Pro Bono & Community
Our dedication to pro bono and community service is part of the fabric of our Firm, and we strive to use our time, talents and expertise to assist those who are in need. The Chicago office provides unique opportunities for our attorneys and business professionals to help others through pro bono legal services, community service and volunteerism, fund-raising and charitable giving. We have been offering these services in the Chicagoland area for decades. As one of our core value statements explains: "We value our communities. We support and encourage the active involvement of our people in pro bono and community service."
One of the ways we celebrate these efforts is by awarding the
Robert L. Berner, Jr. Pro Bono and Public Service Award of Excellence to those who excel in their pro bono and community service work. The award is named for our partner,
Robert L. Berner, Jr., who from 1963 has led the office's efforts to meet the needs of the underserved in our Chicago communities.
Children and Families
For the past several years, Chicago office lawyers and staff have partnered with
McCutcheon Elementary School in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, providing constitutional law training to classes of fourth, fifth and sixth graders. Managing Partner Phil Suse regularly serves as Principal for a Day and the school’s choir has performed at our holiday party.
Our lawyers are actively involved in the Ladder Up Tax Assistance Program (TAP), which provides
free tax preparation services to low-income families, enabling the working poor to claim valuable tax credits and refunds.
Education Our lawyers wrote the Counsel of Parent Attorneys and Advocates’ (COPAA) Supreme Court amicus briefs in
Winkelman v. Parma City School District, advocating for the rights of parents to represent themselves in court to
protect their children’s rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The United States Supreme Court decided unanimously in the Winkelman’s favor.
Criminal Defense Our lawyers worked with the
Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern University School of Law in representing Ronald Kitchen, who was
exonerated and freed from prison after spending 20 years in jail for murders he did not commit.
International Our lawyers joined with other law firms around the globe to assume
representation of inmates in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to challenge their status classification as enemy combatants.
Client TeamingOur lawyers have teams with client such as
Abbott Laboratories, Baxter International and
Caterpillar, Inc. in our "Partners to Serve" program, a series of naturalization clinics designed to assist individuals applying to become US citizens. Our lawyers and clients work with National Immigrant Justice Center.
We have also teamed with the
McDonald's Corporation and the
Center for Disability and Elder Law to help victims of predatory lending practices and teamed with
Accenture to represent the
Public Interest Law Institute (PILI) to analyze mechanisms to deter discrimination and to promote education in connection with democraticization issues in Nepal.
For more information on our Pro Bono & Community efforts in Chicago, please contact: