CPBO Pro Bono Partner Award Nominations

It’s that time again – submit your nominations for the 2012 CPBO Pro Bono Partner Award.  The Partner Award recognizes innovative team approaches to pro bono work involving in-house legal departments, law firms, and public interest groups.  Recipients of the award must include at least one legal department and one or more law firms and/or public interest group partners.  CPBO will present the award at the Pro Bono Institute Annual Dinner on November 15, 2012, in New York.

CPBO presented last year’s award to Verizon Communications Inc.**, in partnership with DLA Piper LLP*†, for their collaborative effort to address veterans, education, and domestic violence issues through pro bono work.  Previous awardees include Accenture plc**, Caterpillar Inc.**, and Merck & Co., Inc.** in partnership with Baker & McKenzie*† and PILnet; Aetna Inc.**with Lawyers for Children America and Bet Tzedek Legal Services in cooperation with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP*†; The Williams Companies, Inc.** in partnership with Hall, Estill, Hardwick, Gable, Golden & Nelson, P.C., and Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma; 3M Company** with Children’s Law Center of Minnesota; Microsoft Corporation** and Volunteer Advocates for Immigrant Justice with collaborating law firms Davis Wright Tremaine LLP*†, Dorsey & Whitney LLP*†, Heller Ehrman LLP, Holland & Knight LLP*†, Perkins Coie LLP*†, Preston Gates & Ellis LLP, and Riddell Williams P.S.

Nominations are due April 27, 2012, and may be submitted either electronically or in hard copy to CPBO.  For more information about the award or to request a nomination form, please contact Eve Runyon at 202.729.6699.

* denotes a Signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge®
† denotes a Member of the Law Firm Pro Bono Project
**denotes a Signatory to the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge^SM

Faces of Pro Bono

Tonight’s the night!  The Pro Bono Institute’s Annual Dinner will be held tonight in New York.  Co-Chaired by Ford Motor Company*‘s David Leitch and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP*‘s William Lee, the Dinner is sure to be a smashing success. 

This year’s Dinner will honor Morrison & Foerster LLP* with the John H. Pickering Award and the partnership of Verizon Communications Inc.** and DLA Piper LLP* with the CPBO Partner Award for their outstanding achievements and commitment to pro bono.  The Dinner will also celebrate the 15th anniversary of the founding of PBI. 

The PBEye is especially excited about the Dinner’s special guest, Dewey Bozella, who was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent 26 years in prison. He was released in 2008 thanks to the hard work of attorneys at WilmerHale, who took his case pro bono.  An amateur boxer, Bozella recently won his first professional bout. 

Be sure to check back with The PBEye for photo and video highlights from the Dinner in coming weeks.  We’re taking tomorrow off, and will be back on Monday.  In the meantime, check out more information about this year’s event, and relive past year’s Dinners.

TKO for Pro Bono

The PBEye sends special congratulations to Dewey Bozella on winning his first and only professional boxing match on Saturday.  As we’ve reported on this blog previously, Bozella was an amateur boxer when he as wrongfully convicted of murder and spent 26 years in prison.  He was released in 2008 thanks to the hard work of attorneys at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP*, which took his case pro bono.

Incidentally, Bozella will be our special guest at the 2011 PBI Annual Dinner in New York.  Bozella’s story is truly inspiring and reminds us of the importance of pro bono in closing the justice gap.  We hope that you’ll joins us Nov. 5 at Gotham Hall to hear Bozella speak and to celebrate another year of amazing accomplishments in pro bono.  (Get all the information you need about the Annual Dinner here.)

Below is a trio of stories from ESPN that cover various aspects of Bozella’s journey.

Barack Obama calls Dewey Bozella

Dewey Bozella wins pro boxing debut

Bozella’s relentlessness wins out again

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

Save the Date for Faces of Pro Bono

The PBEye is excited to announce that the Pro Bono Institute Annual Dinner will be held on November 3, 2011 in New York.  A perennial favorite, this year’s dinner will focus on the “Faces of Pro Bono,” in conjunction with PBI’s 15th Anniversary year.  Be sure to watch this space for more information about the dinner, speakers, awardees, and other exciting developments in the evening’s program.  And in the meantime, you can check out highlights from last year’s dinner, here.

Award-Worthy In-House Pro Bono, Anyone?

Do you know of an exceptional pro bono partnership project undertaken by an in-house legal department? Corporate Pro Bono is now accepting applications for the Corporate Pro Bono Partner Award, which recognizes innovative team approaches to pro bono work involving an in-house legal department.

Recipients of the award may comprise a two-way (i.e. one legal department with one law firm or a public interest group) or three-way (e.g. a legal department, a law firm, and a public interest group) partnership.  The criteria for selection will be:

1.) A legal pro bono project that has a demonstrated impact on its community/target group;
2.) Substantial involvement by in-house lawyers;
3.) Tangible steps toward making the partnership sustained; and
4.) Innovative substantive and/or structural (e.g., delivery model) approaches to the effort.

The award will be presented at the Pro Bono Institute Annual Dinner in New York on November 3, 2011. Winners will be receive mention in publications by Association of Corporate Counsel*, Pro Bono Institute, and CPBO.

Please submit four copies of your nomination by June 3, 2011 to Eve Runyon, project director, Corporate Pro Bono c/o Pro Bono Institute, 1025 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036.  For more information about the award or the nominations process, please contact Eve Runyon, CPBO director, at 202.729.6694.

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