Pro Bono

Wanted: Lawyers to help with this year’s election

The Task Force for American Democracy, formed by immediate-past ABA President Mary Smith last year, is on the front lines. In recent months, its members conducted a cross-country listening tour to discuss improving public trust in the electoral process. It also released an analysis outlining current threats to elections and ways lawyers and state and local bar associations can help protect the system.

Aug 26, 2024 10:52 AM CDT

This BigLaw firm tops ‘A-List’ despite lower gross revenues

Munger, Tolles & Olson is No. 1 in a ranking of “A-List” law firms that is based on a combination of cultural and financial factors.

Aug 14, 2024 8:46 AM CDT

Billable hours for DEI work? Yes, please

Many firms already credit pro bono hours toward their attorneys’ billable hours. But what about the time attorneys devote to bar association activities and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives?

Aug 5, 2024 6:31 PM CDT

ABA will partner with White House to recruit more pro bono immigration attorneys

The Biden administration is calling on the legal community to increase its pro bono representation of individuals who are unrepresented in immigration proceedings.

Jul 18, 2024 1:25 PM CDT

Asylum-seekers in Chicago receive pro bono legal aid from ABA staff

Lawyers from across Chicago have staffed legal clinics to help migrants fill out paperwork that potentially can transform their lives, and ABA attorneys are pitching in to help.

Jul 2, 2024 11:11 AM CDT

BigLaw firm was key in launching historic Stonewall project

Over the past few years, lawyers from international law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner have devoted thousands of pro bono hours to helping create the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, set to open June 28 in New York City. It will be the first LGBTQIA+ visitor center within the National Park Service.

Jun 20, 2024 9:44 AM CDT

Can generative AI tools make it easier for lawyers to offer pro bono services?

A commonly cited solution to helping bridge the access-to-justice canyon is for lawyers to provide more pro bono work. In that regard, have generative artificial intelligence tools made it easier for lawyers to provide pro bono services?

Jun 12, 2024 8:50 AM CDT

Tikkun Olam: When public service is a sacred obligation

"Tikkun olam"—the “repair of the world.” This is not just an aspiration. For Jews, it is a sacred obligation. At least it was in my family. My parents, one of whom was a refugee from Nazi Germany, took this obligation very seriously. They were what might today be called “activists.”

Apr 4, 2024 1:33 PM CDT

Nina Olson has devoted her career to protecting taxpayer rights

When Nina Olson retired from the Internal Revenue Service in 2019, she knew her work wasn’t finished. “I kept saying, ‘I’m privileged and lucky to have been in the IRS for 18 years, and to have a sense of how the IRS works,’” she says. “I needed to share it in some way.” That same year, Olson started the Center for Taxpayer Rights.

Mar 28, 2024 2:55 PM CDT

Partner ran office ‘like a toxic boys club locker room,’ fired Thompson Hine lawyer alleges

Updated: A fired income partner at Thompson Hine has filed a gender bias lawsuit against the law firm alleging that a former vice chair of litigation ruled the firm’s New York office “like a toxic boys club locker room.”

Feb 27, 2024 1:07 PM CST

Above the Line Network launches for lawyers who work with middle-class clients

The mission of the new Above the Line Network is to bring together incubators, socially conscious law firms, nonprofit law firms and legal aid organizations to transform the delivery of legal services for the underserved middle class.

Feb 22, 2024 8:47 AM CST

Why should you resolve to support civil legal aid in 2024?

Legal Aid

Feb 1, 2024 9:29 AM CST

GC Fatheree III uses real estate law skills for history-making pro bono cases

In 2020, GC Fatheree III began what became his most notable pro bono case, representing members of a Black family in their quest to secure “Bruce’s Beach,” a stretch of oceanfront property that was taken from their ancestors nearly a century earlier by officials in Los Angeles County who cited eminent domain. It was unprecedented because, according to Fatheree, stolen property had never been returned to a Black family or community in the United States.

Feb 1, 2024 12:30 AM CST

Is BigLaw mostly liberal? SCOTUS amicus briefs indicate answer is yes, especially in significant cases

Large law firms are showing their ideological leanings in U.S. Supreme Court amicus briefs filed on behalf of likely pro bono clients, according to a study by a law professor at the University of Notre Dame.

Jan 17, 2024 3:59 PM CST

2023 was a record year for Disaster Legal Services program

It’s been a busy 12 months for the ABA Young Lawyers Division’s Disaster Legal Services program. According to Amanda Brown, the director of the program, Disaster Legal Services helped survivors navigate the aftermath of a record 23 federally declared natural disasters in 2023.

Dec 18, 2023 8:28 AM CST