apbco.org€¦ · Web viewAt the request of the Office of the Vice-President (“OVP”), APBCo is proud to provide this update regarding the APBCo IMPACT Project. In anticipation

http://www.apbco.org/

THE APBCO IMPACT PROJECT

INTERIM REPORT TO THE VICE PRESIDENT

June, 2014

1 | P a g e

At the request of the Office of the Vice-President (“OVP”), APBCo is proud to provide this update

regarding the APBCo IMPACT Project. In anticipation of the upcoming second year meeting that the Vice

President has requested with APBCo, the following summary of the status and progress of this historic,

nation-wide pro bono program is presented.

The language below, approved by the OVP following the initial White House meeting with the

Vice President in September, 2012, provides the introduction for the IMPACT Project.

The Association of Pro Bono Counsel (“APBCo”) is a membership organization of full-time pro

bono counsel and coordinators at major commercial law firms. APBCo has over 125 members

from more than 85 law firms nationwide, including many AmLaw 200 firms. Founded in 2006,

APBCo is dedicated to improving access to justice by advancing the model of the full-time law

firm pro bono counsel, enhancing the professional development of pro bono counsel, and

serving as a unified voice for the national law firm pro bono community.

Last September, the board of directors of APBCo, along with senior management from the

board members’ firms, met with Vice President Joe Biden in Washington, DC. The meeting

focused on issues of access to justice and the role of pro bono attorneys in the delivery of

legal services to the poor, including innovative collaborations between law firms, legal

services organizations, bar associations and the judiciary. The Vice President commended

the participants for their commitment to improve and expand the delivery of legal services

to the underserved.

With this backdrop, APBCo has initiated a long-term project to seed and launch a series of new

collaborations across the country designed to expand national law firm efforts to increase

access to justice. The APBCo IMPACT (Involving More Pro bono Attorneys in our Communities

Together) Project is already taking root in eight urban centers, from Seattle to New York, and

beyond. The objective is to design innovative and sustainable new solutions that will increase

access to free legal services. With the Vice President’s enthusiasm for our mission, APBCO has

convened community leaders, and is coordinating multiple participants, to put together

2

innovative approaches to addressing issues as ingrained as housing, re-entry, homelessness

and financial security, and offer solutions to restore opportunity to the disenfranchised, both to

their benefit and the benefit of their communities. APBCo IMPACT leaders will update the Vice

President annually about the progress of these various programs being launched around the

nation.

As is detailed in the following report, the launch of this project has been historic. Never before,

on such a scale, has the private bar undertaken to initiate, fund and lead such an ambitious pro bono

program. Due to the severe economic crisis that has struck the legal aid community, few non-profit

organizations today are able to build new projects to meet the increasing needs of the low-income

communities that are similarly impacted by the changing dynamics of the national economy. Instead,

through the APBCo IMPACT Project, private law firms are turning upside-down this traditional model of

addressing need and themselves are gathering stakeholders in their communities, and assessing how

best to assist the legal aid community in meeting the needs of the client populations they serve. APBCo-

member law firms are then building programs to address the issues of the communities in which they

live and work, crafting agendas by which to provide the platforms through which unique public/private

collaborations can support their local legal aid organizations in ways that never before have been done.

In recognition of the unique and effective launch of these efforts, the APBCo IMPACT Project, and

several APBCo-member firms, have been named recipients of a Beacon of Justice Award by the National

Legal Aid and Defenders Association. The successes achieved grow entirely out of the Vice-President’s

meeting with APBCo representatives and his encouragement by which this nation-wide program has

grown.

ABPCO IMPACT PROJECT CO-CHAIRS

DAVID LASHO'Melveny & Meyers LLP

400 South Hope Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071(213) 430-8366

dlash@ omm.com

AL WALLISBrown Rudnick LLP

One Financial Center, Boston, MA 02111(617) 856-8119

[email protected]

3

THE APBCO IMPACT PROJECT

≈

Status of Original Pilot Projects Commenced in 2012-4

following APBCo's Meeting with the Vice President.

4

I. PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS/STATUS

Location: BOSTON

Project Description: REFRESHING THE POVERTY LAW INTAKE, REFERRAL & DELIVERY SYSTEM.

Organizations in the greater Boston area providing legal assistance to the poor are experiencing increasing and overwhelming requests for legal help at the same time that their resources have been severely diminished by budget cuts and reduced charitable contributions. In response, APBCo firms in Boston, in conjunction with Greater Boston Legal Services ("GBLS"), the Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association ("VLP"), and the Legal Advocacy and Resource Center Inc. ("LARC"), launched an initial APBCo IMPACT Project, Boston edition.

APBCo Boston members coordinated participation by ten attorneys from nine law firms and approximately 40 summer associates in the project. They were provided substantive and practical training on staffing the legal assistance “hot line” at LARC and then staffed shifts at LARC, fielding calls for legal assistance, providing brief advice and referrals. Waiting times for clients calling the hot line were reduced by 20 minutes during the time of the APBCo staffing, greatly enhancing the efficiency of the program and enabling greater access to assistance for the many clients of the hot line. At the end of the summer the project was evaluated by the APBCo/Boston team, and Executive Directors of LARC, GBLS and VLP.

Consideration of the future course of this effort currently is in progress, but a principal reason for doing this as a first project – to better assess from the experience with this intake & screening program where the unmet and under-met legal needs are presently in the community – has prompted collective work on identifying and developing the next IMPACT Project in Boston.

Key Participants Firms participating: Brown Rudnick LLP; WilmerHale; Goodwin Procter LLP; Foley Hoag LLP; Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.; Holland and Knight LLP; Ropes & Gray LLP; Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP.

Key partners: GBLS; VLP; LARC.

Additional resources invested: Partners absorbing related

5

costs.Status/Results Project launched: Summer 2013

Deliverables:o 8 Firms participatingo 50 Attorneys participating (approximately,

including summer assoc.)o 3 Legal Services & nonprofits participatingo 363 Clients assistedo 56 Clients transferred to field programs for

further representation

6

Location: CHICAGO

Project Description: SECOND CHANCE PROJECT.

APBCo members coordinated with legal community leaders from a variety of law firms and legal services providers to jointly create the Second Chance Project. The Project focuses efforts on providing individuals (adults and juveniles) with criminal records support to move forward in their lives despite past involvement in the criminal justice system and, for some, past mistakes.

Thirteen prominent Chicago law firms with APBCo members are working closely with 18 legal aid organizations in implementing this project.

The first clinic event was held on September 20, 2013. More than 60 volunteers from APBCo-member law firms attended the Second Chance Project clinic. Teams of two attorneys met with and advised two separate clients. Cabrini Green Legal Aid is the lead legal aid entity. A fellow funded by seven firms and the Chicago Bar Foundation has been hired and is helping to direct the project. The clinics address alternative remedies such as certificates of good conduct, health care issues, court certification of completion of rehabilitation programs, job placement assistance, licenses and expungements. In the spring, the program was expanded to do similar work with juvenile who have criminal records. This is one of Chicago’s first and best-ever efforts to enhance communication and collaboration among the city’s legal services organizations, a valuable result of the APBCo IMPACT project in and of itself.

Additional adult clinics were held in 2013 on November 15 and December 20, and in 2014 on, February 21, February 28 and March 14. Two juvenile clinics were held on April 2 and 4. The next clinic is scheduled for June 20, 2014.

Participants & Resources.

Law firms participating : in the pilot phase of the Chicago IMPACT/Second Chance project financial or pro bono contributions have been provided by: Baker & McKenzie LLP; Dentons; DLA Piper; Dykema; Jones Day; Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP; Kirkland & Ellis; Mayer Brown LLP; McDermott, Will & Emory LLP; Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP; Perkins Coie; Seyfarth Shaw LLP; Sidley Austin LLP; Winston &

7

Strawn LLP.

In house corporate law departments participating:Allstate Insurance Company; Aon Corporation; Exelon; Green Planet Group; McDonald’s Corporation; United Airlines; CME Group; ADP, Inc.; Truven Health Analytics; Zurich Insurance Company Ltd.; Walgreen Co.; Jones Lang LaSalle

Key partners: Cabrini Green Legal Aid; Chicago Bar Foundation; Chicago Legal Clinic; James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy; Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago; and Shriver Center. Other key stakeholders/ agencies working on the juvenile expungement issue include: Chicago Public Schools; Mikva Challenge; Northwestern University School of Law, Bluhm Legal Clinic; Illinois Department of Employment Security; Loyola University Law School; Enlace Chicago; United Congress; Juvenile Justice Initiative; Woodlawn Children’s Promise Community.

Additional resources invested: Firms have voluntary donated more than $40,000 to support the project, used largely to underwrite the full-time fellowship position, with funds being managed by Cabrini Green.

