The Association for Corporate Counsel, PBI’s partner in launching and administering Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO), is the voice of the in-house bar.  Their commitment to pro bono has been demonstrated by the creation and development of CPBO, and, as always, in their support for their employees’ pro bono and community outreach service.  ACC’s Associate General Counsel, Jim Merklinger, recently prevailed in an interesting pro bono immigration matter.

For plenty of good reasons, in-house lawyers generally do not do nearly as much pro bono work as those in law firms, according to Rachel Epps Spears, executive director of the Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta.

The Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Initiative will host several breakfast and lunch programs across Tennessee.  The first event will be a luncheon held on August 28 in Memphis.  The purpose of the event is to give corporate counsel the opportunity to continue building relationships with local pro bono leaders and to develop local support for and participation in specific pro bono projects for corporate counsel.

An in-house intellectual property lawyer like Michael Hurst at Caterpillar Inc. rarely has the opportunity to do pro bono work. But earlier this year, the Peoria, Illinois-based heavy equipment manufacturer decided to offer free legal services to The Malawi Connection, a Michigan-based charity. When the group needed help trademarking its name and logo, Hurst jumped at the chance to assist.

It wasn’t a typical day in the life of an in-house counsel. Last August, Paulette Solinski passed through the metal doors of Holman Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison in Atmore, Alabama. Then the associate general counsel of Aon Corporation’s brokerage regulation group sat at what looked like an old metal lunch table, and stared into the eyes of her new client, Charlie Washington. He was convicted of killing an elderly couple in 2004, and has been waiting on death row for three years. Solinski was accompanied by her pro bono co-counsel, Eric Mattson, a partner at Sidley Austin.

On June 20, 2007, Bank of America Corporation’s Legal Department launched a pro bono initiative in New York, focusing on unmet local legal needs, and continuing company-wide pro bono efforts initiated in 2005. Showing support for the effort at the highest levels of the company’s legal leadership, Timothy J. Mayopoulos, Bank of America’s General Counsel, and Todd Baskin, Managing Director and Associate General Counsel and Chair of the New York Pro Bono Committee, spoke at the event, as did Pro Bono Institute President and CEO, Esther F. Lardent.  The New York initiative has also received support from Bank of America’s top management.

On June 12, 2007, representatives from corporate legal departments and law firms across Tennessee gathered at Music City Sheraton for the First Annual Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Initiative Reception and Dinner. Sponsored by the Tennessee Bar Association and the Association of Corporate Counsel, the event was designed to raise awareness and money and to demonstrate corporate counsel support for the access to justice community.

As in years past, the Corporate Pro Bono Roundtable and Networking Dinner was one of the most valuable sessions at the 2007 Forum for In-house Corporate Pro Bono. The session offered an informal and friendly environment for in-house counsel to exchange information and ideas about the most innovative and effective practices in in-house pro bono.

The Legal Department of Citigroup Inc. received the Pro Bono Institute’s 2007 Laurie D. Zelon Pro Bono Award during a well-attended reception at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. Michael S. Helfer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Citigroup Inc. accepted the award on behalf of the Legal Department. The award, given each year to an individual or organization that has provided exemplary pro bono service, was presented in conjunction with the Institute’s 2007 Pro Bono Seminar and Forum on In-house Corporate Pro Bono – a global conference that brings together major law firms, corporate legal departments, and public interest and civil rights organizations to focus on joint efforts to enhance and improve pro bono service.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO), a joint partnership of the Pro Bono Institute and the Association of Corporate Counsel, is pleased to announce that Bradford L. Smith, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft Corporation, will join the CPBO Advisory Board, effective March 3, 2007. Mr. Smith will co-chair the Advisory Board with Laura Stein, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the Clorox Company.