Kim Kerker, Author at Pro Bono Institute

Freddie Mac Lawyers Step Up to Represent Immigrants

July 31, 2018

Although some in-house lawyers gravitate toward discrete, time-limited pro bono opportunities, there are long-term engagements that in-house counsel have engaged in with great success. Immigration is one area, for instance, in which in-house attorneys have effectively provided longer term pro bono services. Attorneys at Freddie Mac**have been working on immigration cases as part of their pro bono program for three and a half years. Freddie Mac exemplifies a legal department that has successfully sustained its long-term representation of immigrant detainees. With the current climate of heightened interest in immigration issues, and the critical need for lawyers to assist detained families, we

From Clinic in a Box® to Community Center: How GGP Helped the American Indian Center Find a New Home

June 29, 2018

Little did a team of GGP attorneys know when they were assigned to assist the American Indian Center (AIC) at a Clinic in a Box® program that it would lead to a three-year pro bono relationship spanning a variety of corporate matters and culminating in a complex real estate deal to find a new home for AIC’s community center. Corporate Pro Bono asked the attorneys at GGP to share their remarkable experience in representing a pro bono client on a long-term engagement. Their story demonstrates the profound impact pro bono can have for both the client and volunteers. AIC was founded

Salary Wars and Law Firm Pro Bono

June 13, 2018

Here we go again. In early June, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy*† announcedthat it was increasing starting salaries to $190,000. (Law firms made significant changes to the associate compensation scale in 2007, just prior to the Great Recession, and in 1999, in advance of the dot-com crash.) Predictably, Milbank’s move triggered similar raises with firms announcing matching (or more generous) compensation scales, even raising the salaries for their summer associates who just arrived from law schools. This pattern may continue, as “salary wars” are once again being waged at major law firms across the United States. As of now, decisions about compensation are still

Pro Bono Summer Reading

May 31, 2018

Summer is finally here! No, it’s not technically yet, but it feels like it should be! There is no time like the present to get your summer reading in order and we have recommendations for you. This summer, we are focusing our suggestions on criminal justice reform and its many issues, including mass incarceration, racial disparity in prosecuting and sentencing, and the criminalization of poverty. PBI has been directly involved in criminal justice reform efforts through our Minnesota Collaborative Justice Project. The Project involves stakeholders from more than 25 organizations working together to reduce recidivism and dramatically improve the experiences and

The Pro Bono Power Launch: How Leidos Hit the Ground Running

May 15, 2018

Since its inception in 2000, CPBO has helped countless in-house departments start and expand their pro bono programs. Despite the upward trend in in-house involvement, launching a brand-new pro bono program can present a daunting task for a legal department. With this in mind, CPBO reached out to Kristin Grimes, an attorney at Leidos, Inc.**, who recently spearheaded the successful launch of her department’s pro bono program, incorporating key elements CPBO has identified in its guide to getting started. We asked Kristin to share some insights and lessons learned about the process. You can read more about Leidos’ pro bono program here.

Loaned Lawyers: A Win-Win-Win

April 26, 2018

Want to make a meaningful difference and improve access to justice? Looking for new ideas for professional development? Are you interested in new pro bono opportunities? A rotation or externship program may be the solution. Also known as secondments, an externship or rotation is when a law firm “loans” a lawyer to an outside organization. The attorney will typically work in a legal services, public interest, government, or other host organization full-time while still employed at their law firm. On the Pro Bono Happy Hour, we spoke with Amy Barasch, Susie Hoffman, and Becca Naylor about how loaned lawyer programs

On the Road to MJP Reform

April 25, 2018

When PBI traveled south earlier this month to the 5th Biennial Virginia Pro Bono Summit, we were reminded of an earlier venture down the highway to attend the Commonwealth’s first Pro Bono Summit in 2010. It was not the first road trip that PBI had undertaken in the name of improving access to justice through multijurisdictional practice (MJP) reform, nor would it be the last. The summit was an inspiring gathering that included a persuasive appeal from Randy Milch, then general counsel at Verizon Communications Inc.**, to the Virginia Supreme Court to change restrictive practice rules that prevented many of Verizon’s in-house

Hundreds of CLOs and Managing Partners Show Support for Funding LSC

April 18, 2018

Yesterday, 251 Chief Legal Officers and General Counsel from across the country joined a letter in support of an increase in funding for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), the largest funder of civil legal aid programs in the U.S. The letter was part of a nationwide campaign to secure LSC funding for FY2019. A similar letter was submitted last week by more than 180 managing partners from law firms across the nation. In each of the past two years, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued proposed spending bills that sought to defund LSC. Last year’s proposal resulted in a similarly robust response from the legal community.

Virginia Is Making Pro Bono Cool!

April 17, 2018

The Virginia Supreme Court hosted its 5th Biennial Chief Justice’s Pro Bono Summit on April 4 in Richmond, Virginia. Chief Justice Donald Lemons welcomed approximately 100 attendees to the Court to share pro bono initiatives The Commonwealth is spearheading to further develop a culture of pro bono. Pro Bono Institute President and CEO Eve Runyon and Corporate Pro Bono Director Tammy Sun attended the event and were energized by the great efforts organized by all sectors of the Virginia Bar. The Virginia Supreme Court hosted its first Pro Bono Summit in 2010 with a call to “make pro bono cool.” Since then, Virginia has launched

Ferguson, Fines, and Fees

October 5, 2017

Check out our most recent webinar produced in partnership with West LegalEdcenter, Ferguson, Fines, and Fees, to explore inspiring developments in the effort to decriminalize poverty and how pro bono lawyers can be of help. Since the killing of Michael Brown in August 2014, St. Louis and its neighboring municipalities including Ferguson, Missouri, have been frequently cited for legal and moral failings in the region’s municipal justice system, which routinely sends thousands of people to jail because they cannot pay legal fines and fees. Poor and African-American people are disproportionately affected. The events in Ferguson, Missouri shined a spotlight on

Author: Kim Kerker