About Pro Bono Partnership

THE PRO BONO PARTNERSHIP provides nonprofit organizations in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York with free, expert business legal advice they cannot otherwise afford, enhancing their capacity to improve local communities and provide essential programs for the poor and disadvantaged.  Since its founding in 1997, the Partnership has assisted as many as 1,400 nonprofit organizations on thousands of legal matters, and our client roster grows every year.

Nonprofit organizations need legal assistance to ensure proper operation of their programs, avoid costly mistakes and facilitate delivery of crucial services to people in need.  However, many nonprofits cannot pay for legal counsel without diverting limited funds from important programs  The Partnership solves this problem by providing free legal assistance to qualifying nonprofits, ensuring that organizations that feed the hungry; shelter the homeless; educate at-risk children; assist the frail and homebound elderly; revitalize blighted neighborhoods; prepare the jobless to move successfully into the workforce; and provide services for those suffering from HIV/AIDS, mental illness or other debilitating conditions need not choose between addressing their own legal needs or the needs of the communities they serve.  

The Partnership, a nationally recognized model for provision of pro bono legal services, assists nonprofit organizations on a broad range of business legal matters, such as:

            Corporate structure and governance         Compliance with state and federal regulations
            Contracts                                              Fundraising
            Real estate                                            Intellectual property
            Employment law                                    Lobbying
            Environmental law                                  Merger, bankruptcy and dissolution

The Partnership provides nearly all of its services without charge through the generosity of individual and institutional donors and the volunteer participation of the broader legal community.   The Partnership leverages its own limited resources and small staff by recruiting and supervising a corps of volunteer attorneys from corporations and law firms to advise its clients.  A staff attorney is assigned to each legal matter, providing ongoing support to volunteers and clients as needed, helping to ensure the highest quality representation.

The Pro Bono Partnership assists qualifying nonprofit organizations in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Westchester, Orange, Rockland and Putnam Counties, New York.  We assist organizations in surrounding areas on a case-by-case basis.