Pro Bono
Overview
Ballard Spahr has a longstanding commitment to provide pro bono legal services to individuals and organizations in need of legal services. That commitment is embraced by all of our lawyers, paralegals, and staff in every office and within every practice. We encourage each lawyer to devote meaningful time to pro bono matters, offer billable hour credit for pro bono work, and formally recognize and celebrate lawyers' pro bono achievements.
We contribute more than 50,000 hours annually to pro bono service, ensuring that clients have a voice and a legal advocate regardless of their ability to pay. We partner with agencies throughout the country to provide free legal services to meet the most pressing needs of our communities. We advocate for fundamental human rights in cases involving the death penalty, voting rights, asylum and immigration, and child advocacy; help veterans and first-responders with estate planning through Wills for Heroes; staff legal clinics for unhoused people; assist artists in protecting their intellectual property; advise entrepreneurs on building successful businesses; and represent low-income individuals and families in a full spectrum of matters.
We contribute more than 50,000 hours annually to pro bono service, ensuring that clients have a voice and a legal advocate regardless of their ability to pay. We partner with agencies throughout the country to provide free legal services to meet the most pressing needs of our communities. We advocate for fundamental human rights in cases involving the death penalty, voting rights, asylum and immigration, and child advocacy; help veterans and first-responders with estate planning through Wills for Heroes; staff legal clinics for unhoused people; assist artists in protecting their intellectual property; advise entrepreneurs on building successful businesses; and represent low-income individuals and families in a full spectrum of matters.
Additionally, we provide tax, corporate, and other assistance to nonprofit organizations; and participate in system-changing projects through impact litigation, or legislative advocacy. Applying a racial justice lens, we challenge structural racism in the many institutions that fail to achieve equity for people of color.
Ballard Spahr consistently ranks among the top 100 law firms in the Am Law Pro Bono Report. We have received numerous awards and honors in recognition of outstanding commitment to pro bono work, including the ABA Pro Bono Publico Award in 2018.
Ballard Spahr consistently ranks among the top 100 law firms in the Am Law Pro Bono Report. We have received numerous awards and honors in recognition of outstanding commitment to pro bono work, including the ABA Pro Bono Publico Award in 2018.
Client Voices: What They Say About Our Pro Bono Program
Read More
What We Do
We operate our pro bono program as a "big tent" to accommodate the diverse interests of our lawyers and the needs of the communities in which they live and work. Over the years, we have developed areas of significant focus.
Nonprofit Support
About half of Ballard Spahr's pro bono work is done on behalf of nonprofit organizations, serving the poor and advocating for civil rights and other public causes, which turn to us for the full spectrum of legal needs.
Asylum and Immigration
We have successfully represented asylum petitioners from Africa, Asia, and Central America, and recently have undertaken several cases on behalf of unaccompanied minor children seeking special immigrant juvenile status. We represented seven "Lost Boys of the Sudan" in their efforts to obtain permanent residence after fleeing their war-torn homeland. We regularly represent immigrant victims of abuse under the Violence Against Women Act. Lawyers from several offices have participated in the ABA's Immigration Detention Center Standards Project, which involves visits to detention centers to evaluate whether detainees are being afforded their legal rights.
Child Advocacy
Our lawyers work to secure stable, loving homes for abused and neglected children in collaboration with local agencies such as Philadelphia's Support Center for Child Advocates; Washington, D.C.'s Children's Law Center; CASA; and the Rocky Mountain Children's Law Center. More than 50 lawyers and paralegals across the firm work on behalf of children.
Housing
We regularly represent low-income individuals in their efforts to secure or maintain affordable housing. Habitat for Humanity is a longstanding pro bono client; we regularly assist Habitat with an array of legal needs, including legislative reform, land use, contracts, grants, corporate governance, and planned giving. We have represented numerous civic and nonprofit agencies in their efforts to develop affordable housing, including assisting the Housing Authority of New Orleans to draft recovery legislation in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and assisting with the conversion of a Philadelphia convent into a halfway home for women fleeing prostitution.
Lawyers for the Arts
Many of our lawyers represent artists, musicians, and arts groups through Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts programs, providing representation in the areas of intellectual property, contract negotiation, and real estate and tax work. They assist new artists in negotiating recording contracts and helped set up a foundation to rescue an iconic mural on South Street in Philadelphia.
Voting Rights
We have taken two statewide redistricting cases, worked with the National Commission on Voting Rights to draft testimony and a report to Congress on racism in voting, developed voting rights manuals for several states, and participate regularly in voter advocacy efforts on hotlines and at the polls. Our pro bono Racial Justice and Equality Initiative includes a focus on voting rights and elections. Our lawyers have worked on numerous cases and matters nationwide involving election protection and voter education efforts.
Death Penalty
We have long responded when the courts have asked us to provide pro bono representation in death penalty matters. Our lawyers successfully obtained a new sentencing hearing and plea agreement for a capital client in 2002 and, since 2004, have been representing a Philadelphia man in his bid to overturn a conviction based on scientifically discredited arson testimony.
