in partnership with
for their wide-ranging collaboration developing sustainable projects reaching underserved communities at the local, state, and national levels
Paramount Global** and Loeb & Loeb LLP*† have built a dedicated pro bono partnership over the past 5 years. Together they have worked to develop sustainable projects to address critical legal needs in the communities where they live and work, by providing pro bono legal services through both local and national legal aid organizations. The partnership’s projects range from brief advice clinics to long-term representation of pro bono clients, and cover legal issues including voting rights, humanitarian parole, SNAP benefits, veterans’ benefits, healthcare directives, small business support, and more.
The collaboration began when Loeb partnered with the legal departments of CBS and Viacom on pro bono matters in 2019, and the relationship continued after the companies merged into ViacomCBS (now known as Paramount Global). The partnership has substantial in-house participation, including 85 in-house attorneys and 22 in-house legal staff. Paramount Global and Loeb engage in long-term planning to ensure the continued success of their partnership and have already planned for pro bono opportunities in 2025.
Over the years, the partnership has provided pro bono legal services to clients of several legal services organizations, including:
Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts: In 2019, the partners paired with Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA), a New York-based nonprofit that supports low-income artists and the arts community, to advise VLA clients on matters such as trademark disputes, corporate entity selection and contract drafting. The work included a brief advice clinic, followed by some volunteers providing full representation of their VLA clients in matters that included helping a musician trademark his artist’s name and logo and assisting a screenwriter with reviewing a contract.
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law: In fall 2020, the partners participated in the Lawyers Committee’s Election Protection Hotline, a nonpartisan effort to assist voters across the country. Loeb and Paramount Global both plan to participate in Election Protection work for the upcoming general election in fall 2024.
Start Small Think Big: In 2021, the partners began working with Start Small Think Big (SSTB), a nonprofit that supports low-income entrepreneurs. At its first clinic, 44 participants worked in teams to assist 12 pro bono clients by providing brief advice on trademarks, privacy protection and contract review. Many of these clients were struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they received much-needed advice on how to navigate their circumstances. Loeb and Paramount Global continue to staff clinics to serve SSTB clients, including this year, and have already planned a clinic for 2025.
Kids in Need of Defense (KIND): Beginning in January 2022, the partners teamed with KIND and helped 18 families with the humanitarian parole applications, working several months to complete the forms and assist families who were separated at the U.S. border to reunify. This effort was part of KIND’s Family Reunification Project, built in response to a new humanitarian parole application that became available to the families that crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2017 and 2018 when parents were deported while their children remained in the United States. The project required a significant dedication of resources and more than 1,100 hours, with 55 volunteers participating. All humanitarian parole applications have been processed, and all teams received orders successfully reuniting the families.
City Bar Justice Center: The partners also worked with the Veterans Assistance Project at the City Bar Justice Center to help veterans receive disability benefits. In July 2022, teams of Paramount Global and Loeb attorneys began representation of four veterans seeking to receive their full disability benefits from the Veterans Administration. Since July 2022, the teams have collectively donated more than 3,600 hours to their cases. Several teams achieved success in raising the coverage and funding for the veterans’ medical care, and all are continuing to advocate for their clients.
Inland Counties Legal Services (ICLS): In 2023, Paramount Global and Loeb partnered with ICLS to create a first-of-its-kind clinic in the Inland Empire of San Bernardino and Riverside counties to assist LGBTQ+ individuals with preparing advance health care directives. There is a significant need for legal services in these counties, and there is a sizable LGBTQ+ population that has not been supported. These directives are particularly vital for LGBTQ+ individuals, who can face discrimination in medical settings. An advance health care directive can document an individual’s gender identity and expression, and ensure the right people are making medical decisions for them. The clinic volunteers also developed sample standard language for ICLS’ advance directive documentation covering the continuation of gender-affirming medical care, notifying estranged family, and post-death wishes for remains. The partners held clinics in June 2023, March 2024, and June 2024, and are planning for future clinics.
HIAS: In celebration of National Pro Bono Week, in October 2023, Paramount Global and Loeb partnered on an immigration clinic with HIAS, a nonprofit that assists refugees. The clinic focused on helping refugees from Ukraine and El Salvador who already received asylum to apply for their green cards by preparing adjustment of status applications. Following the clinic, the teams continued to provide support for several months to complete preparation of the adjustment of status applications.
Legal Services NYC: In March 2024, Paramount Global and Loeb volunteered with Legal Services NYC to support their initiative helping individuals apply for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid and other government assistance programs. These programs are vital to helping individuals access food, medical care and other necessities. Twenty volunteers worked in five teams to begin preparing applications for their clients. All volunteers continue to support their clients throughout the application process, and they will assist with any additional appeals for support if necessary.
Congratulations to Paramount Global and Loeb & Loeb LLP for their focused efforts to building an impactful and sustained pro bono partnership that delivers critical legal services to their communities.
About Paramount Global
Paramount Global is a leading global media, streaming and entertainment company that creates premium content and experiences for audiences worldwide. Driven by iconic consumer brands, Paramount Global’s portfolio includes CBS, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
Corporate social responsibility is fundamental to Paramount Global’s culture and core values. We strive to make a difference and understand that now, more than ever, there are countless individuals, organizations and social initiatives that need assistance. As a result, the Paramount Global Law Department encourages all members of the department – attorneys and non-attorney professionals, domestic and international – to participate in pro bono work. We are grateful that, through our ongoing partnership with Loeb & Loeb, so many members of our Law Department have been able to provide meaningful pro bono service to those in need.
About Loeb & Loeb LLP
Loeb & Loeb is a premier law firm focused on helping organizations and individuals innovate, grow and evolve in a changing world. Our market leading practice and industry teams deliver practical insight and strategic solutions in complex deals, high-profile disputes, cutting-edge regulatory issues and other matters critical to our clients’ success. The firm has more than 450 lawyers across eight offices in the United States and Asia.
At Loeb, one of the most powerful ways we express our “we’re all connected” philosophy is through meaningful pro bono service in the communities where we live and work. Our commitment to community, philanthropy and volunteerism spans more than a century. Working together to bring about positive change, we donate our time and talents to those individuals and organizations in greatest need. Our pro bono clients – refugees fleeing persecution and violence, disabled veterans seeking critical care and benefits, children suffering abuse or neglect, and organizations innovating for social good, among many others – are as varied as the legal services we provide.
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About the CPBO Pro Bono Partner Award
Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO), a project of Pro Bono Institute, created the CPBO Pro Bono Partner Award to recognize innovative pro bono collaborations of in-house legal departments with law firms and public interest organizations. Pro bono partnerships that include at least one in-house legal department with one or more law firms and/or public interest organizations are eligible. The CPBO Advisory Board selects the award recipients.
The award honors legal departments and the organizations with which they partner in the provision of legal services to those in need. The award recipients are departments, law firms, and public interest organizations that have demonstrated an impact in their community through their partnership project, shown substantial involvement in the project by in-house lawyers, made tangible steps toward sustaining the relationship among the partners, developed innovative substantive or structural approaches in support of the partnership’s effort, and addressed a critical legal need or assisted a particularly vulnerable community or target population.
Over the years, the impact and innovation of the projects supported by the award recipients have been tremendously important both in the projects’ ability to address the legal needs of the communities being served and in the role the partnerships have played in supporting and furthering pro bono work, especially within the in-house community. Through these partnerships, legal departments, law firms, and public interest organizations have devised programs that contribute to the legal profession’s efforts to close the justice gap and that create strong legacies of effective pro bono service.
