The 2010 Pro Bono Institute Annual Seminar/Forum on In-House Pro Bono once again featured a “Marketplace of Ideas” session, a fast-paced opportunity for presenters to share cutting-edge pro bono projects and for attendees to learn about new opportunities, offerings, infrastructure, and other pro bono developments. The common themes and trends reflected in the projects presented were strategic partnership and collaboration, macro-level management, systemic reform, building institutional capacity, and organization-wide engagement. We have assembled a brief summary of the presentations with contact information, and are pleased to share these ideas with the hope that they may serve to guide and inspire others to think creatively and strategically about pro bono projects.
This session featured Brita Horvath (facilitator and moderator), Diversity and Pro Bono Coordinator at Baker & Daniels LLP*; Marlene Halpern, Supervising Attorney of the Pro Bono Practice at the Legal Aid Society; David Lash, Managing Counsel, Public Interest & Pro Bono Services at O’Melveny & Myers LLP*; Jack Regan, Co-Chairman, Public Service Committee at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP*; and Larry Schneider, Partner at Arnold & Porter LLP*.
The Legal Aid Society: “Adopt a Building” Project
Marlene Halpern presented the Legal Aid Society in New York’s “Adopt a Building” project, where law firms provide pro bono representation to most, if not all, of the tenants in a residential building who are being endangered by a landlord’s failure to maintain the upkeep of the building. The economic recession hit low-income people and families especially hard, forcing many of those families and individuals out of their homes and into homeless shelters because of the uninhabitable conditions of their homes. The failure of landlords to maintain the upkeep of the buildings resulted in hazardous and squalid living situations for the tenants. The “Adopt a Building” project addresses that problem systemically, rather than on a case-by-case basis, to help even more people obtain adequate living quarters.
The Legal Aid Society began the project by identifying the buildings that needed the most attention and ensuring that the client’s buildings met the legal aid eligibility guidelines. The Legal Aid Society then approached firms in the New York area and asked them to take on a building and represent all of the tenants. Each matter included roughly 20 tenants from each building, although most, if not all, of the cases involved substantially similar facts and legal issues. The Legal Aid Society supervised and trained the pro bono attorneys. A typical team consisted of a lead partner/counsel along with a senior and junior associate.
While many tenants have had their lives improve as a result of this project, the Legal Aid Society continues to hear from other tenants who need legal assistance, and the “Adopt a Building” project needs additional firms to take on these matters. Congratulations to the pioneering firms who were the first to “Adopt a Building:” Cooley LLP*, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP*, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP*, Jones Day, Kirkland & Ellis LLP*, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP*, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.
For more information about this project, which could be replicated in other communities, please contact Marlene Halpern.
O’Melveny & Myers LLP: Media Production Project
David Lash introduced O’Melveny’s pro bono project that works in collaboration with the film production company Participant Media (“Participant”) to raise awareness and shine a spotlight on key human rights issues. Participant creates social action campaigns individually tailored to each of its films and teams with nonprofit organizations working on the issues at the core of each theatrical release. O’Melveny provides pro bono support to the various social action campaigns, working with those nonprofits and offering specific ways for audience members, particularly lawyers, to get involved. Previous projects have focused on literacy initiatives and election protection issues. Participant’s movies have included “The Cove,” a film that focused on the grisly nature of dolphin hunting and slaughtering in local fishing villages in Japan, “The Kite Runner,” a movie that brought attention to the war in Afghanistan, and the Academy Award winning documentary featuring former Vice-President Al Gore, “An Inconvenient Truth.”
Currently, O’Melveny is focusing its attention on immigration issues, which was inspired by the release of “The Visitor.” This movie centered on the story of two young immigrants who unwittingly get caught up in the detention system. In the movie, the main character is detained and never released. It shows and tracks the devastating impact on his life and his family. In conjunction with the movie’s release, O’Melveny launched a program to coordinate volunteer lawyers to represent detained immigrants in bond proceedings. Bond hearings are the tipping point in the life of any immigrant detainee because if they are bond eligible and can be released from detention, they are able to reunite with their families and their chance of success on the merits of their claims for legal status increases substantially. The law firm created a manual to aid pro bono attorneys in doing this wonderful work and then began conducting training sessions around the country, teaming with legal aid organizations and the immigration bar in cities such as New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Although bond hearings are limited-scope-representations, many attorneys care deeply about their work with the immigrant detainees, and, even after the completion of the bond hearing process, have continued to represent and help the detainee at the next level.
