PBEye Blog - Page 16 of 68 - Pro Bono Institute

It’s Pro Bono Podcast Monday: A Conversation with Karen Grisez

January 29, 2018

Karen Grisez of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson*† is our guest this week on the Law Firm Pro Bono Project’s podcast, the Pro Bono Happy Hour. Karen, a pro bono legend, shares her career journey from legal secretary to paralegal to lawyer. She joined Fried Frank because of its staff diversity and support for pro bono matters. The firm has long been invested in making pro bono part of the firm culture – it was the third firm in Washington, DC to create a full-time Public Service Counsel position. Karen accepted that role in 1996, and still holds it

Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® Reporting Is Now Open

January 25, 2018

Reporting season for the 20177 calendar year is now open. We have emailed unique survey links to all Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® signatories, so be sure to check your spam filter if you did not receive yours. The deadline for reporting is March 22. Each year, Challenge Signatories provide a brief, electronic report to the Law Firm Pro Bono Project on their progress in meeting the Challenge. The individual firm data is kept confidential, but each submission provides the basis for critically important aggregate statistics about trends in law firm pro bono. In 2016, Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® signatories contributed: Approximately 4.7 million

It’s Pro Bono Podcast Monday: Eye of the Storm

January 8, 2018

Native Houstonian and podcast all-star Ellyn Josef of Vinson & Elkins* joins us this week on the Law Firm Pro Bono Project’s podcast, the Pro Bono Happy Hour, to share her experience and discuss pro bono efforts around Hurricane Harvey. Ellyn describes how the pro bono community prepared for the storm, the importance of collaboration with other firms and legal aid organizations during a crisis, and how the technology they utilized to organize airport lawyering to address the Muslim travel ban was applied to their response to the hurricane. Spend 25 minutes and hear about Ellyn’s compelling experiences during one

Gifts that Give Back

December 14, 2017

Happy Holidays from all of us at The PBEye! Choosing the perfect gift during the holiday season can be a challenge. Fortunately, we are here to help with even more of our favorite gift ideas that also give back. Need a gift for your favorite runner or yogi? Check out Love Bottle. For every bottle purchased, the company donates 5% of every purchase to Global Water, a nonprofit dedicated to making safe drinking water accessible. As the weather gets colder, winter accessories are a great gift. Love Your Melon offers stylish hats but the company also donates 50% of all

Spark for Change: Eisai’s Legal Department Prepares End of Life Documents for Cancer Patients

December 12, 2017

A sign at Eisai “Human health care” (hhc) is an integral part of the corporate philosophy of Eisai Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of a Japanese pharmaceutical company. Employees are encouraged to “give [their] first thoughts to patients and their families and helping to increase the benefits health care provides.” This mission drives Eisai’s commercial as well as community service efforts; and as of 2015, its legal department’s pro bono efforts as well. On November 8, the Eisai legal department joined with co-hosts CPBO, Drescher & Cheslow, McCarter & English*†, and Volunteer Lawyers for Justice to host its third Clinic in a Box®

Justice for Juveniles Serving Life without Parole

December 7, 2017

In January 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that its 2012 decision banning mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles must be applied retroactively, granting new chances at release for hundreds of inmates serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for crimes they committed in their youth. The opinion indicated that life-without-parole sentences for juvenile offenders should be exceedingly rare and gave states two options: resentencing the affected prisoners or making them eligible for parole. At the time of the decision, there were more than 2,500 people (concentrated in California, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania) serving sentences of life without parole

CPBO’s Clinic in a Box® Program Tackles Social Media Policies for Nonprofits

November 16, 2017

In October, CPBO co-hosted a Clinic in a Box® Program in partnership with the Association of Corporate Counsel National Capital Region, D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center, and Womble Carlyle*† at the 2017 Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Annual Meeting. Every Clinic in a Box® Program – Select Topic introduces and trains volunteers on an issue of importance to nonprofits before pairing them with nonprofits to provide legal advice. This clinic took a deep dive into social media policies and online marketing compliance, subjects that concern many nonprofits and employers in general. For example, in a recent and especially high-profile case, Juli Briskman was fired

Want to Be Happy At Work?

November 16, 2017

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 yet another reason, check out Being Happy at Work Matters, a Harvard Business Review article that combats the myth that you don’t have to be happy at work to succeed. “Happy people are better workers.” “Those who are engaged with their jobs and colleagues work harder – and smarter.” Research shows that to be happy and engaged at work, people need: (1) a meaningful vision of the future; (2) a sense of purpose;

It’s Pro Bono Podcast Monday: A Conversation with Jacqui MacLennan & Lou O’Neill

November 13, 2017

This week, Jacquelyn MacLennan and Louis O’Neill of White & Case*† join PBI on the Law Firm Pro Bono Project’s podcast, the Pro Bono Happy Hour, to discuss leading the firm’s global practice group and using a “closed feedback loop” to keep pro bono lawyers informed about the impact of their work and inspire others to join them. Lou and Jacqui share management tips and describe examples of meaningful pro bono projects, such as debt-for-nature swaps and advocacy efforts to promote education and women’s rights. White & Case recently hosted a unique gathering in New York City in connection with

Lawyers Read: Refugee by Alan Gratz

November 9, 2017

Need a new book to curl up with as the temperature drops? Looking for effective ways to communicate the impact of your pro bono work and the backgrounds of some of your clients? Check out Refugee by Alan Gratz, which tells the story of three different children, living on different continents, spanning decades of time. Although the characters of this novel are from completely separate worlds, they have “one mission in common: ESCAPE.” Gratz weaves the tales of Josef, a Jewish boy living in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, Isabel, a Cuban girl experiencing riots and unrest in 1994, and