Status/Results Project launched: Summer, 2013; ongoing Deliverables:

o 13 Firms participatingo 164 Attorneys participatingo 12 Law Students participatingo 18 Legal Services & nonprofits participatingo 115 Clients assisted (*All clients received follow up

representation after the clinics. ) Outcomes:

o 21 Certificates grantedo 8 Health care waivers granted

8

Location: LOS ANGELES

Project Description: IMPACT LA: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE “WRAP-AROUND” LEGAL CLINICS

In an effort to provide currently unavailable services to the survivors of domestic violence in Los Angeles, a collaboration of law firms and legal services providers convened by APBCo has created a program to conduct intake at a local leading domestic violence shelter. The group has conducted a legal needs assessment and, based on the data collected, has crafted a clinic program that provides “wrap around” legal advice and representation focused on housing, immigration, public benefits and economic stability issues. Domestic violence survivors often access legal aid for their immediate, emergency safety needs. Their entry into the system can be better utilized to assess other legal needs that may be contributing to the poverty and instability that has led to their current situation. Planning and training was conducted and the clinic is now underway. The first clinic was held on November 15, 2013. Clinics have been held on a monthly basis since that time, with a formal launch in January that was attended by the elected Los Angeles City Attorney.

A Loyola Law School two-year post-graduate fellow has been awarded to the Los Angeles IMPACT Project. The fellow began work on September 1, 2013, and was given 6 weeks of intensive training in the relevant areas of law by several of the participating legal aid agencies. She now is helping to administer and lead this edition of the IMPACT project. She is formally employed by OneJustice, a state-wide legal aid support organization, where she is being supervised by experienced legal aid attorneys. Fund-raising to secure required supplemental support is underway, with commitments already received from the national law firms of O’Melveny & Myers and Manatt Phelps. Each "wrap around" clinic session is supervised by one or two experienced legal services attorneys, along with the trained fellow, and is staffed by two different APBCo member law firms on a rotating basis.


Law firms participating: (As of May 2014)O'Melveny & Myers LLP, Manatt Phelps LLP, Jones Day, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Morrison & Foerster, Latham & Watkins LLP, Nixon Peabody, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, Winston & Strawn,

9

White & Case, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, DLA Piper.

Key partners: OneJustice, Bet Tzedek, Public Counsel, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Inner City Law Center; Neighborhood Legal Services; Jenesse Center.

Additional resources invested: Partners absorbing costs and law firms are providing funding for OneJustice fellow.

Status/Results Project launched: Autumn, 2013; first clinic November, 2013; clinics ongoing.

Deliverables (as of March 3, 2014)o 13 Firms participatingo 52 Attorneys participating in Legal Clinicso 7 Legal Services & nonprofits participatingo 56 Clients assistedo 8 Clients receiving full representation

10

Location: NEW YORK CITY (2 projects)

NEW YORK CITY (1st project)

Project Description: # 1: SMALL BUSINESS LEGAL ACADEMY PROJECT

Held on October 29, 2013 at the renowned Apollo Theater in Harlem, the New York IMPACT Project was the first of its kind day-long workshop for start-up low-income entrepreneurs and regional non-profit organizations. More than 200 small businesses and non-profits attended the clinic seeking various types of corporate advice and transactional assistance. The clinic was staffed by more than 150 attorneys from APBCo-member firms. Requests for replication have been received from numerous other cities around the country and plans are underway to bring this unique service to other communities.


Law Firms participating: Akin Gump; Baker & McKenzie; Chadbourne & Parke; Cleary; Covington & Burling; Davis Polk; Dechert; Dentons; DLA Piper; Dorsey & Whitney; Fish & Richardson; Fried Frank; Hogan Lovels; Katten Muchin Roseman; Kaye Scholer LLP; Kelley Drye; Kirkland & Ellis; Latham & Watkins; Manatt; Mintz Levin; Morrison & Foerster; Morgan Lewis; O'Melveny & Myers; Proskauer; Reed Smith; Ropes & Gray; Seyfarth Shaw; Shearman & Sterling; Simpson Thacher; Skadden; Stroock; Weil Gotschal; White & Case; Wilmer Hale.

Key partners: Urban Justice Center; Lawyers Alliance; Start Small Think Big; New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI); City Bar Justice Center; Legal Aid; VOLS, Brooklyn Legal Services; ProBono.Net

Additional resources invested: Participating firms have voluntarily donated approximately $13,000 to support the Legal Academy project at the Apollo.

RESULTS thus far Project launched: Autumn, 2013; first clinic held Oct. 29, 2013 Deliverables:

o 33 Firms participatingo 157 Attorneys participatingo 10 Legal services providerso 11 Financial services providers

11

o 215 Small businesses servedo 71 Small businesses received follow-up serviceso 29 Small businesses received additional legal supporto SECOND CLINIC scheduled for November 19, 2014

NEW YORK CITY (2nd project)

Project Description:Status:

#2 The HOMELESS YOUTH PROJECT

A second New York IMPACT Project is the Homeless Youth Legal Assistance Program. APBCo/NY members convened seven law firms to staff clinics at four sites that serve homeless youth. About fifty lawyers were trained and a novel, interactive training-clinical manual was developed. Two of the sites are privately-operated shelters (the Door and Covenant House) and two are public shelters operated by NYC’s Department of Homeless Services ("DHS"). We believe that this is the first instance in the City’s history of regularly run free legal clinics held inside DHS shelters. We are currently adding a third DHS site and recruiting two additional firms to staff it. Attorney volunteers provide assistance on a wide range of issues encountered by homeless youth, including public assistance, identity (ID theft; name change; birth certificates), personal credit/debt, transit offenses, criminal offenses, immigration, family court and housing court related issues. In addition to one-on-one help at the clinic, follow-up advice and full representation are also provided when possible and appropriate.


Law Firms participating: Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP; Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP; White & Case LLP; Covington & Burling; Ropes & Gray LLP ; Latham & Watkins LLP; Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP; Clifford Chance

Key partners: Covenant House; The Door; NYC Dept. of Homeless Services (3 shelters)

Additional Resources invested: Law firms absorbing costs.

RESULTS thus far Project launched: November, 2013 Deliverables:

o 9 Firms participating:o 60 Attorneys participating (trained)o 2 Private youth shelter organizationso 1 City agency (DHS)o 5 Shelters (Manhattan, Brooklyn)72 clients assisted in the

12

clinicso 20 received follow-up law firm counselo DHS wants to expand the program to additional shelters

Location: PHILADELPHIA


VAWA & U-VISA CLINICS.

Shaped through meetings with legal services providers and community leaders, the purpose of the Philadelphia IMPACT project is to supplement legal assistance provided by two prominent legal service non-profit organizations, HIAS Pennsylvania (“HIAS-PA”) and the Nationalities Service Center (“NSC”), to immigrant victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes in stabilizing their immigration status in the United States. To date the project has focused on providing assistance to vulnerable, immigrant women living in isolated communities in the greater Philadelphia are in applications for lawful permanent residency under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and applications for lawful non-immigrant status U-Visas. The project’s aim has been to double the number of clients served through HIAS-PA and NSC without placing additional administrative costs or burdens on those organizations, which previously were unable to meet the ongoing legal needs of the clients accessing assistance at the existing clinic sessions.

To do so, Philadelphia IMPACT volunteer firms provide assistance at monthly intake clinics, which previously only were staffed by HIAS-PA and NSC, and private pro bono attorneys volunteer to represent eligible clients in their immigration matters. HIAS-PA and NSC provide on-site expertise at the clinics and ongoing support for volunteers as they represent clients. The clinics are held on a rotating basis in center city Philadelphia and rural Chester County.

At the outset, APBCo/ Philadelphia members recruited eight firms to attend trainings, staff clinics, and represent clients in their individual matters. Each participating firm volunteered at least one paralegal to coordinate clinics, case assignments, and tracking within that firm. Duane Morris also volunteered a coordinating paralegal to assist with case distribution and tracking for all participating firms. As many of the survivors only speak their native language (primarily Spanish), participating firms along with

13

NSC also recruited and donated translation services for each case requiring language assistance. The project produced training materials that volunteer attorneys may access online or through DVD recordings. The monthly clinics began in May 2013 and are ongoing.

At year-end 2013, HIAS-PA and NSC reported that the project substantially increased the legal services they were able to provide, stating that previously there was a long waiting list for potential clients due to limited resources. HIAS-PA reported that the project already had more than doubled the number of clients HIAS-PA likely would have been able to assist without the project. On April 301, 2014, the Philadelphia IMPACT project received a HIAS-Pennsylvania Golden Door Award for its work.

