Local Pro Bono Success Stories
Get inspired by these amazing examples of pro bono efforts in our community.
Helping Entrepreneurs in Need. On March 22, 2017, 14 volunteer attorneys from Blank Rome LLP, helped to organize a free small business legal clinic in honor of Women’s History Month for women entrepreneurs to receive brief, personalized legal advice. The clinic was held in partnership with the Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project. 15 women entrepreneurs received expert legal counsel for businesses in a diverse array of industries including cuisine, business consulting, childcare, and digital media. “Not only did the clinic provide a benefit to the participating clients, but the work was also equally meaningful and important to our attorney volunteers,” said Rustin Paul, a partner at Blank Rome LLP. Read more here.
Long Term Commitment. In the past two decades, in partnership with the Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP), more than 200 Ballard Spahr attorneys, law students, and paralegals have spent more than 3,600 hours counseling homeless clients at bimonthly legal clinics at the Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission. They have volunteered an additional 10,000 hours representing clients referred by HAP, including matters involving identity documents, public benefits, and housing issues. Ballard Spahr’s Advocates for the Homeless were honored with the firm's 2016 Alan J. Davis Award for exemplary public service, including a $25,000 cash prize donated to HAP and the shelter by the firm. Read more here.
Results with Impact. In November 2016, Peter (“Tad”) H. LeVan, Jr., Esq., LeVan Law Group LLC received the Pro Bono Award of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation because of his extraordinary commitment over 15 years to pursuing a pro bono case that mushroomed into a massive, precedent-setting constitutional victory benefiting tens of thousands of disadvantaged Pennsylvanians. Tad successfully challenged the constitutionality of a state law that effectively blocked anyone who had been convicted of a disqualifying crime at any time in his or her life from holding any employment position at any residential care facility within the state – regardless of the nature of the crime, the date of the conviction, the rehabilitative efforts in which the individual engaged, or the specific job responsibilities of the employment position. By successfully overturning this law through LeVan's pro bono legal efforts, the lives of thousands of people in Pennsylvania will be changed for the better. Read more here.