Pro Bono Services & Community Involvement Efforts

McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP (MLA) is deeply committed to providing pro bono legal services.  We recognize that, as lawyers, we have a duty to help ensure that all people in our communities have equal access to our justice system regardless of their ability to pay for legal services. We believe that pro bono work and community service are a key part of the professional responsibility of lawyers. We are proud of our long-standing tradition of using our legal expertise and unique advocacy skills to serve the public interest.

Our Program

MLA expects all partners, of counsel, associates, managing directors, and senior advisors to devote a significant amount of time each year to pro bono legal services or community service. 

To honor those lawyers who dedicate their time to pro bono work, MLA established its Pro Bono and Community Service Awards program. 

In 2007, for the fifth consecutive year, the Firm honored one partner, five associates, one of counsel, and one staff member who have made extraordinary contributions to their community through pro bono or non-legal community service. After soliciting nominations firmwide, Pro Bono Committee members Dan Jarcho, Debby Ebel, and Lino Lipinsky selected the winners -- Partner Jimmy Tabb, Of Counsel Don Johnson, Associates Ivan Bilaniuk, Cormac Connor, Petrina Hall, Jae Park, and Trey Wainwright (a six-way tie), and Legal Secretary Trisha Hall.

 Recognitions & Special Awards

• The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless (WLCH) recently recognized MLA's Litigation team with a special pro bono award for its work challenging a landlord’s conversion of an apartment building into condominiums.  MLA negotiated a highly favorable settlement for the Parkway Tenants Association that prevented the eviction of numerous families, secured them special tenancies, and required the repair of Housing Code violations.
  
  
• On November 5^th, 2007, President George W. Bush recognized National Government Affairs Group Senior Managing Director Eric Tanenblatt’s public service record and nominated him to serve on the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service.
  
  
• In 2007, for the second year in a row, the San Francisco office won the city’s Food Bank Platinum Partner Award and the Per Capita Award for their efforts in the San Francisco Bar Association’s Food from the bar food drive. 
  
  
• In 2007, Rupa Singh won the San Diego County Bar Association's Outstanding Diversity Award for her work promoting diversity in the legal profession. The award recognizes Singh’s leadership in numerous minority bar associations. Singh  is Co-Founder and Past President of the South Asian Bar Association of San Diego ("SABA-San Diego"), a former Director of the National South Asian Bar Association, and an active member of the Pan Asian Lawyers of San Diego and Lawyers Club of San Diego.
  
  
• In 2007, the Denver office won first place in the 21-to-60-person office category in the Denver Bar Association (DBA) Community Action Network's annual Roll Out the Barrels Food Drive to benefit the Food Bank of the Rockies.
  
  
• In October 2007, the Firm was honored to receive the Frederick Douglass Human Rights Award for its Guantanamo Bay pro bono work. The award was presented during the annual banquet of the Southern Center for Civil Rights, a non-profit group dedicated to protecting civil and human rights.
  
  
• In 2006, Fran Higginbotham, a staff member in the DC office, received the individual award for outstanding contribution to the Catholic Charities Legal Network at the Annual Red Mass sponsored by the John Carroll Society.  MLA received a similar recognition and award in the "law firm" category at the Red Mass in 2000.
  
  
• In 2006, the American Red Cross awarded MLA its Circle of Humanitarian Award - the highest award the Red Cross gives to its disaster financial donors for the Firm’s donation to the Red Cross’s Katrina Relief effort. 
  
  
• In 2006, Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta named Corporate Associate Aisha Oliver-Staley Volunteer of the Year. Oliver-Staley was one of three Atlanta attorneys who received the award during the organization’s first anniversary reception.  The Pro Bono Partnership matches nonprofits in need of free legal advice with volunteer attorneys.
  
  
• In 2003, Lino S. Lipinsky, a partner in the Denver office, won the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado's Edward Sherman award for pro bono lawyer of the year. Lipinsky won the award for his work on the Denver "spy files" case challenging the Denver Police Department's practice of monitoring and recording protest activities of Denver-area residents and keeping files on the activities of advocacy organizations. Lipinksy's efforts were on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group that won the Nobel Peace Prize, and a Roman Catholic nun.  Due to a successful settlement in this case, the Denver Police Department adopted a new policy for collecting data on peaceful protest activities.
  
  
• In 2005, Clay Long, a partner in the Atlanta office, received the Distinguished Conservationist award from the Georgia Conservancy for his longtime support of Georgia's natural resources.
  
  
• In 2005, the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce named partner Luis Aguilar its Member of the Year award in recognition of his outstanding contributions in the progress and development of business in the Hispanic community, as well as his community and charitable efforts.
  
  
• In 2000, Jessica Abrahams, a partner in the DC office, was named DC Bar Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year.  Abrahams won in recognition of her contributions in the area of family law, including custody, child support, domestic violence, divorce, and abuse and neglect matters representing parties to the cases and acting as a court appointed guardian ad litem.
  