The focus to-date on applications for lawful permanent residency and U-Visas is a pilot project. As the project solidifies, Philadelphia IMPACT firms are expanding the project to represent individuals in additional immigration matters and to represent additional communities. One example of the project continuing to expand to meet the justice gap is a new community that Philadelphia IMPACT is helping through NSC. NSC lost funding to serve low-income domestic violence survivors through the Women’s Resource Center in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and as many as twelve women have been without legal assistance in stabilizing their immigration status. NSC advised Philadelphia IMPACT of this need, and in response the Philadelphia IMPACT firms are collaborating to hold an intake clinic in early June to begin assisting these survivors. Volunteers will meet survivors at the intake clinic and provide ongoing representation to eligible survivors in their immigration proceedings.


Law Firms participating: Ballard Spahr LLP; Blank Rome LLP; Dechert LLP ; DLA Piper LLP; Duane Morris LLP; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP; Pepper Hamilton LLP; Reed Smith LLP

Key partners: HIAS Pennsylvania; Nationalities Service Center

Additional resources invested: Participating law firms absorbing costs; paralegal coordinator provided by Duane Morris.

Status/Results Project launched: first clinic May, 2013 and now occurring monthly (weather permitting).

Deliverables :

o 8 Firms participating

14

o 41 Attorneys & 14 paralegals and other professionals participating

o 4 Legal Services & nonprofits participating

o 11 Clinics held

o 30 Clients assisted at clinic sessions, 28 clients served through full representation

15

Location: SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

Project Description BAY AREA RURAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE

Rural access to justice is one of the most pressing public policy issues facing California’s legal services delivery system. More than 76% of the state is rural, and over 1.5 million low-income Californians living in rural areas face legal barriers to basic needs. Few California legal services nonprofits serve rural areas, and they do so facing higher poverty density, reduced funding, and limited access to private sector resources. With the majority of attorneys located in urban areas, nonprofits serving isolated communities often cannot leverage private sector pro bono resources to respond to local need. As a result, too many rural Californians suffer from unresolved legal problems that result in substandard housing and illegal evictions, family violence and instability, unemployment, and more. The impact on rural communities includes greater rates of homelessness, poorer health outcomes, higher unemployment, increased demand on local safety net services, and continued poverty.

OneJustice and Cooley LLP, in collaboration with other Bay Area law firms and legal service providers, have launched the Bay Area’s IMPACT Project, the Rural Justice Collaborative (RJC), to tackle this serious deficiency in the state’s delivery system. The Collaborative’s mission is to expand access to legal services in rural and/or isolated communities, and it reimagines the existing delivery system and provides innovation in two ways: (1) it connects resources across geographic regions and areas of law through mobile pro bono clinics and (2) its use of technology connects rural clients with volunteers and legal aid attorneys in urban areas. These strategies are relatively low cost, highly leveraged, and proven to be effective. The Collaborative is supported by a newly-created staff attorney position at OneJustice. To date thirteen law firms and two corporations have participated.

The first RJC mobile clinic was held in May 2013. Since then the Collaborative has conducted 33 additional free legal clinics in rural communities throughout Northern . Clinics have focused on immigration, housing, special education, and nonprofit advising. The Rural Justice Collaborative has also been testing the use of web-based video and document-sharing technology to develop a new “Rural Justice Technology” pilot. This technology allows rural clients, pro bono volunteers, and supervising expert attorneys to

16

connect virtually. Replication of this virtual pro bono clinic model holds great promise for reaching the most remote corners of the state and for allowing on-going pro bono representation of rural Californians by urban law firms and corporate legal departments.

Based on evaluation data collected at the RJC clinics, 95% of Rural Justice clinic clients evaluate the clinic positively and 85% report that the legal services provided were helpful. Recently RJC began conducting periodic post-clinic phone interviews of clients. Post-clinic interviews show that 99% of clients continue to positively evaluate the clinic and 99% of clients report that the legal services were helpful. The Rural Justice Clinics are also favorably evaluated by pro bono volunteers, with 98% of volunteers reporting that they are more likely to do additional pro bono work as a result of their experience. nonprofit organizations in Napa County.

Participants & Resources

Participating Law Firms and corporations:Baker & McKenzie LLP; Bingham McCutchen LLP; Cooley LLP; Covington & Burling LLP; DLA Piper; Fenwick & West LLP; Hewlett-Packard Company (corporation); Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP; Latham & Watkins LLP; LinkedIn (corporation); Morgan Lewis & Bockius; Morrison & Foerster LLP; O’Melveny & Myers LLP; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP; Perkins Coie

Key partners: AIDS Legal Referral Panel; Asian Law Alliance; Bay Area Legal Aid; Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County; Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto; Community Solutions; Law Foundation of Silicon Valley; Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area; Legal Aid of Marin; Legal Aid of Napa Valley; Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County.

Additional resources invested: All partners absorbing costs, with Cooley providing funding for the OneJustice staff attorney.

Status/Results Project launched: First clinic May 2013; clinics ongoing Deliverables:

o 34 Clinics serving five isolated communitieso 15 Firms and corporations participatingo 72 Attorneys participatingo 11 Legal services and other nonprofits participating

17

o 222 Low-income individuals assisted (as of May 2014)o 12 nonprofits assisted

Location: SEATTLE

Project Description:

Status:

PILOT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CLINIC.Providing legal representation at shelters to domestic violence victims.

To address the limited legal resources available to domestic violence survivors in Washington State, the APBCo/Seattle IMPACT team has created the Domestic Violence IMPACT Project ("DVIP"), where attorneys collaborate with advocates from domestic violence shelters to create the region’s first-ever “in-shelter” legal clinics. The goal of these clinics is to educate and prepare victims to go into court and have a better chance of winning their protection orders and appeals (including reconsiderations and revisions). The first clinic was held in July 2013, staffed by attorneys from three APBCo-member firms. The DVIP is working to expand the scope of the project, develop a master calendar to include other participating shelters and provide legal advocacy on a much broader scale than has ever before been available. We have added a strategic partnership with the Eastside Legal Assistance Program, a well-regarded and established nonprofit that works with domestic violence survivors, which now oversees one of the shelter clinics. With this new partnership, malpractice insurance is available to allow attorney volunteers from corporations and smaller firms without sufficient coverage to participate.

The team is also developing a fellowship position and is investigating adding a court watch program. Our team has met with key stakeholders including the King County Coalition Against Domestic Violence (KCCADV), the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO) and attorneys from the Northwest Justice Project (NJP) to discuss the best way to launch this arm of DVIP. We have reviewed and analyzed court watch forms from other states and discussed best practices. We are considering how best to effectuate a court watch program or how else to obtain the relevant information. We intend to present to KCCADV and meet with its leadership on these issues,

18

and continue to work with NJP on best ways to market and present this initiative. Our team has also met with representatives from the KCPAO to discuss fellowship possibilities and formulate how this initiative could work. Next steps include putting together a comprehensive description of roles and responsibilities for both the fellow and the entity which will house the fellow.

APBCo members from three firms have been involved in developing DVIP including Davis Wright Tremaine, Foster Pepper and Perkins Coie. A staff supervisor at Perkins Coie is assisting administratively with program coordination. Lastly, the program is collaborating with the Domestic Violence Litigation Project which recruits volunteers to represents victims at protection order hearings and is a flagship project of one of the APBCo-member firms. Because of this program, domestic violence survivors feel more confident going into court, are educated about the system, and when necessary, are able to find representation in court.

Participants & Resources:

Law firms participating: Cooley; Davis Wright Tremaine; Dorsey & Whitney; Fenwick & West; Foster Pepper; Perkins Coie; Wil Miller Law.

Key partners: Eastside Legal Assistance Program; King County Domestic Violence Protection Order Advocacy Program; Northwest Justice Project.

Additional resources invested: Partners absorbing costs.

RESULTS thus far Project launched: 10 clinics held. Deliverables:

o 7 Firms participatingo 17 Attorneys participatingo 3 Legal Services programs & 2 nonprofit

shelters participatingo 34 Clients assistedo 7 clients received further representation

following the clinics

19

Location: WASHINGTON, D.C.


SOCIAL SECURITY PARTNERSHIP FOR EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE DETERMINATIONS

APBCo/D.C. attorneys have engaged a local legal services lawyer as a consultant to work with legal services organizations to develop SPEED: Social Security Partnership for Efficient and Effective Determinations. SPEED will improve the disability benefits process by using pro bono resources to assist disabled individuals with initial applications, develop effective pro se materials for those we cannot represent, and improve the system overall through advocacy with the Social Security Administration and medical providers. Disabled District residents often wait years to obtain the benefits they merit; their success rate and the speed with which they receive benefits is greatly increased if they have a lawyer. SPEED will bring lawyers where they are needed the most: at the initial application stage, not after years of denials.DC firms will commit to provide representation to approximately 250 individuals seeking SSI/SSDI benefits, referred to the project by the DC Department of Human Services. A training program will be held in the fall of 2014, with the goal of tracking the reasons for success or denial to enable more effective representation of individuals in the future. SPEED will also work with local legal services organizations to centralize medical records collection, which the groups identified as a significant obstacle to efficient representation.


