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Our Pro Bono Commitment

A dedication to public service is at the heart of Patterson Belknap’s pro bono practice.  The firm continues to be ranked in the top 10 of The American Lawyer's pro bono survey.  We have been in the top 10 since the list's inception in 1999.  In 2009, for the sixth consecutive year, 100% of the firm’s attorneys participated in pro bono projects.  In addition, MFY Legal Services, Inc., in 2005, established a “Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler Fellowship” in honor of our pro bono contributions in New York City.

Patterson Belknap is proud to be part of a unique partnership between law firms and the medical and social work professions.  In Volunteers of Legal Services' pro bono program, the Children's Project, six law firms are matched with hospitals in New York City, and Patterson Belknap has been matched with Metropolitan Hospital.  This innovative program allows the firm to assist poor families with sick children who are especially vulnerable to unhealthy housing conditions, terminated public benefits and inappropriate special education placements, providing a dedicated team of lawyers and support staff to work on a continuing flow of cases.

We strongly encourage every attorney to experience the rewards of pro bono work.  By accepting the American Bar Association’s pro bono challenge, we agreed to devote up to five percent of the firm’s annual billable hours to public service work; during 2008 alone, our attorneys contributed nearly 20,000 hours.

We are proud of the recognition our dedication to public service has garnered. In October 2009, we received The Legal Aid Society's 2009 Pro Bono Publico and Public Service law Firm Award. This award is presented to firms who have shown an “outstanding commitment” to The Legal Aid Society by providing access to justice to low-income children, families and individuals. The firm recently assisted the Legal Aid Society by serving as co-counsel on four major class action reform cases in the areas of subsidized housing for low-income tenants, public assistance benefits for low-income families, health and safety concerns of children in residential treatment centers and mental health issues of children in foster care.  In addition, one of our attorneys was awarded with the Legal Aid Society’s Public Interest Law Leadership Award in 2008 for the encouragement of our firm’s participation in litigation matters with the Legal Aid Society.

A number of Patterson Belknap attorneys were awarded the Thurgood Marshall Award for Capital Representation by the New York City Bar Association. The Thurgood Marshall Award recognizes attorneys and law firms in the New York area who have contributed their time and legal expertise during the last decade in connection with the representation of incarcerated individuals across the nation who are under a sentence of death. The firm has also received the New York State Bar Association President’s Pro Bono Service Award for large law firms. In the past, six of our attorneys have received this award in their individual capacities. The firm was also presented with the 2007 "Partnering for Justice Award" by New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.

In 2001, the leader of our pro bono practice, partner Lisa E. Cleary, received the Association's Root-Stimson Award, in honor of Elihu Root and Henry L. Stimson whose careers personified the profession's commitment to public service.  And in 2003, the late Hon. Harold R. Tyler, a former federal district court judge and Deputy Attorney General of the United States, was recognized for his lifetime of good works with the naming of Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A's  Shriver Tyler MacCrate Center for Justice.

Whom We Represent

The firm actively seeks out pro bono matters from a wide variety of organizations, such as the Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Legal Services Corp. “A,” Human Rights Watch, Office of the Appellate Defender, MFY Legal Services, Inc., Lawyers Alliance of New York, Queens Legal Services, Inc., Network for Women’s Services, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, Volunteers of Legal Service, Inc., the New York City Corporation Counsel’s Office and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.  Our attorneys also are invited to bring in suitable pro bono matters from other sources.

Good Works

Examples of Patterson Belknap’s pro bono activities include:
  • Preparation of an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in the controversial enemy combatant cases.

  • Representation of an Alabama inmate appealing a death sentence.

  • Litigation on behalf of mentally disabled men who allege they were subjected, without informed consent, to unnecessary surgery.

  • Investigation of human rights abuses in Indonesia that target local lawyers.

  • Representation of a public housing residents’ council in connection with its formation of a community development corporation.

  • Assistance to victims of political oppression seeking asylum in the United States.

  • Guardian ad litem representation of mentally disabled clients in connection with numerous civil court proceedings.

  • Representation of low-income New Yorkers in connection with a landlord’s improper challenges to their tenancies.

  • Criminal appeals for defendants referred to the firm by legal service providers.

  • Representation of artists in efforts to preserve the integrity of their work.
Involved "Patterson Belknap has long been a pro bono  leader.  Our work with the firm for these many years is a model of a public legal services-private law firm partnership."—Lynn M. Kelly, Executive Director, MFY Legal Services, Inc.