Category: Law Firm Pro Bono

Google Maps can tell you what restaurants are nearby but it can’t tell you which one treats its employees well or which one has taken meaningful steps to reduce its environmental footprint;  B Lab can.  B Lab is a nonprofit that designates companies as Benefit Corporations (B Corps) if the company meets defined standards regarding how it treats its employees, the environment, and the community.  Additionally, shareholders must agree to revise the company’s bylaws to allow business decisions to consider greater societal impacts in addition to minimizing costs and maximizing profits.  This allows socially responsible decision-making without fear of shareholder

To all law firm pro bono professionals out there grappling with changes – you’re not alone!  A few months ago, Scot Fishman, Director of Pro Bono, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP,* and Christopher Walters, Senior Pro Bono Counsel, Reed Smith LLP,*  explored the many ways that pro bono leadership roles and responsibilities have evolved in response to economic and structural changes at law firms.  This professional development program for pro bono leaders – including pro bono committee chairs and members, as well as full-time pro bono managers – was originally produced as a live, interactive webinar in conjunction with West LegalEdcenter,

April 15 is just around the corner — a day that strikes dread in the stoutest of hearts.  But it needn’t, for a variety of reasons.  Here at The PBEye, we’ve put together a list of pro bono tips to stop dreading tax day. 1.  Participate in an IRS-sponsored VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) clinic for low-income taxpayers, and help low-income taxpayers take advantage of tax credits designed precisely for them. 2.  Sponsor a year-round low-income taxpayer clinic, because the other 364 days get jealous. 3.  Sponsor a year round tax clinic for particularly vulnerable populations who are eligible for

The PBEye is pleased to learn about another exciting pro bono victory!  The New York Law Journal reports that junior-level associates from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP* along with Yale University law students secured a $650,000 settlement for eight day-laborers who alleged they were the victims of racial profiling and anti-immigrant sentiment. The plaintiffs were among the “Danbury 11,” a group of day-laborers who were arrested in an illegal undercover sting operation in Danbury, Conn.  Michael Wishnie, Yale University Professor and part of Yale’s Worker & Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic approached Gibson Dunn to take on the case.  A team of junior-level associates at Gibson