Law Firms participating: Jones Day; Akin Gump; Covington; WilmerHale; Arnold & Porter; Fried Frank; Crowell; DLA Piper.

Key partners: Bread for the City; D.C. Department of Behavioral Health; The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia; National Senior Citizens; Neighborhood Legal Services Program; Pathways to Housing; Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless; Whitman-Walker Legal Services.

Additional resources invested: $20,000 total pledged by Jones Day ($10,000) and Akin Gump ($10,000).

RESULTS thus far Project launched: Fall 2014. Deliverables:

o 6 Firms participatingo * Attorneys participatingo 8 Legal services & nonprofits participatingo * Clients assisted

20

* Project in development; client service anticipated to begin in fall 2014.

II. SELECTED REPRESENTATIVE CLIENT CASE STORIESSecond Chance Assistance

Leroy is in his mid-thirties, a father of two boys, he has spent the past ten years working hard to provide for his family, taking seasonal jobs with the Salvation Army and at a water park, and working through a temp agency. He has received nothing but stellar reviews at work and has repeatedly received offers for full-time employment. However, these job offers all have been rescinded during the background check process. When Leroy was 16, he lost his mother quite suddenly to cancer. His father had fallen into drug addiction and was unable to care for his children. Leroy was separated from his two siblings and went to live with a 24 year-old cousin. His life, unsurprisingly, spiraled downward and eventually he was convicted on charges related to marijuana purchase and possession. In his mid-twenties, one of these arrests led to him spending 80 days in the Cook County Jail awaiting trial. On the day he walked out ten years ago, he vowed he would never be back, that he would turn his life around. And that is just what he did. He immediately obtained his GED, enrolled in college, and found a temporary job. He has not had one interaction with law enforcement since – but his criminal history continued to hold him back. Because he was convicted as an adult, Leroy was not eligible to expunge any of the 3 convictions on his record. In December, through an APBCo clinic, he secured a Certificate of Good Conduct. Leroy now has a full-time job at The Home Depot.

Similarly, ten years ago, when Alonza was 17 years old, he was convicted of three felony drug charges. He ultimately was incarcerated after a very difficult childhood with family members involved in the sale of narcotics. Since the time of his convictions, Alonza earned his high school diploma, Associate’s Degree, and all of the necessary credits for his Bachelor’s Degree. Despite these accomplishments, he struggled to find steady employment because of his felony convictions. After facing roadblock after roadblock, Alonza sought assistance from Cabrini Green Legal Aid (CGLA) which invited him to attend an IMPACT Second Chance Clinic. At the IMPACT Second Chance Clinic, Alonza was partnered with two pro bono attorneys for representation on a Certificate of Good Conduct. Pro bono counsel worked with Alonza, at the clinic and after, to write his petition for a Certificate of Good Conduct and prepare him for the accompanying hearing. After a full rehabilitation review in open court, the Circuit Court granted Alonza’s Certificate of Good Conduct. Alonza’s long-term goal is to work in higher education, but in the short-term he needed to secure steady income to support his six-year-old daughter and pay down his higher education debts. Shortly after receiving his Certificate, Alonza secured employment at a commercial fitness club. This employment brings Alonza one step closer to obtaining his dream to work in higher education.

Domestic Violence VictimsEmma is a 22 year-old mother and domestic violence survivor who attended an IMPACT clinic.

She was brought to the US as a child with her family but has never had legal immigration status in this country. Last year, at the insistence of her abusive partner, Maria traveled to another country with him. There, she suffered extreme, daily abuse. She eventually returned home to the US while she was several months pregnant with her abuser's child. Her child was born in the US. Emma continues to experience

21

emotional and physical trauma as a result of her abuse. Emma came to the IMPACT clinic to learn more about her immigration situation. After her interview, it became clear that Emma was a strong candidate for immigration relief through the U-Visa process, a type of visa for crime victims who cooperate with law enforcement. Emma is excited to start the process to gain legal status in the US and to do so free from the constraints of her abusive partner. Following the clinic, Emma is being fully represented by a legal services organization and an APBCo pro bono law firm. Through the work of the clinic and our partner organizations, Emma is on track to gain legal immigration status in the US for the first time.

Ana came to an IMPACT clinic to learn about her housing rights. She was living in a large apartment building with severe habitability issues. Ana feared the landlord would not tolerate anyone making complaints and she did not want to end up facing eviction, even if it was an eviction she could fight. During her interview at the IMPACT clinic, the volunteer attorney worked with Ana to explain her rights and the risks of exercising those rights. The attorney has helped her document the habitability issues, and protect herself in the event of future eviction proceedings. The attorney, with the guidance of our housing expert at the clinic, has helped Ana craft a strategy to work with her landlord to address the issues without risking her tenancy. She and her attorneys now are working with the other tenants in the building and are working together towards an overall solution.

When Amy came to an IMPACT clinic, she had just obtained a 14 day ex parte protection order after witnessing her husband take a roundhouse swing at the head of their seven-year-old son. Amy is from another country and has no support network in the U.S. Her husband, who has abused her and her children, had control of the finances and immediately hired an attorney to fight the protection order. The lawyer had the father submit to a “parenting evaluation” based only on input from the father and observation of the father with the children for a few minutes in public. The evaluator concluded based on this limited, one-sided evidence that the father was not abusive. Amy did not know how to fight this evidence. One of our clinic attorneys agreed to represent Amy. He prepared a supplemental declaration with very powerful evidence of the father’s abuse and explained to the Commissioner why the father’s evaluation should have no evidentiary value. The Commissioner agreed with Amy and granted her and the children a protection order for one year. When the father appealed the order, our volunteer attorney represented Amy again. Her protection order was upheld.

ImmigrationOur client came to the U.S. from Haiti to marry her husband. After marrying and obtaining

conditional residency in the U.S., the client's husband became extremely abusive, choking the client and threatening to kill her and their daughter. After fleeing the abuse, our client sought assistance remaining in the U.S. with her U.S. citizen daughter. Representing the client in her self-petition, the APBCo volunteer attorney also provided coordination and assistance in the client's protective order and custody matters, providing much-needed additional support. After the client’s USCIS interview, the officer told the client that she should have her green card within three to four weeks. The client was very surprised when the interviewer relayed this news and gave our volunteer the biggest hug she said she ever received.

At another clinic, our volunteers met a woman named Aijun and her daughter Jing who are Chinese nationals. Aijun, who is married to an American citizen, saw her life turn tragic when her

22

previously caring husband, who had joined the military shortly after their marriage, returned from his tour of duty with physical injuries, as well as stress disorder and depression. His behavior became erratic and he became violent and abusive towards Aijun. After Aijun found herself in the hospital, she and her daughter (who hopes to attend college soon) moved to safety in a near-by shelter. She attended an IMPACT clinic and her volunteer attorneys put together an affidavit documenting her story and the abuse she suffered. The team also drafted a self-petition in accordance with the Violence Against Women Act documenting the abuse Aijun suffered and collected evidence, including photographs, hospital records, police reports and other information to show that Aijun was a victim of domestic violence. APBCo volunteer attorneys accompanied Aijun and her interpreter to an interview with an immigration officer at a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services field office and, along with Aijun, presented the evidence collected. A decision is pending. Aijun is hopeful for a positive resolution for herself and her daughter.

Remote Rural AssistanceOur client lives in a rural community in El Dorado County, California, hours from the nearest

legal services organization that offers any immigration assistance. In March 2014, APBCo volunteers traveled to this remote community to assist local youth with eligibility screening and applications for the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The client has lived in this small community for 15 years, having moved there when he was just two years old. During the clinic, the client met with a volunteer attorney from a participating law firm who, under the supervision of expert immigration attorneys, screened him for DACA eligibility, began his application, and advised him in detail on the documents missing from his application and the steps needed to complete his application. During our follow-up post-clinic phone call to the client, we learned that he had taken all of the follow-up steps he was advised at the clinic to complete, had successfully submitted his DACA application, and had recently been approved. Now he no longer lives in fear of deportation, and he can get a work permit and driver's license, which will enable him to support himself and help his family.

Small Business AdviceThe APBCo IMPACT Small Business Legal Academy met with more than 200 low-income

entrepreneurs at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. A representative attendee was a small farm owner from the Rockaways, an area hit hard in 2012 by Superstorm Sandy. He came to the Academy seeking counsel about obtaining a patent for a new agricultural method he believes will help coastal farms withstand natural disasters such as hurricanes. He attended a workshop on intellectual property matters and then met individually with a volunteer attorney who counseled him specifically on patent issues and discussed with him the details of his ideas, laying out next steps. Follow-up will be available.

