each report provides the basis for critically important aggregate statistics about trends in law firm pro bono. Among other things, Challenge Signatories aspire to devote a majority of their pro bono

Last month, PBI hosted its eighth annual Leadership Convocation in New York. Prior to our Annual Dinner, law firm and in-house leaders convened to explore innovative ways to maximize the impact of pro bono in their communities. Expert panelists discussed how organizations and stakeholders are collaborating through large-scale, multi-institutional pro bono efforts to address critical problems and vast unmet legal needs. We were excited to see a recent feature in The New York Times about one of the collaborative initiatives highlighted during the program: the Shriver Project, which consists of seven pilot projects that provide legal representation to a select number

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and as we prepare to join with family and friends for a festive meal, this holiday season of gratitude and generosity of spirit has us thinking about the less fortunate among us and pro bono efforts designed to fight hunger and increase the availability of nutritious and affordable food. As we’ve previously reported, there are a variety of ways in which pro bono attorneys from all practice backgrounds can work to increase access to healthy food. Opportunities for involvement include providing counsel to eligible nonprofit organizations, helping low-income individuals navigate the application process for public benefits, producing