There once was a time in corporate legal departments nationwide when the words "pro bono" were almost as popular as the words "billable hour." But in 2007, something exciting happened: corporate legal departments became among the most creative pioneers on the civic and community public service frontier.
Today, corporate legal departments no longer are known only for their expertise in handling a broad range of legal issues; they also are known for their creative approaches to pro bono. Whether it is through flagship and signature projects or through partnering with law firms and non-profit organizations, the hallmark of an excellent corporate legal department now includes innovative opportunities for highly effective corporate citizenship through pro bono service.
While this unique approach to pro bono became clear in 2007, it actually started back in 2000 when the Pro Bono Institute (PBI) started receiving requests from corporate legal departments about how their attorneys and legal staff could engage in public service work and give back to their communities. The strong interest from in-house counsel may be attributed to the fact that many corporate attorneys, in their professional pasts, worked at private firms that emphasized the importance of pro bono, and public service organizations have put a great deal of effort into increasing new pro bono opportunities for transactional and intellectual property lawyers.
These new opportunities, which include working with entrepreneurial law clinics, helping set up 501(c)(3) organizations, and working on issues of systematic policy change, make it easy for transactional and intellectual property attorneys to engage in pro bono in their area of expertise, where traditionally the major barrier to working on pro bono included the misalignment of skill-set to interest.
To promote this exciting new trend in pro bono and to support corporate legal departments' initiative to handle public interest work, the PBI collaborated with the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and created the "Corporate Pro Bono Challenge" to help corporate departments achieve their pro bono objectives. The Challenge is simple: Each legal department provides a voluntary statement of commitment to pro bono service by its lawyers and staff.1
At first, only a handful of corporations signed on, but today the list of charter signatories has grown to some 56 of the nation's most highly regarded companies. These include Microsoft, Starbucks, 3M, Clorox, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., McDonald's, Pfizer, Xerox and many others. To view the comprehensive list of participating corporations, visit http://www.corporatepro bono.org/resources/bestPractices.cfm.
Companies such as Microsoft have created their own pro bono projects to provide in-house and on-demand pro bono opportunities for their attorneys and staff members. Microsoft's signature pro bono project, Volunteer Advocates for Immigrant Justice (VAIJ), offers free legal assistance to detained immigrants seeking asylum or other forms of relief before the immigration courts.2
VAIJ works together with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), the immigration court and the broader legal community to provide legal representation to those who have claims for relief but cannot afford to hire private counsel. [Ed. Note: Please see "Pro Bono Immigration Service: Saving the World One Person at a Time," Bar Bulletin, February 2007.] To make the most efficient use of the volunteer's time, VAIJ staff endeavor to select meritorious cases and provide intense case support throughout the entire matter by assigning a mentor attorney to the volunteer attorney.
While most companies simply allow their attorneys to volunteer at legal clinics or work closely with non-profits to contact the attorneys with opportunities, Microsoft's approach is unique - it has created its own pro bono program to assure its attorneys have direct access to public service, while providing much needed legal advocacy to immigrants. This creative model should be an inspiration to corporate legal departments in Washington and beyond, especially given the mutual benefits to attorneys and those who need access to justice.
In addition to signature projects, another equally creative (but not as utilized, because of its newness) approach to pro bono is the establishment of pro bono partnerships between law firms and corporate departments. Because it is relatively burdensome for corporate departments to undertake pro bono matters, many of them have started looking to law firms that maintain established pro bono programs to provide manageable, meaningful and discrete pro bono opportunities that align with the corporate attorneys' skill-sets and interests. This innovative approach to pro bono is effective because it makes it easy for corporate legal departments to take advantage of pro bono opportunities.
Moreover, some corporate departments take the additional step of working directly with a firm's pro bono counsel to help the department develop a pro bono business plan, show its corporate attorneys how to utilize their transactional legal skills to perform pro bono work, and arm legal departments with expertise-appropriate pro bono opportunities, thereby creating a unique and innovative pro bono project especially tailored to the needs of the company's legal team.
Just recently, the National Law Journal reported that Intel utilized a similar approach by inviting law firms to partner with attorneys at its Silicon Valley headquarters on community service projects. Encouraged by the results, Intel plans to repeat the request at three other offices this spring.3 While Intel is not the only company taking advantage of working with firms on pro bono initiatives - the list of signatories on the Pro Bono Challenge is extensive - legal departments' approach to pro bono is innovative and should be replicated from coast to coast.
This burgeoning trend in corporate pro bono that includes signature projects and legal department/law firm partnerships will undoubtedly have a positive affect on our local community and beyond. It will be exciting to watch as the new pioneers in pro bono - corporate legal departments - support their legal talent in one of the most professionally rewarding and socially influential aspects of legal practice: pro bono. n
Joanna Plichta is pro bono counsel for Foster Pepper PLLC. She directs and manages the firm's wide-ranging pro bono projects, coordinates the Summer Associate's Pro Bono Program, serves as a liaison to local public interest organizations and advises the firm on pro bono policy. Plichta maintains a general pro bono practice with a primary focus on providing legal representation to persons of indigent means, immigrants, low-income women and non-profit entities. She can be reached at 206-447-5144 or PlicJ@foster.com.
1 See http://www.corporateprobono.org/challenge/ for more information.
2 Please see http://www.vaij.org/resources_ training.html for more information.
3 Nawrocki, Jill, Intel Recruits Firms for Pro Bono Partnerships, National Law Journal, March 2007.