23

III. APPENDIX OF NEWS REGARDING THE PROJECTS

SELECTED MEDIA REGARDING THE APBCO IMPACT PROEJCT

LAW FIRM PRO BONO COMMUNITY LAUNCHES IMPACT CHICAGO IN RESPONSE TO MEETING WITH VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN

http://www.dlapiperprobono.com/news/latest-news/2013/apbco-chicago-impact.html

20 September 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE from APBCO

Law Firm Pro Bono Community Launches IMPACT Chicago in Response to Meeting with Vice President Biden

CHICAGO, Sept. 20, 2013 -- Today approximately 60 lawyers from 14 of Chicago's venerable law firms, in coordination with Cabrini Green Legal Aid, participated in the inaugural pro bono event of IMPACT Chicago. Grace Place, located in the South Loop, hosted a legal aid clinic for 60 people in need of pro bono legal services.

The IMPACT Chicago initiative is one of a number of programs being launched nationally as a result of a September 2012 meeting convened by Vice President Joe Biden and the board of directors of the Association of Pro Bono Counsel (APBCo). The meeting focused on access to justice issues and from it was born IMPACT, the acronym for Involving More Pro Bono Attorneys in our Community Together. The goal of IMPACT is to create innovative and sustainable solutions that will increase access to free legal services through pro bono volunteers.

The IMPACT Chicago program will play a vital role in helping the more than 3.9 million men and women in Illinois with criminal records get the chance to become more productive citizens through criminal record relief. These men and women will gain access to employment, housing and educational opportunities that were previously denied to them because of criminal records.

"By providing relief from this major barrier to employment we'll not only be improving their prospects for employment and financial independence by also significantly decreasing the likelihood that they will break the law again," said Gretchen Slusser, executive director at Cabrini Green Legal Aid "This program is about focusing on the future by offering these men and women a second chance."

Legal service providers who have already signed on to the initiative include the Cabrini Green Legal Aid, the Chicago Bar Foundation, the Chicago Legal Clinic, the James B. Moran Center for Youth and Advocacy, the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago and the Shriver Center. The 14 law

24

firms that have signed up for the initiative to date are Baker & McKenzie, Dentons, DLA Piper, Dykema, Jones Day, Katten Muchin Rosemann, Kirkland & Ellis, Mayer Brown, McDermott, Will & Emery, Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg, Perkins Coie, Seyfarth Shaw, Sidley Austin and Winston & Strawn. The commitment from the law firms involves an extensive training program for volunteer lawyers as well as financial support to fund a project coordinator position at Cabrini Green Legal Aid. The collaborative effort also entails firms sharing the costs associated with the clinics.

"Illinois has laws providing relief from a criminal record through sealing, pardons, certificates and waivers," said Latonia Haney Keith, president of APBCo. "Unfortunately, access to legal assistance is limited and so is knowledge of the type of relief available. We are eager to help change that."

# # # # #

About APBCo

APBCo (Association of Pro Bono Counsel) is a membership organization of full-time pro bono counsel and coordinators at major commercial law firms. APBCo has over 125 members from 85 law firms nationwide, including many AmLaw 200 firms. Founded in 2006, APBCo is dedicated to improving access to justice by advancing the model of the full-time law firm pro bono counsel, enhancing the professional development of pro bono counsel, and serving as a unified voice for the national law firm pro bono community.

Contact: Greg McConnell

312 558 8068 (o) 312 404 3645 (m)[email protected]

RURAL JUSTICE PRO BONO COLLABORATIVE LAUNCHED IN RESPONSE TO MEETING WITH VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN

http://www.cooley.com/68020

05/20/2013

Palo Alto, Calif. – May 20, 2013 – OneJustice and Cooley LLP, in collaboration with other Bay Area law firms and legal service providers, have launched the Bay Area Rural Justice Collaborative. The Collaborative held its first free immigration clinic on May 17, 2013 in Napa, California. The Collaborative was developed to meet the goals of the Association of Pro Bono Counsel's (APBCo) IMPACT Project. The APBCo IMPACT ("Involving More Pro Bono Attorneys in Our Communities Together") Project is taking root in eight urban centers, from the San Francisco Bay Area to New York and beyond. The objective of the IMPACT Project is to design innovative and sustainable new solutions that will increase access to free legal services by utilizing pro bono volunteers.

25

The IMPACT Project is a direct response to a meeting held in Washington, DC in 2012 among Vice President Joe Biden, APBCo board members and senior management of the board members' firms. The meeting focused on issues of access to justice and the role of pro bono attorneys in the delivery of legal services to the poor, including innovative collaborations between law firms and legal services organizations. As a result of this conversation, APBCo initiated the IMPACT Project, a long-term project to develop new collaborations across the country to expand pro bono resources and inspire new pro bono projects.

The Rural Justice Collaborative is the first IMPACT project to launch. Its mission is to expand access to legal services in rural and/or isolated communities throughout the Bay Area. The May 17th clinic in Napa, the first of eleven free clinics set to be held over the next three months (in Napa, Half Moon Bay and Gilroy), focused on immigration. Subsequent clinics will focus on either immigration or housing issues. The clinics will utilize trained pro bono volunteers from the participating law firms, who will be supervised by experienced legal services staff attorneys. The Collaborative is staffed by a newly hired senior staff attorney at OneJustice. Initial funding and administrative support for the project has been provided by Cooley LLP.

"Those in need in rural areas simply do not have the same access to free legal services that people in urban areas do," said Julia Wilson, Executive Director of OneJustice. "The Rural Justice Collaborative is our response to try to meet this need and to address Vice President Biden's goal to create innovative and sustainable new solutions that will increase access to free legal services."

"Rural legal aid organizations have a very real need for financial resources and personnel," said Maureen Alger, Cooley's Pro Bono Partner. "It is truly an honor to be able to contribute the resources needed to make the Collaborative a reality and to make access to legal representation a reality in these communities."

In addition to OneJustice, participating legal services organizations include AIDS Legal Referral Panel; Alameda County Bar Association – VLSC; Asian Law Alliance; Asian Law Caucus; Bay Area Legal Aid; Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto; Justice & Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco; Law Foundation of Silicon Valley; Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area; Legal Aid of Marin; Legal Aid of Napa Valley; Legal Aid Society - Employment Law Center; Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County; and Swords to Plowshares.

In addition to Cooley, participating law firms include Baker McKenzie; Bingham McCutchen; Covington & Burling; DLA Piper; Fenwick & West; Lowenstein Sandler; Morrison & Foerster and Perkins Coie.

About APBCo

The Association of Pro Bono Counsel ("APBCo") is a membership organization of full-time pro bono counsel and coordinators at major commercial law firms. APBCo has over 125 members from more than 85 law firms nationwide, including many AmLaw 200 firms. Founded in 2006, APBCo is dedicated to improving access to justice by advancing the model of the full-time law firm pro bono counsel, enhancing the professional development of pro bono counsel, and serving as a unified voice for the national law firm pro bono community.

26

About Cooley LLP

Cooley's 700 attorneys have an entrepreneurial spirit and deep, substantive experience, and are committed to solving clients' most challenging legal matters. From small companies with big ideas to international enterprises with diverse legal needs, Cooley has the breadth of legal resources to enable companies of all sizes to seize opportunities in today's global marketplace. The firm represents clients across a broad array of dynamic industry sectors, including technology, life sciences, venture capital, clean energy, real estate and retail.

The firm has full-service offices in eleven major business and technology centers: Boston, MA; Broomfield, CO; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; Palo Alto, CA; Reston, VA; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; Washington, DC; and Shanghai, China.

About OneJustice

OneJustice brings life-changing legal help to Californians in need. Millions of low-income veterans, seniors, families, and others face legal barriers to basic life necessities such as food, clean water, safe housing, freedom from violence, and access to medical care, education, and jobs. OneJustice supports a statewide network of nonprofit legal organizations, law firms, law schools, and businesses that work together to provide free legal assistance to hundreds of thousands of Californians every year. The OneJustice network works together to end needless suffering from solvable legal problems. Find out more about OneJustice and its programs at www.one-justice.org.

APBCO’S SMALL BUSINESS LEGAL ACADEMY: HELPING NEIGHBORHOOD ENTREPRENEURS GET STARTED

http://www.connectingjusticecommunities.com/apbcos-small-business-legal-academy-helping-neighborhood-entrepreneurs-get-started/2013/11/

By Jake Hertz on November 13th, 2013 Posted in Legal Services, Pro Bono Net

On October 29th the Association of Pro Bono Counsel (APBCo) hosted the inaugural Small Business Legal Academy (SBLA) at Harlem’s World Famous Apollo Theater. The purpose of the SBLA was to assist nascent small businesses by connecting them with pro bono and legal services attorneys and community development organizations. In the post below Alison King, Pro Bono Counsel at Kaye Scholer and one of the lead organizers of the SBLA, reflects on the impetus for the SBLA, the benefits of the model, and the successful day itself.

