Pro Bono

All citizens deserve a voice and representation. And all lawyers have an obligation to assist people and organizations that otherwise would have no access to the justice system.

We have embraced the American Bar Association’s challenge to law firms to commit three percent of their total firmwide billable hours to pro bono work, and we encourage our attorneys to contribute a significant percentage of their hours to pro bono work each year. In 2010 our attorneys, paraprofessionals, and staff devoted a great deal of time to such projects, including 20,768 attorney hours, at a value of almost $7.3 million.

Our attorneys have a broad range of interests and political philosophies, and they are free to pursue their diverse interests within the guidelines of our pro bono program. These projects are often emotionally demanding and may even involve unpopular causes or clients. But they’re always rewarding.

Our pro bono work consists of providing legal services and assistance to:

• Persons of limited means or to charitable, religious, civic, community, governmental and educational organizations in matters which are designed primarily to address the needs of persons of limited means.
• Individuals, groups or organizations seeking to secure or protect civil rights, civil liberties or public rights.
• Charitable, religious, civic, community, governmental or educational organizations in matters in furtherance of their organizational purposes, where the payment of standard legal fees would significantly deplete the organization's economic resources or would be otherwise inappropriate.

For more information about our pro bono programs, please contact , coordinator, Pro Bono & Public Service Committee.