At the 2010 ACC Annual Meeting, the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), a Signatory to the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge℠, provided its members the opportunity to engage in and learn more about in-house pro bono. Working with Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO), ACC’s global partnership project with the Pro Bono Institute, ACC sponsored the 13th Annual CPBO Onsite Pro Bono Clinic and hosted the CPBO informational booth on the ACC Exhibit Hall Floor.

During the Onsite Pro Bono Clinic, twenty-three ACC members from across the country provided pro bono legal assistance to six Texas nonprofit organizations that together serve over 58,200 individuals. The nonprofit organizations provide assistance to a variety of groups, including low-income entrepreneurs, disadvantaged women, and Texans who lack affordable housing, among others.

The Clinic was organized by CPBO, the four Texas ACC Chapters — Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, South/ Central Texas — Texas C-BAR, and SNR Denton (a Signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge®). It began with an hour and a half training session for the volunteer attorneys led by expert attorneys Sandra R. McCandless, Douglass T. Wingo, Kelli A. Wikoff, and David C. Foster of SNR Denton.

Following the training session, the volunteers met with representatives of the nonprofit clients to conduct a legal audit of each organization. The volunteers performed the legal health check-up using a list of questions developed by CPBO and tailored to Texas state law by SNR Denton lawyers. Volunteers were able to identify legal issues of concern and provide guidance to the nonprofits as needed. Many of the nonprofits are now aware of key matters that require further attention, and a number of the volunteers will continue to provide pro bono services to the clients they served at the clinic.

In addition to the Clinic, CPBO met with ACC members at the CPBO booth in the Annual Meeting Exhibit Hall to discuss in-house pro bono. Meeting with more than 30 legal departments and ACC Chapters, CPBO addressed questions regarding how to start and formalize a pro bono program, how to increase momentum for and participation in pro bono, how to identify partners, and how to address multijurisdictional practice and malpractice insurance concerns. In-house counsel from both legal departments and Chapters with nascent and mature pro bono programs visited the booth to collect CPBO reports and publications made available. CPBO also offered a CD of materials that highlights trends in global pro bono. The CD, prepared by Latham & Watkins LLP (a Signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge®) for the Pro Bono Institute, analyzes pro bono opportunities in 42 countries around the world.

For more information about Clinics or in-house pro bono, please contact Eve Runyon, CPBO director.

Developed by Corporate Pro Bono
A global partnership project of the Pro Bono Institute and the Association of Corporate Counsel
www.cpbo.org