Faqs
We define pro bono work as the delivery of legal services to people of limited means and to charitable, religious, civic, community, governmental, and educational organizations that serve them. We also handle a significant number of civil rights issues on a pro bono basis. We have adopted the definition of pro bono work developed by the American Bar Association and administered by the Pro Bono Institute as the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge.
Although our attorneys and legal staff engage in many civic and charitable activities, such activities are not considered pro bono service unless they involve the actual delivery of legal services to people of limited means or nonprofit organizations that serve them. This precise definition keeps us focused on the unique ethical obligation of attorneys to provide access to justice to those for whom it is not readily available.
Although our attorneys and legal staff engage in many civic and charitable activities, such activities are not considered pro bono service unless they involve the actual delivery of legal services to people of limited means or nonprofit organizations that serve them. This precise definition keeps us focused on the unique ethical obligation of attorneys to provide access to justice to those for whom it is not readily available.
In signing the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge, we made a commitment to contribute at least 3 percent of our annual billable time to pro bono work. We average about 40,000 hours annually. Ballard Spahr is one of a small number of firms that meets the ABA's aspirational goal of providing an average of 50 hours of pro bono service per attorney per year.
Ballard Spahr has been recognized as a "Pro Bono Powerhouse" in The American Lawyer's annual ranking of pro bono work by major law firms. Our pro bono effort is consistently ranked in the top tier of firms, and we have received numerous awards.
Ballard Spahr has been recognized as a "Pro Bono Powerhouse" in The American Lawyer's annual ranking of pro bono work by major law firms. Our pro bono effort is consistently ranked in the top tier of firms, and we have received numerous awards.
Yes. It was established more than 25 years ago. Our program has the dedicated leadership of a Pro Bono Counsel, Pro Bono Coordinator, and Director of Practice Management and the support of a Pro Bono Committee comprising representatives from each office and department. Their work is shaped by a formal pro bono policy that includes training for attorneys and legal assistants and access to a database of pro bono activities. We encourage the widest possible involvement and our intranet contains information, forms, and sample documents for use in pro bono matters.
Yes. All pro bono time is counted toward billable hour requirements for attorneys and paralegals. Pro bono accomplishments are taken into account in evaluations and associate bonuses are based, in part, on billable hours, including pro bono time.
We receive referrals from local and national public interest agencies, as well as from clients and staff. We screen individual cases for eligibility guidelines and evaluate nonprofit organizations for demonstrable need and mission.
We distribute information about pro bono training opportunities throughout the firm, and frequently host training sessions on-site. New attorneys fill out a survey about their pro bono interests so that we can alert them to opportunities that match their preferences. Cases are regularly circulated with requests for volunteers and a newsletter provides information about pro bono opportunities and activities. Attorneys are welcome to develop their own pro bono projects, subject to a review that ensures that the clients are financially eligible and that rules out conflicts of interest.
The pro bono staff refers volunteers to mentors and resources within and outside the firm. We maintain close relations with public interest agencies so that we can tap their expertise when necessary. All pro bono matters have a supervising partner, and we encourage attorneys and paralegals to team up so that they can share the experience and the workload. We also have developed pro bono practice groups in areas with substantial interest and participation, such as child advocacy and immigration.
Absolutely, and they work in direct partnership with our attorneys. For example, summer associates have worked with the Chair of the firm on an amicus brief for the ACLU in a wiretapping case; participated in evaluations of immigration detention facilities for the ABA; helped research and draft a report for submission to Congress on the effects of racism on voting; and conducted intake and handled individual cases for a homeless shelter. We offer job-shadowing opportunities with our pro bono nonprofit clients and legal services agencies, and we partner with those agencies on pro bono for summer associates.
While impact litigation and litigation on behalf of low-income clients are important parts of our pro bono practice, our program is distinctive because more than half of our matters do not involve litigation. We undertake a diverse mix of transactional, labor, tax, intellectual property, and real estate pro bono work for low-income individuals and nonprofit agencies, an effort that also involves various legislative initiatives.
Yes. Many partners take the lead on pro bono matters and every matter has a supervising partner. At Ballard Spahr, pro bono commitment is honored from the top down. The Chair of the firm, department chairs, and managing partners of offices all participate in pro bono matters.
Our attorneys serve on the boards of legal services organizations around the country and both the firm and individual attorneys make substantial financial contributions to those organizations. We also assist local legal services organizations by providing pro bono legal services involving operational issues (contracts, employee benefits, real estate, tax, intellectual property) and advocacy (impact cases, legislative research, and drafting) and by offering in-kind services, such as hosting meetings and receptions, printing and copying materials, and sponsoring training events.
In addition, Ballard Spahr periodically sponsors Equal Justice Works Fellowships with legal service agencies and summer or school-year externships for law students who have accepted an offer to join us full time. We also participate in the Philadelphia Bar Association's Public Interest Fellowship, which provides the opportunity for a new associate to spend a full year working for a public interest law firm.
Leadership
Ballard Spahr's Pro Bono Committee consists of partners, counsel, and associates from many of the firm's offices and departments.
Pro Bono Committee
Contacts
Rankings and Recognition
Racial Justice Recognition
2022 Bar Foundation Pro Bono Award
A Top 100 Firm
The American Lawyer Pro Bono Report, 2009-2019