Coming Soon: Law Firm Project Membership

The time is quickly approaching when your firm will be able to sign up or renew as a Member of the Law Firm Pro Bono Project for 2011-2012.  Be sure to check your inbox next week for a membership form.

Forms received before September 1, 2011 will receive a 10 percent discount.   And new and exciting benefits will be available to Members this year, such as deeper discounts for registration to the 2012 Seminar/Forum, access to new regional leadership convocations, and all PBI publications free of charge!

Special congratulations to our first renewing Member firm of 2011-2012: Troutman Sanders LLP.  We look forward to welcoming new Member firms in the coming weeks.

CPBO Spotlight On: Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has been a pro bono leader among Canadian companies. RBC’s success is in large part due to the support of Executive Vice President and General Counsel David Allgood. 

David Allgood, Executive Vice President and General Counsel

Under his supervision, in 2007, RBC adopted a formal pro bono policy and its program has continued to flourish.  With approximately 150 lawyers worldwide, the legal department has provided a wide variety of work for nonprofit organizations, including assistance with incorporation, governance, charitable tax status, employment and real estate issues, legal risk assessments, and the development of policies.  In addition, RBC is involved in a variety of impactful legal pro bono projects, including those listed below.

Small Claims Court Duty Counsel Project
RBC lawyers partner with the law firms of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP and McMillan to serve as duty counsel at the small claims court.  As duty counsel, RBC lawyers assist eligible individuals in a range of ways, from providing advice and assessing the merits of their cases to advocating at brief appearances in small claims actions.

Volunteer Lawyer Services (VLS)
A group of RBC lawyers have volunteered to serve as presenters for the Volunteer Lawyer Service Seminar Series.  The series covers a variety of legal topics of interest to nonprofit organizations and is provided to nonprofits as a valuable resource.  Sample topics include employment law and policy development.

RBC lawyers have also provided advice and assistance to numerous nonprofits facing a range of legal issues.  For example, two lawyers assisted an organization with amending their bylaws with respect to board members and yearly fees.  The volunteers provided two sets of bylaws, and continue to assist the organization when necessary.  Another lawyer assisted an organization apply for federal funding, which ultimately enabled the organization to expand its programs to local schools.

In 2010, RBC lawyers contributed more than 150 hours of pro bono and community service work through VLS projects.

Unaccompanied Minors Project
Last year, with the approval of the Federal Immigration and Refugee Board, members of RBC’s legal department began working with The Unaccompanied Minors Project to assist unaccompanied children in Canada.  Often these children are sent to Canada by family members desperate to help the child escape compromising circumstances.

The Unaccompanied Minors Project is a partnership between McCarthy Tétrault LLP, Pro Bono Law Ontario, the Immigration and Refugee Board, and Peel Children’s Aid.

Pro Bono Law Ontario (PBLO) and Wellspring Cancer Support Foundation
PBLO and Wellspring have partnered to administer a program called Money Matters, which provides legal assistance to individuals living with cancer who have encountered employment and disability legal issues.  One RBC legal department member attends the clinics to offer advice on human rights, disability insurance coverage, and other employment related topics to cancer survivors participating in the program.

Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)
KIND, like the Unaccompanied Minors Project, is an organization that assists unaccompanied immigrant children in need of legal counsel in the United States.  Each year, KIND provides pro bono legal representation for the approximately 8,000 children who arrive in the United States separated from their families.  Members of RBC’s legal department in New York have partnered with Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP* in order to provide representation to these children.

*denotes a Signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge^®

Pro Bono Weathers Rough Economy

As promised, PBI‘s Law Firm Pro Bono Project released its annual report of pro bono participation at large law firms today.  The Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge^® report examines the 2010 pro bono activities of firms that have signed on to the Challenge.  In 2010, attorneys from 138 firms completed more than 4.45 million hours of pro bono service, the third highest year on record!

The executive summary notes:

• Overall Challenge Performance — Reporting firms completed a total of 4,451,009 hours of pro bono work, the third highest year in the history of the Challenge.

• Service to Persons of Limited Means — Challenge firms increased their service to persons of limited means this year, donating 2,840,382 hours or 64%, an increase of 3% over the previous year.

• Participation — Reduced headcounts at firms impacted the number of attorneys participating in pro bono, down slightly from 2009.

• Litigation/Non-Litigation Hours — Nearly 1.5 million hours were spent on litigation-related matters for the poor, while 595,415 hours were spent on non-litigation matters.

• Regional Analysis — Pro bono service is broken down by regions in the country, with firms in the Northeast (with the most firms – over 44 – reporting) having the highest percentage of pro bono hours, 4%.

Challenge Signatory firms Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP and Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP both had strong years for pro bono in 2010.  The PBEye was pleased to hear from the leadership at each firm. 

“The economic downturn has certainly impacted firms across the country, but times are even tougher for our pro bono clients,” said Steven H. Davis, chairman of Dewey & LeBoeuf. “Pro bono is a valuable resource to the attorneys at our firm. Since our lawyers are even busier, we must look for new and creative ways to identify meaningful, rewarding, and challenging pro bono matters that will, in turn, help our attorneys – from junior associates to seasoned partners – develop professionally.”

