Global Spotlight: Combating Human Trafficking

In recognition of the thousands of men, women and children who fall prey to human trafficking in the U.S. every year, January has been declared Human Trafficking and Slavery Awareness and Prevention Month.  According to the Global Freedom Center: Modern slavery, or human trafficking, is the reprehensible practice of holding another in compelled service using whatever means necessary, be it physical or psychological. Anywhere between 12 [and] 27 million people are held in slavery around the world today – men, women, and children coerced into bonded labor, forced or sold into prostitution, held in domestic servitude, and enslaved in agricultural fields

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CPBO Spotlight On: Nationwide

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company** adopted a formal pro bono program in 2007.  Members of the legal department gathered to discuss opportunities, potential obstacles, and how the program should be structured and then presented a proposal to Executive Vice President and Chief Legal and Governance Officer Pat Hatler. She embraced the team’s ideas and recommendations, and the legal department kicked off its pro bono program by co-hosting a Clinic in a BoxSM program with CPBO.  The clinic brought together nearly 40 lawyers, paralegals, and administrative staff to provide legal assistance to central Ohio nonprofit organizations.  The success of the clinic provided a

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Pro Bono Risk Management–Update

In October, in connection with the Maples v. Thomas oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court, The PBEye offered guidance on risk management and best practices that pro bono lawyers should consider implementing with regards to supervision of pro bono work and the treatment of pro bono matters when the attorney primarily responsible for the matter leaves the law firm or legal department.   During our 2012 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., we’ll have the chance to explore in greater depth these particular pro bono quality control and risk management issues and steps you can take to address them. In case

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Canada Embraces Medical-Legal Partnerships

Good legal help is hard to find.  Particularly for the low-income parents of a sick child who pass countless hours in hospital waiting rooms and at their child’s bedside.  Attorney Lee Ann Chapman told The Star: Having a sick child can bring about a domino effect.  Families sometimes let important, practical issues slide because they’re so focused on their child’s health.  Often they have no idea of their rights and have never had access to legal information.  Sometimes they are quite desperate. Enter The Hospital For Sick Children (SickKids) and Pro Bono Law Ontario (PBLO), who’ve teamed up to deliver

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CPBO Spotlight On: Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company that makes corporate citizenship a priority. From its Skills to Succeed initiative that aims to equip 250,000 people worldwide with the skills to get a job or build a business, to environmental stewardship to pro bono work and corporate giving, Accenture and its people are working to making a sustainable difference in communities around the world.  With such a serious company commitment to doing social good, it is no wonder that Accenture’s legal department boasts an exceptional pro bono program.  Under the helm of Accenture General Counsel, Secretary &

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Pro Bono and the Crisis in Indigent Defense

As The PBEye previously reported, many firms devote a great amount of pro bono time and resources to the defense of low-income individuals charged with crimes, often wrongfully.  Inspiring recent examples by our Member firms and Challenge Signatories include:  Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP* obtained a new trial for former death row inmate Erksine Johnson when a Tennessee appeals court vacated his 1985 felony murder conviction.  The decision was a result of new evidence discovered by a Cleary team, made up of more than 25 firm lawyers, that over the past 15 years has spent at least 15,000 hours

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Forced Marriage in the U.S.

Would it surprise you to learn that, every year in the U.S., thousands of women and girls are forced into marriages against their will?  The recently released results of a national survey conducted by the Tahirih Justice Center revealed more than 3,000 known and suspected cases of forced marriage in the past two years, alone, and Tahirih Executive Director Layli Miller-Muro recently told Newsweek, “We’ve already learned enough in the survey to tell us we’re just hitting the tip of the iceberg.”  In many of these cases, death threats were among the arsenal of tactics used by families to coerce

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Guest Blog: BNY Mellon’s Pro Bono Program

The Bank of New York Mellon recently launched its pro bono program.  Learn more about it below. Why Global Pro Bono at BNY Mellon? When Jane Sherburne, BNY Mellon’s general counsel, asked me to chair a new Global Pro Bono Program 10 months ago, I didn’t hesitate.  Jane has been a significant supporter of pro bono service, noting that it reflects BNY Mellon’s commitment to making our communities better places to live and work, and is fundamental to our team-oriented business culture and core values: trust, teamwork, client focus and outperformance. For perspective, in 2010, BNY Mellon and its employees around

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VIDEO: The New Faces of Pro Bono

With the recent economic crises, many people have been impacted in a way they may never have expected.  For some insight on this The PBEye spoke to longtime PBI friend and Board Member Laurie Zelon, associate justice on the California Courts of Appeal, about the increasing trend of middle classes families that are finding themselves in need of legal services for the first time and aren’t aware that help exists for them.  Zelon explains that since needs have changed, the leadership of firms and courts need to cooperate to find ways to efficiently reach and assists those in dire straits.   She

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Minnesota Legal Departments Lead in Pro Bono

Four months since Corporate Pro Bono last visited Minnesota, CPBO was back to attend the Regional Convocation in Minneapolis and meet one-on-one with a number of the state’s leading companies, whose in-house attorneys dedicate their time and legal skills to their communities.  In particular, CPBO met with pro bono attorneys and staff from 3M Company**, Best Buy Co., Inc.**, Cargill, Incorporated, and Target Corporation, and gained further insight into each organization’s pro bono activities. The first stop on the itinerary was lunch with Mike Skoglund at Cargill, where CPBO learned more about Cargill’s pro bono efforts, including a joint project with

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