This program would like to expand to communities beyond those where O’Melveny has offices. For more information about this project or to discuss how your firm can get involved, please contact David Lash. For more information on Participant Media, please visit their website.
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP: Military Legal Services Project
Jack Regan, President of the Boston Bar Association (BBA), presented a military legal services project where pro bono attorneys represent troops deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan and their families on a range of legal issues connected to the service member’s absence from home.
The project began when the US Army came to the BBA and asked for assistance. The Army explained that the families of soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan were being overwhelmed with legal issues arising from the hardships of lengthy deployments and the economy. The Army found that many soldiers and Marines were distracted in the field by legal issues at home and, once they returned home, they faced a myriad of legal issues exacerbated by the harsh reality of the economy. Many of the legal issues continue after the service members discharge from active duty and transition into veteran and civilian status.
The BBA formed a Committee for Legal Services for Veterans, Military Personnel, and their Families (the “Committee”). Through Regan’s assistance, every branch of the military serves on the Committee, including JAG officers, lawyers who are veterans, legal services lawyers, and pro bono coordinators at major law firms. The goal of the Committee was to first learn the facts and the scope of this situation, including the types of legal services needed, and then to develop the best methods to provide assistance. Most soldiers and their families don’t know how to go about finding pro bono legal assistance. The most pressing areas where legal assistance is needed are employment, family, tenancy, foreclosure, consumer credit, bankruptcy, trusts and estates, and immigration.
The BBA Committee, working with a Joint Council led by the US Army, has effectively used pre- and post-deployment Yellow Ribbon events for troops and their families to provide legal briefings on topics of interest, offer individual advice in a clinical setting, and intake individual case for follow-on representation.
For more information about the Committee and its work, please contact Jack Regan.
BBA members interested in serving on a legal subject matter panel to represent military personnel, veterans, and their families on a pro bono basis may contact Stephanie Lee, the BBA’s Public Service Assistant.
Arnold & Porter LLP: Immigration Report
Larry Schneider discussed Arnold & Porter’s preparation, on behalf of the ABA Commission on Immigration, of a 500-page report on “Reforming the Immigration System: Proposals to Promote Independence, Fairness, Efficiency, and Professionalism in the Adjudication of Removal Cases.” Schneider briefly explained his long history at Arnold & Porter of working on pro bono immigration issues, and his efforts starting in mid-2008 to prepare for the ABA Commission on Immigration a comprehensive report on the system for determining whether to remove (deport) noncitizens from the United States. From this extensive background, and along with other Arnold & Porter attorneys, he began looking at the current immigration system for adjudicating removal cases. The group found that the number of immigration removal cases has expanded exponentially, and, especially in recent years, the system is completely overwhelmed. They thought that Arnold & Porter would be interested in tackling this issue firm-wide, so Schneider sent an email around to gauge other attorney interest. In light of the large number of attorneys and legal assistants interested in working on this project, six subgroups were formed to analyze various aspects of the immigration removal system.
Over the course of 18 months, more than 50 Arnold & Porter attorneys and legal assistants researched, investigated, conducted interviews of judges, practitioners, immigration-related organizations, and academics, and prepared the study of the US adjudication system for the removal of noncitizens. They spent about 13,000 hours doing the research, conducting interviews, and preparing the report. The final product provided background information on immigration in the US, the current state of the system, and proposed recommendations on improvements to the system. The key findings and recommendations covered six areas of concern: Department of Homeland Security, Immigration Courts, Board of Immigration Appeals, Circuit Court Judicial Review, Representation, and System Restructuring.
Along with the findings and recommendations, which focused on the need for reforming and restructuring the immigration court system, they also learned, throughout the course of the project that large law firms can pull together, organize, and work on large, collaborative pro bono projects that can make a significant contribution on public policy issues.
For more information on the immigration work of Arnold & Porter and on the immigration report itself, please visit here and here or contact Larry Schneider.
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The Pro Bono Institute commends the creativity of all of the “Marketplace of Ideas” participants and their pro bono ideas, developments, and achievements and thanks the presenters and moderator for participating in this session and for providing updates for this summary. We look forward to learning more and sharing other ideas and projects at the 2011 Seminar/Forum in Washington, DC on March 3-5, 2011. We invite those wishing to serve as presenters to submit brief proposals in advance describing their initiatives, to ensure adequate time and capacity for all presentations. Please send submissions to Jennafer Bonello, Executive Assistant to the President.
*Signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge®
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