SPECIAL REPORT The Pro Bono Partnership: Making In-House Pro Bono A Success Metropolitan Corporate Counsel Magazine September 2001 The Editor and Jairo Cano, a Colombian graduate of Drew University, interview Robert E. Healing, Corporate Counsel, General Electric Company and President, Pro Bono Partnership; and Richard S. Hobish, Executive Director, Pro Bono Partnership. Editor: Can you describe your backgrounds and how you developed the Pro Bono Partnership? Healing: I have been a lawyer for GE for 30 years and have always had an interest in trying to stimulate pro bono service by inside counsel. In the mid 1990s, the board of directors of WESFACCA discussed the desirability of trying to create a formal program to stimulate and encourage pro bono service by corporate counsel. I mentioned that discussion to the Editor of this newspaper who encouraged me to speak with Rick Hobish, then the deputy director of Lawyers Alliance- NY. Together we initiated the Pro Bono Partnership in November 1997. Hobish: I graduated from NYU in 1982 and worked for a real estate boutique in New York City. I had always intended to work with neglected and abused children but chose to get my initial training in a private commercial practice. After a couple of years, I went to work for the Legal Aid Society, representing children who were the subject of neglect and abuse hearings. After four years of this incredibly emotional and rewarding practice, I left the Legal Aid Society to become Deputy Director of Lawyers Alliance for New York where I began my career representing non-profit organizations. When Bob visited my office to discuss the Pro Bono Partnership, I was very eager to get involved, particularly as I am a resident of Westchester County. Bob put together a leadership committee that met regularly over the course of the ensuing year. It was a studied process by which the necessary resources were identified and the program was designed. Editor: Can you tell us about your staff? Hobish: We have an extremely dedicated and talented staff consisting of Deputy Directors Maurice Segall, Esq. and Jennifer Chandler Hauge, Esq., Margaret Sirot, Director of Development, Jessica Markowitz who has been with the Partnership since day one and oversees office administration, and Sontaia Briggs, our administrative assistant in the New Jersey Office. Editor: What was the process in developing the New Jersey office? Hobish: We received inquiries from major corporations asking if there was something like the Pro Bono Partnership in New Jersey and asking for advice on how they might set up such a program. The effort was initiated by several of New Jersey’s leading companies, notably, Prudential, Schering- Plough, Honeywell, and Johnson & Johnson. We began to put together the program in May, 2000 and opened the doors in Newark on January 2001. Healing: The office covers northern New Jersey down to Monmouth and Mercer counties, completing the semicircle around New York City. Editor: Please describe the growth of the Pro Bono Partnership since its inception. Healing: This is an enormous success story. At the end of 1998, which was our first full year, we had served 81 different clients. We have now served over 300. Our clients are local community based non-profit organizations. This is a key to the success of the Pro Bono Partnership and what defines us. Our volunteers are most successful when they volunteer their time and skills in serving clients who have the same kind of issues as their business clients. We have discovered that there are an enormous number of community based non-profit organizations that do not have access to any legal services. As soon as they have employees and a facility, they are going to have the same issues that corporate lawyers address on a regular basis — employment law, contracts, real-estate, tax issues, all things that we are familiar with in our daily practice. So in 1998, Rick succeeded in matching a total of 75 different corporate lawyers with a total of 81 different non-profit organizations. That is what we achieved in the first year. As of today that number has increased to the point where 173 in-house and 139 outside counsel are serving 315 different non-profit organizations. In addition, our skilled staff attorneys answer more than 600 phone requests for nonprofit legal advice each year. Editor: Do you go through a screening process to match volunteers with a similar background or interest to like organizations? Healing: That is one of the cornerstones of our approach – the fact that inside counsel and law firm attorneys have so little free time that they do not have the luxury of looking around their communities to find what needs exist which they could serve effectively. One of the benefits that we bring is that people like Rick, Maurice and Jennifer are becoming very familiar with the non-profits in the community and familiar with the inside counsel who are interested in providing pro bono service, making sure that there is a good match. Editor: Has your website increased the number of volunteers that you receive? Hobish: We are getting hundreds of hits a month — a significant number. We have volunteers who offer to help through the opportunity page of the website. Editor: Can you describe the workshops that Pro Bono Partnership provides? Hobish: The workshops are a successful vehicle for outreach to the client community. We provide workshops that range from 11/2 to 3 hours on legal issues that are of particular importance to our clients. We work with volunteers in the legal departments in giving these workshops. They have been more useful than anyone had anticipated in disseminating important information and marketing our services. We are also in the process of getting our CLE accreditation in the hope of being able to offer legal seminars and workshops to our volunteers. Editor: How do you disseminate word about your workshops? Hobish: Sponsorship of our workshops is done by larger umbrella organizations such as United Way or one of the community foundations, sometimes in conjunction with a local bank. As a result, we are able to concentrate on the content and the delivery. The sponsor is responsible for getting word out about the workshop and enlisting attendees. Partnering with umbrella organizations, foundations, banks and other corporations in the area works very well for everyone involved. Editor: As I recall you were recently given an award. Hobish: Yes. We have been fortunate enough to have received several. There was the ABA award that we won in 1999 for the most outstanding bar association program in the country providing pro bono services. Then ACCA gave us the 2000 ACCA Corporate Pro Bono Award for a similar recognition. GE won an award from the business law section of the ABA for its outstanding leadership in creating the Partnership and in being a powerful influence in sustaining it and allowing us to grow. In August, Len Andrew, retired IBM Associate General Counsel and a volunteer since 1997, received the 2001 ABA’s Senior Lawyer’s Division Award for his pivotal role in working with the Partnership and providing pro bono legal services to nonprofit organizations in Westchester. Editor: Any additional comments? Hobish: I should mention our outstanding board of directors. Bob has remained a constant. Without him the Partnership would not exist. It helps to have a strong board that has demonstrated a heartfelt commitment to this program and has played a leading role in helping to sustain it. Editor: Where can interested attorneys go to find out more about the Pro Bono Partnership? Healing: They can visit our website at: www.probonopartnership.org. I will point out that the website includes volunteer testimonials which present a good picture of everything that we do. I think that the testimonials are important as encouragement to volunteers and other clients to come forward and join the program. Editor: What are your plans for the future? Healing: We have just finished publishing a 250-page Employment Law Manual written for our clients and volunteers. It is now available at our website and will be available from the Partnership. In the next year we hope to expand our number of clients and volunteers in the tristate area. Our model works well for both of these groups and we are eager to serve the many non-profits in our area. Richard S. Hobish, left, executive director of the Pro Bono Partnership, discusses pro bono activities with William Lytton, senior vice president and general counsel at International Paper and a member of the Partnership’s Board of Directors, at last year’s ACCAAnnual Meeting at which Pro Bono Partnership received ACCA’s 2000 Corporate Pro Bono Award. Robert E. Healing, Corporate Counsel, General Electric Company and President, Pro Bono Partnership; and Richard S. Hobish, Executive Director, Pro Bono Partnership. HIGHLIGHTSReprinted by kind permission of Metropolitan Corporate Counsel Magazine.