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Volunteer Legal Service Program (VLSP)A Letter from VLSP Executive Director Tiela Chalmers August 2010
The General Counsel of a corporation and a partner at a large law firm walk into a bar. No, this is not the beginning of a joke – it’s actually the beginning of a powerful force for good. Increasingly, in-house counsel are eager to do pro bono work, and to do it in partnership with the attorneys to whom they send significant paying business. It’s a win-win situation: the law firm attorneys get face-time, a chance to deepen and strengthen their relationship with the client, and an opportunity to showcase their lawyering skills. The in-house attorneys get the chance to do pro bono work even though they don’t always have the institutional support in place to take on full cases. And low income clients not only get much needed legal representation that keeps them from homelessness and family violence; they also get that help from experienced attorneys well-known in their fields. VLSP has been privileged to host a number of these partnerships, and interest is growing. Some examples: Hewlett Packard (HP) and Morgan Lewis have been staffing VLSP’s Housing Negotiation Project together for several years now; Union Bank is staffing that same project with a number of different law firms; Catholic Healthcare West has joined with Latham & Watkins LLP to fund and take cases from the new office of VLSP’s Medical-Legal Collaborative at the Sister Mary Philippa Health Center at St. Mary’s Medical Center. We have also worked with law firm and in-house teams to put together “legal audits” for the nonprofit organizations to whom we provide representation. The team sits down with a nonprofit and work through a legal audit checklist to evaluate what governance, real estate, tax, IP or employment issues the organization may face, and then provide follow up pro bono assistance on issues identified. Our recent and highly successful bikeathon/walkathon was another example of a great law firm/corporate partnership. Borel Private Bank & Trust Company partnered with the firms that had the strongest presence at our event, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP, to put on a great day, with opportunities for all age and skills levels to join in. (Thanks to everyone who participated or donated, by the way – we raised more than $18,000!) Pro bono is the right thing to do not only because it makes a difference in the world, but because we are privileged to have a law license and have a commensurate responsibility to give back; and because the ABA and State Bar have called upon lawyers to do at least 50 hours of pro bono work each year. But we should not lose sight of the fact that pro bono also offers considerable business benefits as well. In-house/law firm partnerships, in particular, can have a remarkable impact on the ties between law firms and their clients, and they can also enable in-house lawyers to increase their visibility and positive community impact. One of the services VLSP offers is to work with law firms and in-house counsel to match interests and needs. If you think this might be a win-win for you, please contact us.
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