2012 Pro Bono Institute Annual Conference In-House Track Pro Bono Highlights

In-house attorneys and legal staff from across the country attended the in-house track at the 2012 Pro Bono Institute Annual Conference, the only global gathering designed specifically to address the interests and issues of in-house pro bono. Corporate Pro Bono hosted the in-house track on March 28, in conjunction with the PBI Annual Conference. As a result of this collaboration, in-house attendees chose from a selection of 34 sessions over three days.

The in-house track kicked off with an opening plenary focused on the question of mandatory pro bono and integrating pro bono into the culture of a legal department. CPBO Director Eve Runyon led a panel discussion with Veta Richardson, president and CEO of the Association of Corporate Counsel**, Brad Smith, general counsel and executive vice president, legal and corporate affairs of Microsoft Corporation**, and Leslie Turner, chief legal officer of The Coca-Cola Company North America**. As was obvious from the panel’s comments and the participants’ engagement, mandating pro bono is not a common or encouraged practice, demonstrating to legal staff that pro bono is a department value is widespread.

Following the opening plenary, attendees broke off into two sessions. The first session, “In-House Pro Bono: The Basics,” was designed for legal departments seeking to formalize or reinvigorate their pro bono efforts. Jim Barry, senior counsel – litigation at International Paper Company**; Lisa McCraw, assistant general counsel of Deere & Company**; Celeste Poole, paralegal at Caterpillar Inc.**; and Amy Tarr, assistant general counsel of Exelon Business Services Company, LLC** shared their experience with starting or re-structuring a pro bono program, including the importance of building infrastructure and hosting a launch to galvanize support.

The second session, “Corporate Pro Bono 2.0: Momentum and Growth in Mature Programs,” was focused on established programs. Esther Lardent, president and CEO of the Pro Bono Institute, led a panel discussion featuring Mark Daniel, vice president and group managing counsel, patents of Merck & Co., Inc.**; John Frantz, vice president and associate general counsel at Verizon Communications Inc.**; and Anne Kelley, associate general counsel of Microsoft Corporation**. Kelley started off the session with a discussion about expanding and growing a legal department’s pro bono efforts with signature projects and global pro bono. Frantz continued the conversation talking about working with others through partnerships and collaborations to expand pro bono. Finally, Daniel brought to bear Merck’s expertise in the area of pro bono metrics and increasing the impact and influence of a legal department’s pro bono program through coordination with the organization’s community service and corporate social responsibility efforts.

The formal portion of the in-house track ended with a roundtable discussion of “Hot Topics in In-House Pro Bono,” during which attendees broke up into six groups to discuss one of the following topics, each led by the pro bono leader noted:

Pro Bono Engagement and Participation – Sandy Wall, managing counsel, franchise practice group, McDonald’s Corporation**;
Marketing Pro Bono Internally and Externally – Jeanette Pfotenhauer, associate general counsel, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated**;

Engaging Smaller and Regional Offices in Pro Bono – Larry Bennett, attorney, patent strategy and analysis group, Intel Corporation**;
Time-limited Pro Bono – Barbara Hennessy, counsel, Aetna, Inc.**;
Pro Bono and Technology – Chris Wendt, counsel, Mayo Clinic**; and

Involving Non-Lawyers – Devon Gores, senior paralegal, law and corporate affairs, Starbucks Coffee Company**.

Participants reconvened with their peers for a networking dinner. This was a rare opportunity for in-house attorneys and legal staff to meet and network with those in similar positions.

On Thursday, in-house attendees joined with other Annual Conference participants from law firms and public interest organizations to attend sessions with such topics as:

The General Counsel’s View of Pro Bono;
The Art of Recognition;
Leveraging Technology to Expand Pro Bono Capacity;
Pro Bono Metrics – A Framework for Qualitative Assessment;
Please “Like” Me – Using Social Media to Enhance Pro Bono;
Making the Business Case for Global Pro Bono;
Create-A-Clinic – Building Your Own;
Ethics – Multi-Jurisdictional Pro Bono; and
The Crisis in the Courts.

Attendees met with representatives from a wide range of public interest organizations to learn about issues and pro bono opportunities during the Pro Bono Expo Lunch. The day concluded with the Annual Conference Reception, during which Jane Sherburne and the legal department of BNY Mellon** were presented with the 2012 Laurie D. Zelon Pro Bono Award.

For the first time this year, in-house attendees and public interest attendees were invited to stay for the third day of the Annual Conference for a remarkable session on why lawyers volunteer, presented by Dr. Larry Richard of LawyerBrain LLC.

**Denotes Signatory to the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge^SM

The 2013 Pro Bono Institute Annual Conference will be held March 14 – 16, at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C. For more information about CPBO or the in-house track, please contact Eve Runyon, director of CPBO, or visit www.cpbo.org.