  
• In 2000, Will O’Brien and Dan Jarcho were recognized by the American Cancer Society for their advocacy work at the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of cancer survivors. 

Highlights of Our Pro Bono Legal Services

Points of Light Foundation & Hands On Network
In August 2007, MLA lawyers served as Hands On Network’s pro bono advisors in its merger with Points of Light Foundation.  Together, these two charities have created the country’s largest volunteer network of 370 affiliate organizations.  MLA attorneys guided the merger, advising on key issues, including overall strategic planning, insurance matters and employee benefits. 

The Museum of Cotemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA)
MLA recently negotiated a new lease for The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, “MOCA GA,” increasing its space from 4,500 square feet to 15,000 square feet.  Founded in 2002, MOCA GA is the only museum with a permanent collection exclusively devoted to Georgia artists.  The new space will accommodate ongoing displays of the permanent collection, as well as temporary shows.  It will also house an educational resource center, which will be the only existing entity devoted to the study and documentation of Georgia art history.  The museum will also permit public access to its archives and growing library.

Casa Cornelia Law Center
In coordination with Casa Cornelia Law Center, San Diego Partner Jimmy Tabb and Associate Jae Park acted as pro bono trial counsel to obtain political asylum for an Ethiopian refugee.  Tabb and Park are battling to obtain documentation and assistance to bring the man's wife and three children in Ethiopia to the U.S.

The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless (WLCH)
Representing a tenant's association, Washington lawyers Don Johnson, Ivan Bilaniuk and Cormac Connor prevented a landlord from wrongly evicting numerous families after he had converted their apartment building into condominiums. 

Supreme Court
On January 11, 2008, MLA filed an amicus curiae brief in the Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller, No. 07-290, which involves a constitutional challenge to several of the District of Columbia’s gun control laws. As pro bono counsel for the Violence Policy Center, a national non-profit research and advocacy group, and for the Police Chiefs of Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Seattle, MLA filed the amicus brief in support of the District of Columbia’s handgun ban. 

Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation
Deborah Ebel, a partner in the Atlanta office, working as part of the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, helped an abused woman get custody of her twins. Ebel also obtained an order on behalf of her client that will allow her to live with her children rent free in a house owned by the father. 

Community Involvement

In addition to pro bono legal representation, MLA attorneys have over the years provided leadership roles in countless civic organizations and have served in such roles as President of the American Bar Association, President of the Colorado American Civil Liberties Union, President of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, Chair of the Georgia Conservancy, Chair of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, Chair of the Atlanta Union Mission, General Counsel to Habitat for Humanity of Atlanta, and Principal to the Truman National Security Project and have served on many boards of directors, including Washington DC’s Children’s Law Center, Zoo Atlanta, CentroNía of Washington DC and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. 

The firm encourages every lawyer to become involved in the community.  The Firm publishes on its intranet a directory of organizations in which MLA lawyers are involved.  This directory allows new lawyers to speak with others in the firm already active in organizations to find the best way to get involved.

The firm strongly supports Habitat for Humanity, Hands on Atlanta, Service Juris, and the March of Dimes. 

Children’s Law Center Adopt-A-Child for Christmas Program
For the past four years, Washington Legal Secretary Trisha Hall has managed the Children's Law Center Adopt-A-Child for Christmas program. The Children’s Law Center helps at-risk children in the District of Columbia find safe, permanent homes and the education, health care and social services they need to flourish by providing a comprehensive range of legal services to children, families, and foster and kinship caregivers. This holiday season, Washington office personnel adopted 53 at-risk children.  All “adoptees” received a new set of clothing, a new pair of shoes, and two additional gifts selected from wish lists.

Legal Aid Society of D.C. 
MLA recently was one of four principal sponsors of the  Legal Aid Society’s 75^th Anniversary Servant of Justice awards dinner in Washington, D.C. The Firm was recognized for its special anniversary contribution to the organization and for its longstanding role in the organization’s leadership.   

MLA is proud to have one partner currently on the Society’s Board of Trustees and Executive Committee, as well as two partners who are former Presidents of the Society. 

Legacy Scholarship Foundation (LSF)
Almost ten years ago, Atlanta Associate Petrina Hall co-founded the Legacy Scholarship Foundation (LSF), a Georgia not-for-profit organization committed to providing financial assistance to high school graduates from Hall’s high school alma mater in Albany, Georgia. Since its inception, LSF has awarded more than $13,000 in scholarship money to deserving high school students planning to pursue post-secondary education -- 95 percent of the scholarship funds coming solely from Hall and her co-founder, Kiwita Phillips, M.D. LSF also hosts bi-annual “Lunch ‘n Learn” sessions designed to educate students about career paths, academics, business etiquette, and preparing for life after high school.