Small business legal relief is an integral aspect of law firm pro bono programs and economic redevelopment initiatives throughout New York City. The typical model involves one firm partnering with one legal services provider to identify a community-based organization (or citywide organization with local offices) to serve a specific under-resourced community in need of economic development. The legal services provider and local organization help with logistics such as outreach, client screening, data collection, and follow-up. A range of legal services are then provided by the firm at ongoing, regularly scheduled clinics. At their discretion, firms can provide follow-up pro bono representation of individual

27

businesses. This has been and continues to be a successful, even crucial tool in community economic development.

Alison King (Kaye Scholer), Harlene Katzman (Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP), and Kevin Curnin (Stroock & Stroock & Lavan) at Harlem’s World Famous Apollo Theater (Bisnow Media)

The Small Business Legal Academy (SBLA) is a step beyond the traditional model. Our reinvention of small business pro bono legal services throws aside the single site model in favor of an open market approach: bringing law firms and fledgling small businesses together on a large scale, adding to the mix financial services consultants and City and State agencies. This model is designed to have deeper immediate impact, with a wider array of resources, and the opportunity to discuss typical legal issues with a broad audience (through workshops) as well as advise individual business owners (through one-to-one legal counseling). The model is replicable, and APBCo is beginning to plan SBLAs in Los Angeles and Dallas and future academies in New York.

We launched our pilot Small Business Legal Academy at Harlem’s World Famous Apollo Theater, on October 29, 2013. We are deeply appreciative to the Apollo for the opportunity, and particularly to Joe Levy, Director of Operations at the Apollo.

This project was conceived by New York-based members of the Association of Pro Bono Counsel (“APBCo”), a membership organization of full-time pro bono counsel and coordinators at major commercial law firms. APBCo has over 125 members from more than 85 law firms nationwide, including many AmLaw 200 firms. APBCo is dedicated to improving access to justice by advancing the model of the full-time law firm pro bono counsel, enhancing the professional development of pro bono counsel, and serving as a unified voice for the national law firm pro bono community.

The inspiration for a nationwide project grew out of a meeting with Vice President Joe Biden in Washington, DC. Last September, the Vice President met with APBCo’s Board of Directors to focus on issues of access to justice and the role of pro bono attorneys in the delivery of legal services to the poor, including innovative collaborations between law firms, legal services organizations, bar associations, and the judiciary.

With this backdrop, APBCo initiated a long-term project to seed and launch a series of new collaborations across the country designed to expand national law firm efforts to increase access to justice. The APBCo IMPACT (Involving More Pro bono Attorneys in our Communities Together) Project is already taking root in eight urban centers, from Seattle to New York, and beyond. The objective is to design innovative and sustainable new solutions that will increase access to free legal services. The Small Business Legal Academy is one of several APBCo IMPACT projects in New York City and in other large cities across the country.

APBCo reached out to the following legal services organizations as partners for the SBLA:

Lawyers Alliance for New York

Legal Aid Society of New York

Legal Services NYC, Brooklyn A

New York Lawyers for the Public Interest

Probono.net

28

Start Small, Think Big

Urban Justice Center

Volunteers of Legal Service

City Bar Justice Center/NELP

The planning committee consisted of representatives from each of those organizations, and from the following law firms: Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, Kaye Scholer, Proskauer Rose, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Skadden Arps, and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan.

The first SBLA was open all day, October 29th, assisting 215 business owners and micro-entrepreneurs; the academy included legal service sessions with 157 volunteer attorneys from 31 APBCo member law firms, workshops tailored to small business owners and non-profit leaders, and a small business bazaar with financial services consultants, City and State agencies, and other service providers. The overall goal was to provide immediate basic legal assistance to small businesses and to educate the small business community about the services, pro bono and otherwise, legal and non-legal, that are available to them to help grow their business.

As Bill Lienhard, Executive Director of Volunteers of Legal Services eloquently said: “I am grateful that, through VOLS’ Microenterprise Project, I had the opportunity to be part of this important effort to provide legal information, advice, and assistance of the highest caliber to New York City’s small businesses and entrepreneurs. I look forward to continuing to work with the firms and organizations that, under APBCO’s leadership, made the SBLA such a success.” My thoughts exactly. Thank you to all of the people who helped us make this such a wonderful event. See you at the next SBLA!

MAKING JOE BIDEN PROUD: CREATING IMPACT IN LOS ANGELES

http://onejusticeblog.wordpress.com/category/pro-bono-services-to-help-californians-in-need/law-firms-pro-bono/

A new lawyer’s reflection on launching an ambitious new pro bono project

What’s a Leslie Knope-type to do after law school graduation? For me, as my 3L year at Loyola Law School began, I was hoping to land a fellowship and start a public interest career in Los Angeles.

Luckily for me, some wonderful people over at the Association of Pro Bono Counsel were looking for someone to work on a brand-new project working with domestic violence survivors in Los Angeles at the same time. Through fate, and a dash of speedy emailing, I was able to get an interview for this new position, armed with little more information than I’ve spelled out here. And I think they mentioned something about Joe Biden. After a few hours of incessant email refreshing; a quick application period; and a bit more waiting, I found out I’d received a Loyola Fellowship to coordinate the Los Angeles Project of a nationwide program, IMPACT.

29

From there, it was a whirlwind of bar studies and life changes. A few months later, I found myself in the Los Angeles office of OneJustice, hoping I was the only one who thought I had no idea what I was doing. My friends all gave me time-tested 20-something advice, “fake it ’til you make it.” After just a few months of working with the fabulous OneJustice team and the great folks from APBCo, I know I’m incredibly lucky to be here and that I have a remarkable opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives.

My role as the Loyola Law School Post Graduate Public Interest Law Fellow is to coordinate the IMPACT LA Project. IMPACT is a nationwide project that was formed in response to a meeting between ABPCo members and Vice President Joe Biden. The APBCo IMPACT (“Involving More Pro Bono Attorneys in Our Communities Together”) Project is taking root in eight urban centers, including Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. The objective of the IMPACT Project is to design innovative and sustainable new solutions that will increase access to free legal services by utilizing pro bono volunteers.

Here in LA, our project is a monthly clinic that provides free wrap-around legal services to survivors of domestic violence in South LA at the Jenesse Center, a leading domestic violence shelter and support center. At the clinics, volunteer attorneys from Los Angeles APBCo-member law firms provide free legal assistance in the areas of housing, immigration, and public benefits. And just yesterday, with the help of the LA City Attorney, Mike Feuer, we kicked off 2014 decisively.

Volunteer attorneys from Latham & Watkins and Morrison & Foerster staffed the IMPACT LA launch clinic yesterday working with supervising attorneys from Public Counsel and Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County.

At our official IMPACT LA launch clinic yesterday, eight volunteer attorneys from Morrison & Foerster and Latham & Watkins gathered at the Jenesse Center to give generously of their time and energy. During the clinic, the volunteers met with and advised six women, working closely with two supervising legal services attorneys from Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County and Public Counsel.

And this was just the beginning. We will now be running monthly clinics at the Jenesse Center, staffed by a rotation of pro bono attorneys from law firms and supervised by a partnership of local legal services nonprofits.

For me, the most impressive thing about last Friday’s clinic was the outpouring of support from volunteers for survivors of domestic violence. It’s an issue that can be difficult to talk about for many. However, my experience with the clinic has been that all of our volunteers are compassionate people who enjoy the opportunity to provide these services to women in the city that we all share.

And most importantly, the women who receive the services are able to better understand their situations and take control of their own lives. And that is what makes my job so worthwhile. Well, that and being able to imagine that somewhere out there, Vice President Biden is proud of me.

30

FENWICK PARTNERS WITH RURAL JUSTICE PRO BONO COLLABORATIVE LAUNCHED IN RESPONSE TO MEETING WITH VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN

http://www.fenwick.com/Media/Pages/Fenwick-Partners-with-Rural-Justice-Pro-Bono-Collaborative-Launched-in-Response-to-Meeting-with-Vice-President-Biden.aspx

Mountain View, CA (May 31, 2013) – Fenwick & West is pleased to announce that the firm is among Bay Area law firms and legal services providers coming together to launch the Bay Area Rural Justice Collaborative, dedicated to expanding access to legal services in rural and/or isolated communities throughout the Bay Area.

Today, Fenwick is joining other members of the Collaborative to partner with Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto and provide free legal services at a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) clinic in Half Moon Bay, CA. The clinic is one of eleven free clinics have been organized for the next three months in Napa, Half Moon Bay and Gilroy, where pro bono volunteer attorneys from participating law firms like Fenwick will focus on either immigration or housing issues.

