Pro Bono Happy Hour

The St. Louis Pro Bono Partnership is a remarkable collaboration involving three key organizations, Citigroup Inc. (Citi), Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, and the local legal aid organization, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, that are focused on providing legal support to underserved communities. The partnership is a testament to the impact that can be achieved through collaboration. From elderly clients to domestic violence victims and micro-entrepreneurs, this decade-long initiative has made a significant difference in the community. 

We spoke with Emily Elam, Head of Legal Strategic Priorities at Citi, for this Signatory Showcase podcast. Find out more about this exemplary collaboration.

In 2022, Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO), the global in-house project of Pro Bono Institute (PBI), partnered with the legal department of Entergy Corporation and Edison Electric Institute (EEI) to establish EmPOWERing Pro Bono Day. EmPOWERing Pro Bono Day is an annual day of pro bono service for volunteer attorneys and legal staff from electric and gas companies. For the past two years on EmPOWERing Pro Bono Day, Entergy has offered significant pro bono events and opportunities across jurisdictions engaging their pro bono volunteers in innovative ways.

We spoke with Christy Kane, Pro Bono Counsel at Entergy, for this Signatory Showcase episode. Listen to hear more about Entergy’s participation, community, and leadership around PBI’s annual EmPOWERing Pro Bono Day. The third annual EmPOWERing Pro Bono Day will take place on November 14, 2024.

In partnership with The Bronx Defenders, Cleary attorneys have been supporting the launch of New York State’s Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary licensing program. The first of its kind, this program prioritizes licensing individuals affected by the past criminalization of marijuana use. We spoke with Cleary Gottlieb Pro Bono Counsel, Katherine Hughes, for this PBEye Signatory Showcase podcast. Listen to Hughes speak about creating a successful program in New York that could serve as a blueprint for other states when looking towards cannabis legalization from a social equity and social justice perspective. 

In 2023, 148 members of GSK's Legal and Compliance Department global pro bono program served 160 clients,providing over 1200 hours of service. Since 2015, GSK has partnered with Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP), an organization that provides free legal services to individuals and families who experience or face homelessness in Philadelphia. GSK lawyers and legal professionals assist with securing birth certificates for clients which addresses homelessness and enables them to apply for housing. GSK also participates in HAP’s SOAR (SSI, Outreach, Access, and Recovery) project to obtain expedited rulings on Supplemental Security Income and SSDI cases to help provide income to individuals who are unable to work due to a disability.

We spoke with GSK Assistant General Counsel, Andy Boczkowski, for this special edition of the Pro Bono Happy Hour Podcast. Listen to how GSK got involved with HAP.

In 2021, Intel Corporation partnered with legal service organizations across the country to provide pro bono assistance through expungement clinics in support of their commitment to racial justice. 

With unique volunteer opportunities available for all staff, Intel was able to bring in a much larger group of volunteers beyond attorneys. Their teams quickly saw an overwhelmingly positive impact within communities both socially and financially. Since 2022, Intel has worked with well over 150 clients across the U.S. who have been successful in getting their dismissal petitions granted.

For our latest Signatory Showcase series podcast episode, we spoke with Eva Almirantearena, Intel's Vice President and Associate General Counsel in Antitrust and Commercial Litigation Group about Intel’s incredible pro bono work expunging criminal records.

ADM and Skadden formed a pro bono partnership in 2019 to create a series of pro bono days of service, including clinics hosted in Skadden’s office. Since then, they have provided pro bono legal assistance to an array of clients – and over the years the partnership has averaged in assisting 12 to 40 individuals during each clinic. ADM and Skadden have worked most recently with the National Immigrant Justice Center to assist immigrants who had obtained asylee or refugee status in filing their green card applications. Find out more about this impactful project.

In a pro bono case Milbank represented All Muslim Association of America (AMAA), a non-profit that provides low-cost burial and funeral services to Muslims in the DMV area, against a county in Virginia that created an ordinance that specifically made it impossible for AMAA to put a cemetery on their property. Milbank prevailed, resulting in the county rolling back that provision and awarding the client a large settlement in damages.

We spoke with Milbank LLP Special Counsel, Melanie Westover Yanez, for this special edition of the Pro Bono Happy Hour Podcast.

Racial Justice

On June 28, 2021, in a victory for racial justice, a settlement was announced on behalf of four residents of Baltimore’s Harlem Park, a predominately Black neighborhood, who filed a federal court lawsuit against the Baltimore City Police Department (BPD) and former Police Commissioner Kevin Davis. The residents’ lawsuit charged that their state and federal constitutional rights were violated during a six-day, multi-block lockdown of their neighborhood following the shooting death of Detective Sean Suiter. 

We spoke with Crowell & Moring Partner, Daniel Wolff, for this special edition of the Pro Bono Happy Hour Podcast.

Robins Kaplan

In a pro bono case that has drawn national attention, Robins Kaplan sued the federal government on behalf of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services closed the only emergency room on the Rosebud Reservation. On behalf of the Tribe, Robins Kaplan attorneys argued that the closure of the emergency room violated the federal government’s treaty duty to provide the Tribe with adequate health care services. 

We spoke with Robins Kaplan Partner, Tim Billion, for this special edition of the Pro Bono Happy Hour Podcast. Listen to how Robins Kaplan got involved, and how they won the case for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

Attorney Fees

In this episode, PBI interviews Chris Walters, Senior Pro Bono Counsel at Reed Smith. Chris describes Reed Smith’s successful appeal in the Ninth Circuit of a lower court’s refusal to grant Reed Smith attorney fees in conjunction with the firm’s pro bono representation of a mistreated prisoner in the California correctional system. Listen and learn about best practices when litigating claims for attorney fees in prisoner pro bono cases and how this precedent affects the pro bono community.