Kim Kerker, Author at Pro Bono Institute

CPBO Releases 2018 Benchmarking Survey Results

March 20, 2019

Ready to learn about the latest trends in in-house pro bono? Corporate Pro Bono’s 2018 Benchmarking Report is hot off the press! Since 2010, CPBO’s biennial benchmarking survey highlights key trends in in-house pro bono and enables legal departments to compare the performance and management of their pro bono programs with those of other departments. Historically, the survey always covers topics such as program administration, policies, insurance, partnerships, projects, global pro bono, metrics, communications, and budgets. For the 2018 Benchmarking Report, CPBO also incorporated new questions in the survey we sent to in-house legal departments that included questions about dedicated pro bono

News Flash! You Don’t Have To Be a Lawyer to Do Pro Bono

February 14, 2019

While many associate “legal pro bono services” with attorneys, efforts have shown that paralegals and administrative staff in the legal departments of companies, as well as attorneys and professionals in other departments, are actively engaged in pro bono. There are many ways for employees, regardless of their title and position in a company, to provide pro bono legal services. To help companies navigate how to effectively engage legal department professionals and other company employees in pro bono, Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO) recently released a new paper on this topic. Here are key takeaways from CPBO’s new resource: There is no one-size-fits-all approach.

Nourishing Bodies and Communities Through Pro Bono

January 25, 2019

“Hunger is not an issue of charity. It is an issue of justice.” – Jacques Diouf As we recover from another holiday season full of celebratory meals and parties, many of us are re-committing to healthy eating. Healthy eating, however, isn’t always just a matter of choice (or willpower)! In an era of high food prices and food deserts, sustainable access to nutrition in low-income communities has become a heightened concern. The epidemic of diet-related diseases such as diabetes and obesity points to the urgent need for food justice and improving access to nutritious food. Although programs such as public

Comcast NBC Universal Spotlights Pro Bono Engagement At All-Hands Day

January 17, 2019

There are many people who would like to do pro bono, but then have excuses at the ready for why it’s not the right time or opportunity. Sometimes, even when our hearts are in the right place, we need to change our way of thinking to spur a change in action. At an attorney all-hands meeting in October 2018, Comcast NBCUniversal** (“Comcast”) tackled head-on the issue of incentivizing pro bono engagement. The pro bono session at the offsite meeting, which assembled approximately 250 attorneys from across Comcast’s global offices, featured a discussion about Comcast’s pro bono program and explored different

Advancing Right to Counsel in Housing

December 20, 2018

Housing is a fundamental human right, yet the United States does not guarantee a right to counsel for individuals fighting to protect the roof over their heads. This means low-income tenants face a high risk of unfavorable outcomes in housing court, including wrongful evictions, simply because they are ill-equipped to defend themselves in eviction proceedings. In several jurisdictions, advocates are organizing to improve the status quo by securing a right to counsel in housing eviction cases. These efforts present unique opportunities for pro bono lawyers. New York. In New York City, there are 230,000 eviction cases or other proceedings brought against

Transforming Transactional Pro Bono

December 19, 2018

With its eighth annual Clinic in a Box® program this month, the “dream team” of the Association of Corporate Counsel Northeast Chapter (ACC-Northeast), Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo*†, and The Lawyers Clearinghouse, in partnership with Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO), have transformed transactional pro bono opportunities for in-house counsel in the Boston Area and made easier some common challenges of engaging corporate lawyers in pro bono. For many years, the partnership hosted an annual Clinic in a Box® program – Legal Audit, CPBO’s licensed off-the-shelf model designed to provide in-house counsel the opportunity to advise nonprofit organizations or small

Gifts That Keep On Giving

December 11, 2018

Happy Holidays! Finding the perfect gift for that special someone can be quite the obstacle. Fortunately, PBI is here to help once again with gift ideas that give back to those in need. Need a gift for your favorite athlete or sneaker head? Check out Bombas Socks. After learning that socks are the most requested clothing items at shelters, Bombas knew they wanted to do something for their community. For every pair of socks purchased, the company donates a specially engineered pair of socks to someone in need; to date, they have donated more than 12 million pairs. Making sure we treat our body with the

Dentsu Aegis Network Takes Pro Bono Beyond the Legal Department

November 14, 2018

There has been growing interest among legal departments in collaborating with colleagues beyond the legal department in their pro bono efforts. Some departments want to increase impact by broadening participation by their colleagues outside the department and demonstrate the value of pro bono for their companies. Other legal departments seek to deepen their pro bono program by aligning pro bono work with wider company priorities and leveraging skills and expertise across the company to tackle critical access to justice issues. We invited Miri Miller, Associate General Counsel and global pro bono program lead at Dentsu Aegis Network**, to share how

Legal Assistance for the Opioid Crisis

November 1, 2018

Opioids are a class of drugs used to reduce pain, ranging from prescription opioids such as oxycodone and morphine, to illegal opioids such as heroin. In the 1990s, healthcare providers began prescribing opioid pain relievers at increased rates, leading to the widespread misuse of prescription and non-prescription opioids. This resulted in a spike in addiction, amounting to 350,000 deaths between 1999 and 2016 from an overdose involving opioids. In 2017, the Health and Human Services (HHS) Acting Secretary declared a public health emergency to address this epidemic. Because of the alarming number of overdoses, efforts to mitigate the epidemic tend

A Conversation with Annie Helms — Rolling Meadows Domestic Violence Help Desk

October 18, 2018

In 2016, the Rolling Meadows Help Desk was created when a group of lawyers at Allstate**, Discover**, DLA Piper*†, and Illinois Tool Works united to help a local nonprofit organization, Between Friends, assist domestic violence survivors at the Rolling Meadows Courthouse. The courthouse is located 25 miles outside Chicago in suburban Cook County, Illinois. With the expert training and support of LAF, lawyers from each of the partner organizations regularly staff four-hour shifts in the Between Friends office, helping victims fill out paperwork, explaining the court process, and ensuring that no survivor goes through the process of obtaining a protective

Author: Kim Kerker