The Rural Justice Collaborative is the first part of the Association of Pro Bono Counsel's (APBCo) IMPACT Project to launch. The IMPACT Project is a direct response to a meeting held in Washington, D.C., in 2012 by Vice President Joe Biden, APBCo board members and senior management of the board members' firms. The meeting focused on issues of access to justice and the role of pro bono attorneys in the delivery of legal services to the poor, including innovative collaborations between law firms and legal services organizations. As a result of this conversation, APBCo initiated the IMPACT Project, a long-term project to develop new collaborations across the country to expand pro bono resources and inspire new pro bono projects.

Participating legal services organizations include AIDS Legal Referral Panel; Alameda County Bar Association – VLSC; Asian Law Alliance; Asian Law Caucus; Bay Area Legal Aid; Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto; Justice & Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco; Law Foundation of Silicon Valley; Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area; Legal Aid of Marin; Legal Aid of Napa Valley; Legal Aid Society - Employment Law Center; Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County; OneJustice; and Swords to Plowshares.

In addition to Fenwick, participating law firms include Baker McKenzie; Bingham McCutchen; Cooley LLP; Covington & Burling; DLA Piper; Lowenstein Sandler; Morrison & Foerster and Perkins Coie.

About APBCo

The Association of Pro Bono Counsel (APBCo) is a membership organization of full-time pro bono counsel and coordinators at major commercial law firms. APBCo has over 125 members from more than 85 law firms nationwide, including many AmLaw 200 firms. Founded in 2006, APBCo is dedicated to improving access to justice by advancing the model of the full-time law firm pro bono counsel, enhancing the professional development of pro bono counsel, and serving as a unified voice for the national law firm pro bono community.

About Fenwick & West

For more than 30 years, law firm Fenwick & West has served its community by offering legal services to persons and organizations that could not otherwise afford effective legal counsel. Recognizing that one

31

firm can only do so much, we regularly partner with our clients and likeminded outside organizations that share our belief in the importance of giving back to the community. Our pro bono commitment is engrained in our culture. It is a part of who our attorneys are and what makes our firm great. In 2012, Fenwick was awarded the “Outstanding Pro Bono Service Award” by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California for commitment to pro bono services.

NEW PRO BONO PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

http://www.inspirerconsulting.com/blog.html

06/04/2013

A group of San Francisco Bay Area law firms and legal services providers recently launched the Bay Area Rural Justice Collaborative, dedicated to expanding access to legal services in rural and/or isolated communities throughout the Bay Area. This project is the first of the Association of Pro Bono Counsel's (APBCo) IMPACT Projects to launch. The IMPACT Projects are being created in response to a meeting held in Washington, D.C., in 2012 by Vice President Joe Biden, APBCo board members (including me) and senior management of the board members' firms. Several of the New York projects will be launching this fall.

Several large law firms have filed the first human trafficking suits in federal court as part of a large pro bono effort in conjunction with the Southern Poverty Law Center. These suits are the first in a series of federal lawsuits to prosecute multiple human trafficking and racketeering allegations against a Gulf Coast marine services company and its network of recruiters and labor brokers.

32

THE ASSOCIATION OF PRO BONO COUNSEL LAUNCHES INAUGURAL LEGAL EXPO TO PROVIDE FREE LEGAL COUNSELING FOR SMALL BUSINESSES AND NONPROFITS

http://classicsoulradio.org/blog/?p=21299

October 1, 2013

By CSR

The Association of Pro Bono Counsel Launches Inaugural Legal Expo to Provide Free Legal Counseling for Small Businesses and Nonprofits

Small Business Legal Academy is the First Free Legal Expo of its Kind in New York City; Corporate Law Firms, Financial Services Consultants, City and State Agencies and Other Service Providers Join Forces to Provide Services

New York, NY, September 09, 2013 – Today, the law firms Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, Kaye Scholer LLP, Proskauer Rose LLP, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP announced they will hold the inaugural Small Business Legal Academy, a free all-day expo to provide legal counseling to small business owners and nonprofits throughout New York City. To be held at Harlem’s World Famous Apollo Theater on Tuesday, October 29, 2013, the Small Business Legal Academy is the first free legal expo for small businesses and nonprofits in New York City. The firms have jointly collaborated through their affiliation with the Association of Pro Bono Counsel (APBCo), a membership organization of full-time pro bono counsel and coordinators at major commercial law firms.

The one-day event will bring together corporate law firms, financial services consultants, city and state agencies, and other service providers to provide free consulting services, lead workshops about starting and managing a business or nonprofit, and find solutions for small business owners to the legal and financial challenges facing organizations.

“Small businesses and non-profit organizations sited in and serving the city’s low-income communities are indispensable to providing residents there not only with goods and services, but with jobs and the opportunity to permanently improve their lives and their children’s lives,” said Kevin Curnin, an APBCO board member and a partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, where he directs the firm’s Public Service Project. “As we’ve seen, legal and other support is critical to this transformation. The Small Business Legal Academy is a novel attempt to offer impactful services to a high volume of diverse start-ups and micro-entrepreneurs, with a collaborative model we hope to replicate in New York and other cities.”

The inspiration for this project grew out of a meeting with Vice President Joe Biden and the Board of Directors of APBCo in September 2012 to discuss issues of access to justice and the role of pro bono attorneys in the delivery of legal services to the poor, including innovative collaborations between law firms, legal services organizations, bar associations and the judiciary. As a result, APBCo initiated a long-

33

term project to seed and launch a series of new collaborations across the country designed to expand national law firm efforts to increase access to justice. The APBCo IMPACT (Involving More Pro bono Attorneys in our Communities Together) Project is already taking root in eight urban centers, from Seattle to New York, with the objective to design innovative and sustainable new solutions that will increase access to free legal services. The Small Business Legal Academy is one of several APBCo IMPACT projects in New York City.

“More than half of the small businesses that we work with have critical legal issues to resolve in the next three months,” says Jennifer DaSilva, founder and executive director of Start Small Think Big, a nonprofit in the Bronx that helps low-income entrepreneurs in New York City start and grow small businesses. “Unfortunately, high fees typically prevent many of these businesses from getting the legal help that they need when they need it. The Small Business Legal Academy offers our clients―and all the other small businesses out there in New York City who are having trouble finding the right attorney at the right cost―with an unparalleled opportunity to access desperately needed legal help from many of the best law firms in this city, at no cost. No business should miss out!”

Business owners and nonprofit leaders will have the opportunity to address their legal needs in workshop settings as well as during individual consultations. Workshop topics include:

• Legal Essentials for Small Businesses

• Contracts and MOU Issues

• Not-for-Profit Formation

• Employment Law and Personnel Management

• Intellectual Property Issues

• Commercial Leasing Issues

• Legal Essentials for Small Businesses

The Small Business Legal Academy is brought to you by APBCo in partnership with Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation; The City Bar Justice Center; Lawyers Alliance for New York; The Legal Aid Society; New York Lawyers for the Public Interest; Pro Bono Net; Start Small, Think Big; Urban Justice Center; and Volunteers of Legal Service.

For more information about the Small Business Legal Academy or to register for the event, please visit www.probono.net/sbla.

About Association of Pro Bono Counsel

Association of Pro Bono Counsel (“APBCo”) is a membership organization of full-time pro bono counsel and coordinators at major commercial law firms. APBCo has over 125 members from more than 85 law firms nationwide, including many AmLaw 200 firms. APBCo is dedicated to improving access to justice by advancing the model of the full-time law firm pro bono counsel, enhancing the professional development of pro bono counsel, and serving as a unified voice for the national law firm pro bono community (www.probonocounsel.org).

34

"LOW-INCOME DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS GET CRITICAL ASSISTANCE," DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE PRO BONO REPORT

http://www.dwt.com/Low-Income-Domestic-Violence-Victims-Get-Critical-Assistance-Davis-Wright-Tremaine-Pro-Bono-Report-05-21-2013

Spring 2013

DWT lawyers are helping make a difference for victims of domestic violence, for whom court can be a very intimidating place. Language barriers, cultural traditions, the influence of the abusive partner, and the complexities of the system can make it challenging to obtain a much-needed protection order.

One of the local resources for people in such a position is a program called the Domestic Violence Protection Order Impact Project, managed by pro bono counsel at the law firm Foster Pepper PLLC. The project is dedicated to representing women with children who need, or have been wrongfully denied, protection orders. The program generally offers one-time representation to help women make permanent a temporary protection order they’ve been granted, or get reconsideration of a protection order that has been denied. The program offers training to volunteer lawyers, and matches them with clients.

Highly successful, the four-year-old project has a 95 percent placement rate (virtually all the women who have come through the program have been matched with an attorney) and has helped dozens of women and their children find a semblance of safety and protection.

Last fall, representatives of the Association of Pro Bono Counsel (APBCo) met with Vice President Joe Biden, who exhorted APBCo members across the country to work with their community partners to make a positive impact on the unmet legal needs of low-income people. The meeting resulted in new projects and more emphasis on local collaboration.

