Corporate Pro Bono Archives - Page 11 of 19

Bridging Distance to Serve Pro Se Litigants and the Courts

December 17, 2013

When the Colorado Supreme Court’s Commission on the Legal Profession asked CenturyLink, Inc. and Bryan Cave*† in August 2012 to provide pro bono assistance to pro se clients in the Seventeenth Judicial District, they eagerly jumped to the challenge. Together, CenturyLink and Bryan Cave developed and now staff the Adam’s County Self Help Resource Center Support Initiative, an innovative pro bono effort that overcomes the issue of connecting pro se litigants that are located far from volunteers. The result has helped not only thousands of individual pro se litigants in a few months, but the entire local court system. The

VIDEO: New York Adopts In-House Pro Bono Practice Rule

December 6, 2013

The PBEye applauds the New York Court of Appeals for adopting an amendment to its practice rules that permits in-house counsel barred in other jurisdictions and registered in New York to provide desperately needed pro bono legal services. Prior to its adoption, practice rules in New York allowed non-locally licensed in-house counsel to register to work for their employer in New York but did not authorize them to also engage in pro bono legal services. New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, joined by CPBO, representatives from ACC, and others announced the adoption of this new rule, which

A Social Network Committed to Social Responsibility

December 3, 2013

To help address the growing need for legal assistance for low-income individuals about the complex bureaucracy surrounding government health insurance programs, Fenwick & West*† and the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County launched a new project in October 2010 aimed at increasing access to affordable health care. Working together, the partnership organized clinics to advise low-income seniors and disabled adults on how to qualify for affordable healthcare coverage. These “Share of Cost” clinics serve individuals and families in San Mateo County, Calif., whose income is slightly above the Federal Poverty Level but is insufficient to meet the expense of

“We” vs. “They”

November 21, 2013

We spend a lot of time thinking, talking, and writing about why lawyers, law firms, and legal departments should do pro bono work. In case you need another reason, check out this research brief from the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship. Their bottom line: “Employee volunteer programs can engage employees emotionally and intellectually.” We often focus on the business case and “bottom line benefits” of pro bono and general corporate volunteerism, such as skills development, lower absenteeism, reduced turnover, and increased productivity. This brief explores whether pro bono and corporate volunteering could “foster social identity and a strong sense

Don’t Be Intimidated: Selecting In-House Pro Bono Projects

November 19, 2013

At this year’s PBI Annual Conference, in-house counsel and other legal department pro bono leaders broke into groups to discuss a variety of topics relevant to the continued development of in-house pro bono. One group, led by Adam Brink of The Clorox Company**, focused its discussion on the selection of pro bono projects including how departments starting, expanding, or refocusing their pro bono efforts can select the right projects. Getting Started When creating an in-house pro bono program, there are a series of steps to take prior to selecting specific projects. Before any significant projects can be started, departments must

The December 2004 Tsunami: A Global Pro Bono “Tipping Point” for Deloitte

November 15, 2013

PBI was honored to recognize Deloitte Financial Advisory Services (FAS) LLP with the first-ever PBI President’s Award, presented at the 2013 PBI Annual Dinner on November 7 in New York. Among its many contributions, Deloitte FAS has provided invaluable assistance to PBI, enhancing and refining PBI’s collection and analysis of annual pro bono performance data for its Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® reports. The company is also working with PBI, Merck & Co., Inc.**, and others on the Pro Bono Measurement Project, a comprehensive process to enable law firms and legal departments to measure the societal good and business benefits

CPBO Loves New York

November 13, 2013

While in New York for PBI’s National Leadership Convocation and Annual Dinner, CPBO hosted its third annual in-person meeting for pro bono leaders from legal departments in the greater New York area and met individually with representatives from local in-house departments. CPBO’s in-house pro bono leaders meeting was generously hosted by Viacom Inc.** Michael Fricklas, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of Viacom, welcomed attendees, who included representatives from Citigroup**, Consolidated Edison, Goldman Sachs Group, Prudential Financial**, Time Warner, and UBS Wealth Management Americas. Fricklas shared Viacom’s commitment to the community and mentioned some of the benefits of collaboration with attendees. CPBO Director Eve Runyon

Greetings from the ACC Annual Meeting

October 29, 2013

Coming live from Hollywood this week! CPBO is in Los Angeles at the ACC Annual Meeting. After spending Sunday evening meeting in-house counsel who stopped by the booth in the Exhibit Hall, CPBO kicked off Monday with a Clinic in a BoxSM Program attended by 40 in-house volunteers. After volunteers received training from Alston & Bird*† and Public Counsel, they teamed up to meet with Los Angeles area nonprofit representatives to conduct a pro bono legal assessment for the organizations. Later that day, CPBO hosted a session, “The Ethics of Pro Bono Practice by In-House Counsel.” California Court of Appeal

In-House Pro Bono Budgets

October 22, 2013

While Congress continues to quarrel about the federal budget, your legal department may want to think about its own budget with regard to its pro bono program. CPBO’s 2012 Benchmarking Report asked departments a number of budget questions, including which of the following source(s) fund the pro bono program. For departments with a separate budget or a line item within the legal department’s budget, the 2012 Benchmarking Report found that the total amount allocated to the pro bono program within that budget varied across departments as follows: While budgeting aims to predict expenses accurately, occasionally departments under-budget. When this happens,

Sleep Insurance for In-House Pro Bono

October 15, 2013

Claims against in-house counsel and their employers arising from pro bono legal services are nearly nonexistent. Nonetheless, no one wants to be the exception to the rule. While, legal departments, unlike law firms, do not always carry such insurance, CPBO’s 2012 Benchmarking Report demonstrates that there are a number of options available to legal departments. The following graphs from the report show the percentage of respondent legal departments that select each of the options: In-house counsel remain keenly interested in their options for professional liability coverage (sometimes referred to as a type of “sleep insurance” due to the infrequency of

Category: Corporate Pro Bono