ExxonMobil’s legal department has a longstanding history of pro bono.  With the formalization of a pro bono program in the 1980s, ExxonMobil has been a respected leader in the changing face of pro bono.  The legal department has been influential in creating and sustaining momentum for pro bono within the larger in-house community.

In a recent edition of Inside Counsel, Michael Holston, Hewlett-Packard Company executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary, recognized his legal department’s dedication to pro bono.  In 2007, Holston committed his department to providing pro bono legal services by signing the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge℠, a voluntary statement that encourages in-house counsel to provide pro bono assistance to individuals and communities in need.

In keeping with our goal of bringing the most timely and relevant speakers to the Seminar/Forum, the Pro Bono Institute (PBI) hosted a number of sessions addressing cutting edge topics.  From the “Crisis in the Courts” to “Pro Bono and the Crisis in Indigent Defense” to the Obama Administration’s ambitious goals aimed at tackling the challenges of access to justice and new pro bono opportunities, these sessions focused on key emerging issues facing pro bono practitioners across the spectrum.

Justice for Immigration’s Hidden Population: Protecting the Rights of Persons with Mental Disabilities in the Immigration Court and Detention System, a study recently released by Texas Appleseed and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a Signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge®, examines the treatment of persons with mental disabilities in the immigration court and detention system.  Eighty-six percent of detained immigrants in the Texas system have no legal representation.  This itself is a major problem (see Appleseed’s 2009 report Assembly Line Injustice), but it just sets the baseline when it comes to the mentally disabled in detention, who encounter more significant access to justice problems along with deficiencies in the ability to obtain adequate care and diagnosis. 

In an amendment issued in October 2009, the Tennessee Supreme Court adopted a rule on in-house pro bono practice expanding their ability to provide assistance to individuals and communities in need.  Under Supreme Court Rule 7 §10.01(b)(ii)(c), attorneys in Tennessee registered to practice as in-house counsel may now provide pro bono legal services through an authorized organization, such as an established bar association, pro bono program, or legal services provider.  Prior to this amendment, the Supreme Court Rules offered no explicit provision for in-house pro bono practice, limiting in-house lawyers’ ability to provide legal assistance to those in need.

On April 27, Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell, Sr. called to order an historic event – the first Virginia Pro Bono Summit.  The Summit’s morning session was held in the Supreme Court chambers – a clear indication of the seminal importance of the event.  The gathering, coordinated by the Virginia State Bar, featured regional updates, best practices, and presentations by Virginia’s Attorney General and general counsel of two of the state’s largest corporations.  The Pro Bono Institute (PBI) provided assistance in the planning and content of the event, and PBI’s Esther Lardent was the only non-Virginia speaker at the Summit.  For more information or assistance in planning a summit in your community, please contact Esther Lardent.

We are pleased to announce the latest additions to the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge℠: International Paper Company and Marathon Oil Company.  The legal departments of these companies have become the latest corporate legal departments to sign onto the CPBO Challenge℠, developed by Corporate Pro Bono, a global partnership project of the Association of Corporate Counsel and the Pro Bono Institute.

The 2010 Annual Seminar/Forum on In-House Pro Bono drew significant media coverage this year, due largely to remarks brought by Attorney General Eric Holder.  While the media are not permitted to attend substantive sessions to avoid chilling candor and discussion, the Seminar/Forum was a highly covered event due to moving and provocative comments by Holder who addressed attendees at the event’s Pro Bono Expo Luncheon and received the Institute’s Chesterfield Smith Award.  Holder has been under fire recently by Keep America Safe, click here for more info, for hiring seven attorneys who undertook pro bono work defending Guantanamo detainees.  Holder used his appearance at the conference to discuss publicly for the first time the importance of the work of these attorneys. 

Attorney General Eric Holder’s stirring remarks at the 2010 Annual Seminar/Forum on In-House Pro Bono on the importance of pro bono for unpopular clients and causes generated a host of media attention, including a disturbing analysis of pro bono by Andrew McCarthy, an attorney and columnist for the National Review Online. PBI President Esther Lardent responded to McCarthy’s factually and legally incorrect position in a letter to the editor of the National Review.

“Do What’s Right.” It’s one of the tenets on which Gap Inc. functions. And because this philosophy was so ingrained into the company’s culture, it was easy for Michelle Banks to get her legal department’s pro bono program off the ground when she took over as GC of the clothing retailer three years ago.