In the Seattle area, pro bono coordinators at Foster Pepper, DWT, and Perkins Coie focused on the domestic violence program, in part because of the scarcity of such resources. They are partnering with Northwest Justice Project, Eastside Legal Assistance Project, and the protection-order program within the King County Prosecutor’s Office, to enlist additional volunteer lawyers and increase the volume of cases accepted by the project.

Among DWT’s team of volunteers is first-year associate Ashley Watkins, who says she was glad to raise her hand to help. While in law school at Duke she was very active in women’s issues, and interned in Legal Aid of North Carolina’s domestic violence unit. At the end of last year, she began undertaking the training program and went to hearings with Foster Pepper attorneys. In the first quarter of this year, she took on her first client.

“There’s usually less than a month to prepare for the hearing,” says Watkins. “It’s supposed to be a tight time frame,” she notes, as a very dangerous time for a victim is the point when she’s begun looking for help. Fellow DWT associate Francisco Olmedo, a native of Spain, will be providing interpretation services to help Watkins with her current client.

35

FENWICK PROVIDES FREE LEGAL CLINICS IN RURAL BAY AREA COMMUNITIES AS PART OF THE RURAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE

http://www.fenwickprobono.com/2013/08/bay-area-free-legal-clinics-with-rural-justice-collaborative.html

The Rural Justice Collaborative is part of the Association of Pro Bono Counsel's (APBCo) IMPACT Project. The IMPACT Project is a direct response to a meeting held in Washington, D.C. in 2012 by Vice President Joe Biden. Following the meeting, APBCo initiated the IMPACT Project, a long-term project to develop new collaborations across the country to expand pro bono resources and inspire new pro bono projects. Fenwick is among Bay Area law firms and legal services providers to launch the Bay Area Rural Justice Collaborative, designed to expand access to legal services in rural and isolated communities throughout the Bay Area.

Earlier this summer, Fenwick joined other members of the Collaborative to partner with Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto to provide free legal services at a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) clinic in Half Moon Bay. Litigation associate Bryan Kohm participated on behalf of the firm.

The clinic is one of eleven free clinics that will take place for the next three months in Napa, Half Moon Bay and Gilroy. The focus will be on immigration and housing issues

UPDATE: SEATTLE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT MAKES A MEANINGFUL DIFFERENCE

(Not yet published)

By Julie Orr, Pro Bono Coordinator, Davis Wright Tremaine

Legal resources for domestic violence survivors are limited in Washington State, despite the great need. Last year there were 695 reported domestic violence assaults in Seattle, a 51% increase from four years ago. The vast majority of these victims who went to court did so without an attorney. Due to language barriers, inability to navigate the legal system, fear of confronting their abuser in court, or improperly arguing their case in court, many deserving victims are denied their request for a Domestic Violence Protection Order. Because so few legal resources exist to help survivors attain protection orders, the Seattle Impact Team (Joanna Boisen of Foster Pepper, Leah Medway of Perkins Coie, and Julie Orr of Davis Wright Tremaine) partnered to form the Domestic Violence Impact Project (DVIP), which fills that gap by collaborating with advocates from domestic violence shelters to create “in-shelter” clinics. The goal at these clinics is to educate and prepare victims to go into court and win their protection orders, or if they are in the process of appealing a denial, work with them to bring their best case forward.

In July, DVIP held its first ever “in-shelter” clinic where volunteers met with survivors at a confidential location and worked with survivors to fill out their petitions, gather evidence, organize and write their

36

declarations, and outline a legally sound argument to make in court. Two attorneys from Davis Wright Tremaine and one from Dorsey Whitney volunteered, with Joanna supervising.

At the second clinic in August, attorneys from Perkins Coie, again with Joanna’s oversight, met with four clients at another out-shelter safe location. The clients had the opportunity to work with volunteer attorneys to strengthen their case by having the attorneys prepare their petitions, write their declarations, and structure their court arguments. Each survivor left the clinic with a better chance of winning her hearing.

The next step is to develop a master calendar with all participating shelters so that DVIP can provide legal advocacy on a broader scale. The goal is to have monthly legal clinics with a core group of volunteers that work in teams across shelters.

But DVIP is multi-faceted – in addition to this direct advocacy piece, DVIP is also adding a court watch and working on developing a fellowship. The court watch would train volunteers to sit in on domestic violence protection order hearings and assess the commissioner or judge’s ruling by taking notes and filling out a standardized form. The objective is to learn about how the bench is ruling and determine whether, under the law, orders are being properly granted and denied. The scope of the court watch is under discussion and the court watch form is currently being tested at domestic violence protection order hearings.

The last component is a 6-week fellowship, where a law firm would “donate” an associate to help represent victims of domestic violence by working at the DV Advocate’s office, located in the courthouses in Seattle and Kent. It is also possible an associate fellow could help prosecute domestic violence cases. The scope and details of the fellowship are now being worked out.

The Seattle Impact Team has benefited tremendously from the sage advice and counsel it has received from the following partners: Leslie Savina of Northwest Justice Project, Sandra Shanahan of the Domestic Violence Advocate Office, Brandy Anderson of the Eastside Legal Assistance Project, and several other advisors who are giving their time and knowledge to development of this project.

Initiatives like this one are important because they fill an unmet need and can change the trajectory of lives for the better. In developing this project, we have seen how grateful the survivors are for the valuable legal advice they receive at the clinics, and the meaningful difference our volunteers make for this vulnerable and very deserving constituent.

37

"9 NYC LEGAL SERVICES ORGANIZATIONS PRAISE ABPCo SMALL BUSINESS ACADEMY"

From: Lienhard, Bill [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2014 10:22 AMTo: Schulman, StevenCc: 'Curnin, Kevin'; King, Alison ([email protected]); Colyer; Katzman, HarleneSubject: Letter Commending APBCo for the Small Business Legal Academy

Dear Mr. Schulman,

Attached is a letter from nine legal services organizations in New York City commending APBCo for organizing the Small Business Legal Academy. All of the signatories deeply appreciate APBCo’s efforts to provide legal assistance to low-income entrepreneurs and business owners and nonprofit organizations in New York City.

Thank you. An original will follow by mail.

Bill LienhardExecutive Director Volunteers of Legal Service281 Park Avenue SouthNew York, NY 10010Tel. & Fax: [email protected] www.volsprobono.org

OMM_US:72160874.1 61619960 v1-000001/7022

38

MICHAEL N. FEUERCITY ATTORNEY

December 3, 2013

Latonia H. KeithPresident, Association of Pro Bono CounselMcDermott Will & Emery227 West Monroe StreetChicago, IL 60606-5096

David A. LashCo-Chair APBCo IMPACT ProjectO’Melveny & Myers LLP400 South Hope StreetLos Angeles, CA 90071

Albert W. WallisCo-Chair APBCo IMPACT ProjectBrown Rudnick LLPOne Financial CenterBoston, MA 02111

Bradley J. Butwin, ChairO’Melveny & Myers LLPTimes Square Tower7 Times SquareNew York, NY 10036

T. William Quicksilver, ChairManatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP11355 W. Olympic Blvd.Los Angeles, CA 90064

Dear Members:

Thank you to the Association of Pro Bono Counsel and its many member firms for addressing an urgent need among a very vulnerable population of our Los Angeles community. My office has focused substantial effort on providing assistance and protection to victims of domestic violence, making this population a top policy priority given their unique needs. The IMPACT LA Project is providing attendant legal representation in areas that will have an important effect on the ability of these clients to re-stabilize their lives and the lives of their children. I applaud the program and pledge to support this unique effort. My special thanks to Vice-President Biden for his enthusiastic support of this important project and for his much-needed and greatly-appreciated attention to life-saving issues of access to justice.

As the former executive director of a key legal aid organization, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, and in my role as the City Attorney of Los Angeles, I have a long history of working to provide access to justice for our most in need neighbors. I recognize the importance of the effort that APBCo has launched across the country and understand what a unique approach the members of the organization have taken in

City Hall East 200 N. Main Street Room 800 Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213) 978-8100 Fax (213) 978-8312

Association of Pro Bono CounselDecember 3, 2013Page 2.

assuming responsibility for assessing community needs, addressing those needs, and providing the foundation and support from which our local legal services organizations can touch the lives of even more people in desperate need of the protections that only our judicial system can provide.

I am especially proud that the IMPACT Project has been launched in Los Angeles and that attorneys and law firms from our City have played such an important role in bringing these services to so many communities across the country. I hope you will call on me and my office for whatever assistance we can provide and that we can be kept apprised of all your vital efforts on behalf of the most vulnerable residents of our region.

Sincerely,

MICHAEL N. FEUERCity Attorney

Documents

apbco.org€¦ · Web viewAt the request of the Office of the Vice-President (“OVP”), APBCo is proud to provide this update regarding the APBCo IMPACT Project. In anticipation