Cargill Inc., a business devoted to providing sustenance and energy products and services to people worldwide, places significant emphasis on giving back to the communities it serves. But finding the right pro bono project for the company’s legal department was a challenge.

Lawyers form Prudential, AT&T, Merck, and McCarter & English have joined to form the Newark Legal Aid and Resource Clinic for Consumer , which provides legal assistance to self-represented consumer debtors.

CPBO revisits the results of the in-house pro bono benchmarking survey for 2010.

The PBEye highlights points from the UnitedHealth Group and Verizon Communications respective 2010 pro bono annual reports.

The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) is the 106th company to sign the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge.

Last week, the Corporate Pro Bono team travelled to Minneapolis to host a Clinic-in-a-Box program, as well as gain insight into the pro bono activities of the Mayo Clinic, Target Corporation, and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated.

For the second time in a year, Corporate Pro Bono partnered with the Minnesota ACC Chapter, Metropolitan Economic Development Association (MEDA), and Dorsey & Whitney LLP* to host a Clinic-in-a-Box℠ in Minneapolis. The Clinic, held at the offices of Dorsey & Whitney on July 14, gave 32 in-house attorneys a chance to serve 10 minority-owned small business clients. A range of Minnesota-based legal departments were represented, including Best Buy, Xcel Energy, Target, Mayo Clinic**, TCF Bank, and UnitedHealth Group**.

The PBEye highlights some of Verizon Communications Inc.’s pro bono work in assisting disadvantaged students, domestic violence survivors, and veterans.

The folks in the legal department at Exelon Corp. know a thing or two about pro bono work. Since the early 1990s, the company has had in place an informal pro bono program. But in 2002, General Counsel Bill Von Hoene recognized his team’s—lawyers and paralegals alike—interest in pro bono work and decided to implement an official initiative.

Since its formal adoption of pro bono policy in 2007, the legal department of the Royal Bank of Canada has given much time to its Small Claims Court Duty Counsel Project, Volunteer Lawyer Services, and various other pro bono projects.