Pro Bono Happy Hour

MassMutual’s General Counsel Michael O’Connor and Corporate Law Lead Counsel and Pro Bono Committee Founder Dorothy Varon join the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles’ Executive Director Silvia Argueta and Baker McKenzie’s Pro Bono Partner and Executive Director of the Pro Bono Practice Angela Vigil to describe how their organizations are effectively communicating with their pro bono clients despite the challenges posed by closed meeting places and social distancing during the Covid-19 crisis. Mike and Dorothy also discuss the unique aspects of a large corporation in a small legal market providing pro bono services. This is the third episode in a special podcast from Pro Bono Institute illuminating the legal aid and pro bono community’s response to Covid-19.

Featuring Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP’s Chair – Brad Karp, as well as Robert Atkins and Michael Gertzman, Co-chairs of the firm’s Litigation Department, this is the second in a special series of podcasts from PBI illuminating the legal aid and pro bono community’s response to COVID-19.  In this episode, we hear more about the growing need for legal services as a result of the pandemic and the steps the Paul Weiss firm is taking on its own and in concert with others to address those needs, including creation of the Covid-19 Response Center.

This special episode reveals the depth and breadth of legal assistance needed to address the effects of the pandemic, and how to overcome the obstacles the legal community faces in finding and serving clients with the greatest need for help. PBI speaks to leaders Jim Sandman, Chair of the ABA COVID-19 Task Force, Ron Flagg, President of the Legal Services Corporation, and Jackie Haberfeld, Pro Bono Counsel for Kirkland & Ellis LLP. This series of special PBI podcast episodes provide additional insights from experts at the forefront of the legal industry’s response to the growing need for pro bono assistance in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Are you looking to expand your global pro bono practice? PBI talks to Wendy Atrokhov and Harry Redford of Latham & Watkins about global pro bono and the recently updated Global Pro Bono Survey (lw.com/gpbs), produced by Latham & Watkins with the support of PBI. The survey is part of an ongoing effort to promote and stimulate the growth of pro bono representation globally.

In this special episode, we sat down with our fantastic summer interns, The George Washington University Law School's Leah Calabro, the University of Michigan's Drew Sovel, and the University of Michigan Law School's Kyle Pham to talk about hip hop, their experiences at PBI working to promote pro bono and access to justice, ghostwriting, and much more.

PBI talks to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft's Osvaldo Garcia about incorporating pro bono into his life as a busy law firm associate, his experience creating and directing the Cadwalader Black and Latino Association Immigration Clinic, how lawyers can be superheroes, and more.

PBI talks to Betsy Hutson from McGuireWoods about incorporating pro bono into her life as a busy law firm litigator, her experience representing survivors of human trafficking, and more.

Foley Hoag's Rebecca Cazabon talks to us about the firm's pro bono program, the access to justice culture in Boston, advice for summer associates, and more. Bonus music from Rebecca's father, Salvador Cazabon, and his trio, Trio Los Treboles, and their rendition of "Guantanamera" by José Martí and Julián Orbón.

Husch Blackwell's Margaret Richards talks to us about how pro bono "fuels her soul," her career, the firm's pro bono program, having a client cry tears of joy, and more.

We offer a preview of our upcoming Conference (March 27-29), exploring what's new this year, opportunities for networking, cutting-edge issues that will be featured, and more.

We continue our conversation with Pepper Hamilton's Joe Sullivan, discussing how to foster a culture of pro bono at a law firm, utilizing pro bono as a training tool, one of his first pro bono cases in Philadelphia, and more.

Pepper Hamilton's Joe Sullivan talks to us about his career, "mandatory" pro bono, the access to justice culture in Philadelphia, and more.

Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone's Wendy Richards talks with us about her Detroit roots, how she motivates lawyers to engage in pro bono work, her recent immigration matters, and more.

Cozen O'Connor's Melinda deLisle talks with us about her career journey, her work on behalf of children in foster care, a roller-coaster pro bono case, and more.

Womble Bond Dickinson’s Mark Desgrosseilliers talks with us about the firm's recent combination, his pro bono work protecting children in the foster care system, access to justice in Delaware, and more.

King & Spalding's Josh Toll returns to talk with us about his ongoing work with the Clemency Project, improving housing conditions, "Standing With Our Neighbors," representing people with disabilities, and more.

With the midterm elections around the corner, Nancy Anderson and Pooja Chaudhuri from the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law join us to talk about how pro bono lawyers can advance and defend the right to vote.

PBI welcomes back Katten Muchin Rosenman's Jonathan Baum to talk about the firm's pro bono clinic at the Jose de Diego Community Academy, what hot button issues the firm has been focusing on, one of his first pro bono matters, and more.

Get to know our summer interns! In a special episode, PBI talks to Arlyn Upshaw, Matti Vagnoni, and Nick Martire about their experiences at PBI working to promote pro bono and access to justice, what they've learned this summer, their future plans, and more.

PBI talks to Hunton Andrew Kurth's Kim MacLeod about how to effectively run a law firm pro bono committee, why bread·and·butter pro bono cases are the most meaningful to her, gender equity issues in the legal profession, and more.