Pro Bono Institute® (PBI®) will honor Pfizer Inc., in partnership with DLA Piper with the Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO) Pro Bono Partner Award. Honorees for this award have a demonstrated and sustained impact addressing a critical legal need in a vulnerable community through pro bono legal work. CPBO, a project of PBI, 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.
“The Pfizer and DLA Piper pro bono partnership is a model of the great work a sustainable collaboration can do,” said Eve Runyon, PBI President and CEO. “We applaud them for innovative projects that can be community based and domestic or far-reaching and global.”
Pfizer and DLA’s long-term partnership over the past 15 years has focused on sustainable pro bono projects with legal services and public interest organizations. Together they have worked to create diverse efforts to expand access to justice, and those efforts have remained strong throughout the pandemic, including expansion into new initiatives and pro bono service models. Their projects include:
- A decade-long legal clinic with the New York Legal Assistance Group that provides pro bono legal services to cancer patients;
- A partnership with the National Center for Access to Justice, Deloitte and others to revise the Justice Index to increase access to justice in state courts across the United States;
- An innovative multi-year project to help train the next generation of lawyers and build capacity within the legal community in Zambia through week-long legal research and writing courses; and
- Representation of immigrant children together with Kids In Need of Defense.
“We are truly honored to receive the CPBO Pro Bono Partner Award together with DLA Piper, which has been a critical pro bono partner to Pfizer for many years,” said Pfizer General Counsel and Executive Vice President Doug Lankler. “Thank you to our public interest partners, our pro bono team, and all the Pfizer and DLA Piper volunteers who have generously given their time to help individuals and communities in need of assistance.”
Founded in 2000, Corporate Pro Bono is the global in-house project of PBI. CPBO’s mission is to explore and identify new approaches to and resources for the provision of legal services to the poor, disadvantaged, and other individuals or groups unable to secure legal assistance to address critical problems. CPBO does so by supporting, enhancing, and transforming the pro bono efforts of in-house legal departments in the U.S. and around the world.
Founded in 1996, PBI is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization. With an unparalleled depth of knowledge, resources and expertise, PBI is the respected resource for all things pro bono. Through our work with law firms, in-house corporate legal departments, and public interest organizations, PBI is the global thought leader in exploring, identifying, evaluating, catalyzing, and taking to scale new approaches to and resources for the provision of legal services to the poor, disadvantaged, and other individuals or groups unable to secure legal assistance to address critical problems.
About Pfizer: Breakthroughs That Change Patients’ Lives
Pfizer applies science and global resources to bring therapies to people that extend and significantly improve their lives. Consistent with our responsibility as one of the world’s premier innovative biopharmaceutical companies, we collaborate with healthcare providers, governments and local communities to support and expand access to reliable, affordable healthcare globally. For more than 170 years, we have worked to make a difference for everyone who relies on us.
Pfizer’s Legal Division is committed to pursuing equity and access to justice through our Pro Bono Program, which is built on strategic partnerships with key law firms and non-profit partners. The program currently focuses on three key areas – racial justice, healthcare, and COVID assistance – and has historically supported a broad range of programs to help people in need of legal assistance. For over 20 years, we have sponsored public interest fellowships to address unmet needs in communities across the U.S. Visit Pfizer’s website to learn more about how we are advancing health equity and social justice through community investments.
About DLA Piper Pro Bono: Courage | Compassion | Commitment
DLA Piper Pro Bono’s mission is to pursue justice in our communities and around the world by advancing gender and racial equity, advocating for children and combating hunger. We support expanding access to justice in the communities in which we work. Our aim is to be innovative and collaborative in our efforts so we can provide the best possible service to our pro bono clients.
As a global law firm, with lawyers located in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, we understand our responsibility goes beyond the cities and countries where we work. In 2005, DLA Piper established a ground-breaking international pro bono initiative, New Perimeter. A nonprofit affiliate of DLA Piper, New Perimeter provides long-term pro bono legal assistance in under-served regions around the world to support access to justice, social and economic development, and sound legal institutions, with women’s advancement as an overarching goal.
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