Pro Bono

Law firms are defined by the values they espouse and the clients they serve. From its inception, O’Melveny has channeled the creativity and passion of its lawyers into public interest efforts that benefit the poor and powerless in local communities and society at large.

As an example, we successfully defended Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts programs before the US Supreme Court.  IOLTA is the nation’s second largest source of financial support for legal services for the poor. At risk was more than US$200 million of funding – over 15% of the annual budget for indigent legal services nationwide. Our efforts preserved a range of benefits, from access to health care to protection against homelessness, on behalf of society’s most vulnerable members.

Through our pro bono practice structure, each of our offices is able to respond quickly and effectively to the ever-changing needs of local low-income communities. The scope of our pro bono work is as wide and diverse as is the scope of our commercial areas of practice. We are able to assist individuals and nonprofit organizations with a wide array of expertise that includes litigation, labor and employment, tax, corporate transactions, appellate, criminal defense, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy, and other types of sophisticated engagements.

Our lawyers regularly engage in high-impact litigation and transactional pro bono work in a wide variety of areas including immigration, housing, civil rights, appeals, the arts, children’s rights, criminal law, education, family law/domestic violence, contract and lease negotiations, nonprofit incorporation, public benefits, tax, and other areas.

We have chosen to focus much of our transactional pro bono efforts on the microfinance field, taking a leadership role nationally in this burgeoning movement. Microfinance transactions seek to combat extreme poverty by helping the most impoverished women and families in developing countries and elsewhere secure small but crucial loan proceeds that allow them to start businesses that can—and have been—impacting their lives in the most profound ways.

Key Facts

• Our long established policy of giving our lawyers full credit for all pro bono hours is reflective of our dedication. In 2006, our attorneys volunteered over 67,000 hours to pro bono matters, averaging more than 55 hours per lawyer and accounting for almost 4% of our total billable time. In 2007 our pro bono commitment continued to increase as our lawyers devoted more than 80,000 hours to helping the underserved.
  
  
• Under our Pro Bono Initiative, new lawyers in all US offices are required to handle at least one pro bono matter in their first year at the Firm. Each partner is expected to supervise at least one pro bono matter every year, and all attorneys are encouraged to perform at least 50 hours of pro bono work annually.
  
  
• O’Melveny has appointed a firm-wide partner-in-charge and a full-time managing counsel of pro bono. David Lash, our managing counsel for public interest and pro bono services, was named a 2006 “Attorney of the Year” by California Lawyer magazine.
  
  
• Our attorneys sit on the boards of major legal services organizations in every US city in which the Firm practices. In keeping with our commitment as a signatory to the Pro Bono Institute's Pro Bono Challenge, as well as pro bono performance pledges made to various bar associations in the communities in which our US-based offices are located, each year the Firm strives to devote not less than 3% of all billable hours to pro bono services.
  
  
• Our Community Legal Services Committee, comprised of designated pro bono partners and other community leaders, regularly convenes to review all proposed pro bono matters, to discuss pro bono policy issues, and to keep the Firm focused on continued excellence in our pro bono efforts. Each office also has a pro bono partner and a pro bono committee, which focus on pro bono performance at the local level.
  
  
• In 1929, John O’Melveny, the son of the Firm’s founder, helped establish and served as the president of The Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, the oldest and largest provider of free legal services to the poor in California.
  
  
• We are a founding member of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that grew out of President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 request to have major US law firms address the issue of racial discrimination.
  
  
• In 2005, we served as both consultant to and editor of an international feasibility study about how to improve investigations and prosecutions of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Prepared on behalf of The Center for International Peace Organizations, an O’Melveny client, the study was requested by the governments of Finland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
  
  
• Habitat for Humanity, The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Lambda Legal, and the Anti-Defamation League number among the national pro bono organizations which O’Melveny supports.
  
  
• Our appellate team is known for handling high-profile pro bono matters, including cases before the US Supreme Court.
  
  

Awards & Recognitions

• Bet Tzedek Legal Services will honor O’Melveny at its annual dinner in January 2008. The Firm will receive the Rose L. Schiff Award for handling significant cases for Bet Tzedek and working with the organization to develop cutting-edge community programs for the previously underserved poor.
  
  
• The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area will honor O'Melveny at its annual luncheon in January 2008. The Firm will receive the "Special Homelessness Advocacy Award."
  
  
• In recognition of O’Melveny’s pro bono contributions to the San Francisco Symphony, the Firm is being recognized at the "Corporate Council" level for the symphony’s 2007 - 2008 season.
  
  
• The Firm received a Civic Commendation Award from the mayor of Redondo Beach in recognition of O’Melveny’s outstanding pro bono contributions to the city through the Trial Advocacy Prosecution Program.
  
  
• Lamp Community, a nationally recognized nonprofit organization, honored O’Melveny with its "Friend of Lamp Community Award 2007" for pro bono assistance with a difficult and time-consuming contract dispute.
  
  
• The Constitutional Rights Foundation of Orange County honored O'Melveny for actively contributing to the success of the organization’s 2006 - 2007 Mock Trial Competition.
  
  
• The Humane Society of the United States honored O’Melveny for outstanding pro bono work on behalf of animals. The Firm was particularly recognized for pro bono work on an amicus brief regarding the launching of a ballot initiative to outlaw greyhound racing in Massachusetts.
  
  
• The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless recognized the Firm at its 2007 Volunteer Appreciation Reception. O’Melveny was recognized for its "extraordinary efforts to make justice a reality for those struggling with homelessness."
  
  
• Twenty-eight O’Melveny lawyers were recognized by the New York State Bar Association as "Empire State Counsel" for providing at least 50 hours of free legal services to the poor in 2006. O’Melveny is one of only eight law firms with 10 or more lawyers qualifying for the title.
  
  
• New York associates Leticia Smith-Evans and Asher Rivner were honored by The Legal Aid Society of New York as recipients of its 2007 Pro Bono Awards for outstanding service to its clients in the area of Preserving Public Housing.