Home » CPBO Challenge® Initiative » About the CPBO Challenge® Initiative

About the CPBO Challenge® Initiative

In 2006, at the urging of chief legal officers, CPBO launched an initiative enabling legal departments to identify, benchmark, and communicate their support for pro bono service. The Corporate Pro Bono Challenge® statement is now the standard for in-house pro bono.  It is a simple, voluntary statement of commitment to pro bono service by legal departments, their lawyers, and staff.

Specifically, the CPBO Challenge® statement calls for chief legal officers to:

  • encourage and promote pro bono service by their legal department staff;
  • use their best efforts to encourage their staff, including at least one-half of their legal staff, to support and participate in pro bono service; and
  • encourage the outside law firms with whom they work to acknowledge publicly their support for pro bono by becoming signatories to the Pro Bono Institute’s Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® initiative.

All CPBO Challenge® signatories receive from CPBO, free of charge, information, guidance, and tailored support to strengthen existing pro bono programs or to start new ones.