“We have increased our focus on pro bono, despite the changes and administrative challenges we’ve faced due to the recession,” Greg Nitzkowski, managing partner of Paul Hastings noted. “Our firm has worked hard to send the message to all of our attorneys that pro bono is a core value of this firm in good times and in bad.”

PBI President and CEO Esther F. Lardent weighed in on the report as well, “What we are seeing is that pro bono, while institutionalized in firms, is facing challenges due to decreased headcounts and heavier workloads.  This year is still the third highest ever, so while troubling, the bottom has not dropped out and we are cautiously optimistic that pro bono will continue to be a very high priority at firms.”

You can read the complete report here and the full press release here.  For more from Esther on what this report means for large law firms, check out the video below.

Canuck Corporations Embrace Pro Bono

Teen sensation Justin Bieber ain’t the only hot ticket out of Ontario these days. This evening at the happy hour, the Ontario Chapter of the Association for Corporate Counsel will team up with Pro Bono Law Ontario to launch the IN Your Corner campaign over cocktails!

The campaign encourages corporate legal departments to partner up with local legal service providers to offer turnkey pro bono opportunities to corporate lawyers and transform in-house legal culture. The Volunteer Lawyers Service, Child Advocacy Project’s Education Law Program, and Law Help Ontario are among the NGOs that will harness in-house legal talent to assist persons of limited means.

In a show of support for this pro bono initiative, special guest Laurie Pawlitza, treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada, will help kick off tonight’s shindig.

Mad props from The PBEye to Ontario’s corporate legal community for its commitment to enhance access to justice through in-house pro bono.

Are you in the know about an exciting emerging pro bono initiative abroad? Tell us all about it.

Coming Soon: Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® Report

The Pro Bono Institute will be releasing its report on the 2010 pro bono performance of Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge^® Signatory Firms next week. With 138 of the nation’s largest law firms reporting their pro bono statistics for last year to the Pro Bono Institute, we are able to provide an accurate picture of the law firm pro bono landscape. This year’s numbers offer an interesting perspective on how large firms are institutionalizing pro bono in firm culture.

Each year PBI’s report examines the hours of pro bono performed by attorneys in large law firms, the level of participation by partners and associates, service to persons of limited means and organizations serving those of limited means, and charitable giving to legal services organizations, among other topics. The PBEye is anxious to see how firms have fared in light of the global economic crisis, reduced headcounts, associate anxiety, and an uneven recovery admid other concerns that have faced firms since 2008. Historically, we know that pro bono has been impacted in the years following a downturn in the economy, but that it remains a critical part of firm culture.

We got a glimpse in to what may be included in the 2010 report when the Law Firm Pro Bono Project conducted a mid-year survey of firms’ 2010 numbers. At that time, we learned that some firms were experiencing a dip in pro bono participation, while others remained steady or increased. In 2009, 134 of the nation’s law firms performed 4,867,820 hours of pro bono work, which amounted to an increase of nearly 24,000 hours from 2008. That year, firms donated 2,962,028 hours of pro bono service to individuals of limited means or organizations serving them, more than 60 percent of total pro bono hours, as compared to 3,761,722 hours (77 percent of total pro bono hours) in 2008. This decline in providing service to individuals of limited means was likely a result of the deep cuts at public interest organizations and the resulting impact on those organizations’ abilities to screen clients and effectively utilize pro bono resources. Both 2008 and 2009 were record-breaking years for pro bono service, demonstrating that even when times are tough, attorneys are committed to pitching in for the greater good.

Stay tuned for the complete 2010 results coming soon in the full report, next week.  To view the 2009 Challenge Report, click here.

How has your firm fared? Share your thoughts on pro bono hours and participation in the comments below.

Exclusive Pro Bono Film Screening

The PBEye is pleased to report that for those of you who missed the documentary “Crime After Crime” at D.C.’s International Film Festival in April, all hope is not lost!  The film won’t officially be released until July, but we have just gotten word of an advance screening at the West End Cinema this Friday, June 24 at 11 a.m.

You may recall that The PBEye featured “Crime After Crime” way back in January.  The film follows the work of two pro bono lawyers (Nadia Costa and Joshua Safran) from Bingham McCutchen LLP* as they represent Deborah Peagler, a woman imprisoned in California for her connection with her boyfriend’s murder.

Prior to his murder, Peagler’s boyfriend had physically abused her and forced her into prostitution.  20 years into her 26-year prison sentence, a new penal code was introduced in California that allowed for the reopening of a case if domestic abuse had played a part.  Director Yoav Potash has created a film that exposes the sad truth that 80 percent of women in U.S. prisons are survivors of rape or domestic violence.   You can learn more about the film on the website, here.

“Crime After Crime” will kick off its opening in New York City on July 1 and is coming back to the West End Cinema in Washington, D.C. on July 15.  Our friend, filmmaker Yoav Potash will attend select screenings during opening weekend and West End will run daily showings through July 21.  But remember, you can catch it first at the West End Cinema on June 24 at 11 a.m.

Other major cities featured on the film’s premier tour are Los Angeles, Atlanta, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Denver, Albuquerque, Seattle, and Dallas.

For those of you looking to attend a screening in D.C. between July 15 and July 21: discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. For more information, email sara@filmpresence.com.

Trust us, we saw the film when it was here in April, and it is one you won’t want to miss!

Have you seen the film?  Are you planning to go this week?  Let us know what you think!

*denotes a Signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge^®

*Hat tip to PBI Intern Lauren Rabb for her help with this post

Happy Trails

Two top leaders and longtime friends of the Pro Bono Institute will depart the Association of Corporate Counsel* (ACC) at the end of this month.  Fred Krebs, president, and Susan Hackett, senior vice president and general counsel, have each been at ACC for more than two decades and throughout their tenure have been consistent and strong supporters of in-house pro bono and Corporate Pro Bono. 

Under Krebs’ direction, ACC grew from a small organization to the leading global organization addressing the needs of in-house counsel.  PBI partnered with ACC eleven years ago to form CPBO.  Since that time, Hackett has served as ACC’s liaison to the project as the leader of ACC’s pro bono and diversity initiatives.  Her work with CPBO exemplifies her ingenuity, passion and foresight.  Before in-house pro bono became a growing trend, she understood the value in and importance of providing support to in-house pro bono initiatives.   

CPBO regularly works with ACC members and chapters, providing consulting services to help support and grow in-house pro bono programs.  In addition, CPBO has planned Clinic in a Box^SM programs with multiple ACC chapters across the country, including a clinic with the Chicago ACC Chapter this past month.  CPBO will host a clinic in July with the Minnesota ACC Chapter. 

The PBEye is sad to see such great friends of CPBO depart ACC, but we know they’ll be tremendously successful in their future endeavors.  All the best, Fred and Susan!

*denotes Signatory to the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge^SM

VIDEO: How Pro Bono Can Help Firms Recover

Last week we brought you The Evolving Law Firm Business Model and its Impact on Pro Bono, a webinar on how law firms have dealt with the economic crisis and are responding to a new market (on demand version coming soon).  This week we have a few words from our friend Marlene Halpern at The Legal Aid Society on a related topic.  Halpern, supervising attorney for pro bono at Legal Aid, talks about firms’ recovery from the economic crisis as an emerging issue and practical ways it intersects with the need for pro bono services for the poor.

Pro Bono and Employee Engagement

Last Friday, our friends at Deloitte* celebrated their 12th annual IMPACT Day, a national day of service during which employees devote the day to volunteerism.  More than 50,000 employees participated this year, volunteering at more than 800 events nationwide.  Some of these volunteer projects were skills-based and allowed employees to use their business knowledge and expertise in order to help a good cause—in other words, they were pro bono projects.

IMPACT Day encourages Deloitte employees to contribute to their communities, but the benefits don’t stop there.  Each year, Deloitte conducts its IMPACT Survey to explore trends and issues in corporate philanthropy.  Deloitte’s 2011 IMPACT Survey studies the relationship between workplace volunteerism and employee engagement for individuals aged 21-35 (an age group dubbed “millenials”).  Millenials are “often described as the most civic-minded generation to come along since World War II.”  Here are some of the survey’s key findings:

Compared to those who rarely or never volunteer, millenials who frequently volunteer are:

• More likely to be proud, loyal, and satisfied employees;
• Two times more likely to rate their corporate culture “very positive”;
• Nearly twice as likely to be very satisfied with the progression of their career; and
• More likely to recommend their company to a friend.

More than half of the millenials surveyed (51%) want volunteerism to benefit them professionally.

The PBEye believes the same link exists between pro bono work and attorney engagement.  Law firms can engage their attorneys, at all stages of their careers, through pro bono work, creating a culture of service, shared values, and inclusion.  Attorneys who are “engaged” in the firm are more devoted to staying at the firm and are committed to contributing their best efforts.

Share your thoughts and leave a comment:  How does your firm’s pro bono work foster attorney engagement?

* denotes a Signatory to the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge^SM

Hat tip to PBI intern Jessica Brierly-Snowden for her help with this post.

The Wire’s Got a New Look!

We’ve got a lot to celebrate here at The PBEye, as our sister publication, The Pro Bono Wire has a snazzy new look!  It’s still the same great content, but now with a more user-friendly, easily accessible design.  This month’s e-newsletter is chock full of goodies that you won’t want to miss, too. 

• The Letter From Esther focuses on what she calls “Structural Injustice” and the barriers in access to justice.  
• Interesting recaps of the Marketplace of Ideas from the Seminar/Forum and the recent In-House Counsel Pro Bono Forum have lots of tidbits you can use!
• Corporate Pro Bono‘s recent Benchmarking Survey is highlighted.
• And our friends at the Hewlett-Packard Company* share their experiences doing pro bono for veterans.

So . . . we hope you won’t think us rude for asking, but what do you think of The Pro Bono Wire’s facelift?  We’d love to hear what you think. 

*denotes a Signatory to the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge^SM