We’ve all been beneficiaries of some kind of assistance, right? This week we hear from Allen Kato, associate at Fenwick & West*†. Take a listen as Kato explains why he believes it is important for lawyers to give back to the community. YouTube Link * denotes a Signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® † denotes a Member of the Law Firm Pro Bono Project
The 2013 Pro Bono Institute Annual Dinner has arrived and tonight’s the big night at Gotham Hall! That means it’s also time for Law Firm Pro Bono Project house calls in New York City and this week we’ve already met with five firms! These house calls are part of our expert consultative services program, where Law Firm Project Director Tammy Taylor and Law Firm Project Assistant Director Reena Glazer visit law firms and meet with pro bono committees, firm and office leaders, partners, and pro bono coordinators, directors, and managers to discuss trends in pro bono and to learn about
Planning is underway for the 2014 PBI Annual Conference and The PBEye has all things Conference-related on the mind. As we previously wrote, there are many meaningful ways to take the Conference home with you and continue building upon what you learn in March. For instance, you can supplement the Conference materials with even more information found in the Law Firm Pro Bono Project’s Resource Clearinghouse or you can check out the “Best of the Conference” webinars, which update and reprise some of the most popular sessions. Our friends at Alston & Bird*† took it one step further and designed
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
As The PBEye previously reported, criminal justice debt is a persistently troubling part of our nation’s criminal justice system, as there are substantial expenses incurred by offenders throughout the entire incarceration process. As states, cities, and counties face increasingly tight budget constraints, many have turned to the offenders themselves to offset some of those costs. Fees and surcharges are now imposed at nearly every stage of criminal processing, such as fees for public defenders, jail fees, court administrative fees, prosecution fees, probation fees, and more. Offenders are often saddled with overwhelming costs which they struggle to pay, resulting in additional
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,
This month marks the seventh anniversary of the annual European Pro Bono Forum, organized by PILnet (the Global Network for Public Interest Law). Hosted this year in Warsaw, Poland, the Forum brings together several hundred leaders representing law firms, in-house legal departments, bar associations, nongovernmental organizations, and law schools from around the world to focus on a variety of European and global pro bono topics. We are particularly interested in hearing this year’s keynote speaker, Shirin Ebadi, co-founder of the Centre for Supporters of Human Rights and the Association for the Support of Children’s Rights, both in Iran. Ebadi received
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
There are many indications that law firm pro bono has hit critical mass – law firm pro bono brochures and videos, questions about pro bono in RFPs from corporate clients, cocktail party talk about pro bono work – but one sure sign is the prevalence of pro bono in popular culture, including documentaries, books, and prime-time television. As we’ve reported previously, lawyers at Lockhart Gardner, the fictional law firm at the center of “The Good Wife,” a successful CBS series, do a lot of pro bono work. During one of its first episodes, a firm managing partner emphasized that “like
What do 39 of the Law Firm Pro Bono Project’s Member Firms and/or Challenge Signatories have in common? They rank among the top 50 Best Law Firms for Women according to the Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers 2013 list. These law firms are leaders not just in pro bono but in advancing women’s interests. They frequently promote women to leadership positions, offer generous parental leave, and allow flexible schedules and telecommuting. It turns out that family-friendly firms also tend to support successful pro bono programs and vice versa; the two go hand-in-hand. Indeed, there are notable parallels between efforts to
