Pro Bono
Our global work on behalf of not-for-profit and other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) draws upon the firm’s broad strengths. We counsel tax-exempt organizations doing critical work such as providing direct services to the poor and disabled, fostering scientific research and innovation, and promoting the arts and education.
Like our for-profit clients, these entities require legal assistance in order to maintain their day-to-day operations and grow their businesses. We provide these clients a full range of business law services including corporate governance work, intellectual property counseling, transactional assistance and labor and employment advice.
These organizations represent our largest pro bono client base outside the United States. In our Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia (EMEAA) offices, we provide NGOs with business counsel and the tools to properly navigate various national regulatory regimes. For example, our Moscow lawyers regularly hold roundtables for and provide direct advice to NGOs in Russia that promote access to education, provide support services for the elderly and disabled, encourage charitable giving, and address domestic health crises. We counsel and handle litigation for these NGOs on numerous employment issues including hiring and firing, labor contracts, leaves of absence disputes, and the use of volunteers. Our Moscow lawyers’ charitable commitment draws multiple accolades, including most recently, the 2013 Pro Bono Award from Legal Success magazine and PILnet.
Our work for US not-for-profit organizations is equally robust. In 2014, a team of lawyers in our New York office helped a charitable organization that raises money for wounded veterans to obtain the local permits required to conduct fundraising for veterans’ causes. Despite raising nearly $200,000 for wounded warriors and other veterans, our client was denied permits to continue its operations. After preparing a Freedom of Information Act request for several governmental agencies seeking any and all information used to make the decisions denying the permits, we prepared a detailed accounting of the client’s fundraising history and a chronology of its efforts on behalf of veterans. After multiple meetings with our lawyers, the main agency involved granted our client’s fundraising permits.