On June 26, 2009, Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO), a national partnership project of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and the Pro Bono Institute, the Bay Area Chapter of ACC, the Volunteer Legal Services Program of the Bar Association of San Francisco (VLSP), and Fenwick & West LLP hosted the Bay Area Onsite Pro Bono Clinic.  The clinic implemented the off-the-shelf clinic model developed by CPBO – Clinic in a Box℠ – and attracted 54 volunteers from corporate legal departments throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Hewlett-Packard Company, The Clorox Company, Sun Microsystems, Inc., United Health Care, and Altera Corporation.

Thanks to the efforts of the Bay Area Chapter of ACC, which recruited the in-house volunteers, and the VLSP, which invited the nonprofit clients, this was the largest Clinic in a Box℠ hosted by CPBO since the inception of the model over five years ago.  The record number of volunteers provided much needed legal counsel to 16 local nonprofit organizations.  As the Clinic and the chapter pro bono marketing effort demonstrate, the Bay Area’s in-house community has a vibrant and growing pro bono culture.

Held at the Fenwick & West offices, the clinic consisted of two sessions. During the first session, a team of expert attorneys from provided CLE training to the in-house volunteers and addressed some of the most common legal needs nonprofit organizations have: corporate governance, tax, intellectual property, and employment.  The Fenwick team also developed comprehensive training materials for the volunteers and remained available throughout the second session of the clinic to answer any questions the in-house volunteers may have had.

During the second session, the volunteer attorneys met with representatives from the local nonprofit organizations to provide pro bono legal assistance and conduct an “audit” of the organizations to ensure they were in good legal health.  All of the organizations that received this assistance provide invaluable services to communities in the Bay Area and would have otherwise been unable to obtain needed legal advice.

While not a requirement of the clinic – a four-hour time commitment from the volunteers – many of the Bay Area in-house counsel decided to continue to provide ongoing legal assistance to the nonprofit clients they worked with during the clinic.

For more information about Clinic in a Box℠, contact Eve Runyon, director of CPBO, at cpbo@acc.org.

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