FOURTH EDITION - MARCH 2013

Contents

Introduction

APBCo Updates & Dates

Comings & Goings

Kudos

Cases & Projects

Articles By & About Members

In Memoriam

FROM: David LashTO: APBCo Members

Hi Everyone, welcome to another edition of the APBCo Community Newsletter, or, as we like to call it, “As The Pro Bono World Turns” (or for those of you who saw “Argo”, it also has been referred to affectionately as “APBCo #$%$ Yourself!”). So far we have managed to sustain this meager effort for two years, not sure how . . . or why! But folks seem to be enjoying it, so we are back, stronger than ever, perhaps only a little more annoying than ever. Of course, without your input we would be running blind, much as we do in every other facet of our lives, so on behalf of our entire community, thanks to all of you who wrote pieces, submitted materials, made us aware of new projects, and generally succeeded in saving us from ourselves. Please enjoy this edition of our opus, be regaled with tall tales and news from the far corners of APBCo-Land, and be inspired by all that our members are doing around the country. We welcome any other volunteers who would like to assist with the next edition, which we are planning for the APBCo Academy in October. Special thanks to Elly Spiegel for her incredible efforts.

TO: Our Fearless Leaders (aka Outgoing Co- Presidents David Lash & Al Wallis)FROM: Your Grateful Subjects Constituents

For your years of service, your good humor, your integrity, your big thinking, your co-ness, we ...

THANK YOU!!!

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APBCO UPDATES & DATES

Elections

Congratulations to Latonia Keith on her election as our President for 2013. We expect huge, bipartisan, impactful projects to flow forth. And congratulations to Steve Schulman on being chosen as our very first President-Elect. No one is quite sure what that means, but the title is his to use as he pleases and set precedent (not president) for the next APBCo-ite to fill the role.

Our other officers for 2013 are:

Harlene Katzman -- Vice-PresidentJennifer Colyer -- SecretaryAlison King -- Treasurer

In recognition of APBCo’s expanded reach and the new projects in which we continually are asked be involved, we have expanded the Executive Committee this year from five members to eight. The three additions are our immediate past co-presidents Al Wallis and David Lash, as well as new board member Ben Weinberg. Additionally, we elected four new members to the APBCo Board of Directors -- Kevin Curnin of Stroock, Susie Hoffman of Crowell & Moring, Ellyn Josef of Vinson & Elkins, and Joe Sullivan of Pepper Hamilton. Again, the expansion of the number of Board members was decided on and accomplished in recognition of how much work the Board engages in, the many projects in which APBCo is asked to participate, and the ever-growing reach and depth of the organization. This is a testament to our entire membership and the impact we are collectively having on the pro bono culture throughout the country. We expect to hold steady at this level of leadership involvement and encourage all of our members to get further involved by joining a committee and getting involved with a project. We know you all have demanding day jobs, but please keep APBCo in your plans.

APBCo IMPACT

Thanks to our perceived need to play the “inside the Beltway” game, we came up with a tortured, yet effective, acronym for the initiative we are undertaking in conjunction with Vice-President Biden. Named the APBCo IMPACT (Involving More Pro Bono Attorneys in our Communities Together) Project, we are off to a terrific start. New or expanded pro bono efforts are taking place in eight cities around the United States, led by our members in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC. A committee of members from each city has met twice to ensure coordination of these outstanding efforts. The committee members are Maureen Alger, Jennifer Colyer, Kevin Curnin, Nicole Friant, Barbara Kagan, Harlene Katzman, David Lash, Greg McConnell, Leah Medway and Al Wallis. David and Al are serving as co-chairs of the Committee, exhibiting an unwavering commitment to continuing to be co-somethings, co-anythings.

The IMPACT Committee is organizing a wide variety of new projects. Just by way of example, one of the most unique proposals comes from our colleagues in New York City, as reported by Alison King. They have decided to throw convention to the wind and launch a “radical reinvention” of the way our community provides assistance to small businesses. They will be discarding the traditional single site model in favor of a mass market approach: one huge annual (bi-annual?) small business legal services citywide clinic. For purposes of the IMPACT initiative, this has many advantages, including: it's concrete; it's achievable within a shorter timeframe and at a bigger scale; it frees us from working one-on-one with an LSP to find a community, find a local partner, advertise locally, etc.; it has real economy of scale and built-in efficiencies; it's got cachet and it's media-worthy; it could attract support from the City (Mayor's Office, City Council, Borough Presidents); and it can be replicated, not only in the boroughs, but in other cities.

The group is planning a full-day weekend clinic. The Apollo Theater has agreed to donate space and organizational support for a nominal cost. Trainings and materials are being prepared and a number of legal services providers will be providing staffing in support of this super-clinic, including the Urban Justice Center, Volunteers of Legal Service, the City Bar Justice Center, Legal Aid, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and Lawyers Alliance for New York.

Dates To Remember

The ABA/NLADA Equal Justice Conference will take place on May 9-11 in St. Louis. Our APBCo-only session of programming will be on the morning of May 9, beginning at 9:30 a.m. and continuing through lunch. In addition, there are a number of APBCo sponsored panel presentations occurring throughout the conference. Thanks to Steve Schulman for planning the APBCo session and Joe Sullivan for taking charge of the planning and coordination of the various panels on which our members are participating. Obviously, APBCo will have a significant presence at the Conference and we hope many of you will be able to attend.

The APBCo Academy will be in San Francisco this year. As we began last year, the event will take place over two days, beginning the afternoon of October 7 and ending at lunch-time on October 8. This gives folks a chance to arrive in the Bay Area and visit your firms’ offices in the morning and depart in the afternoon of the next day, with time for all of us to gather for great programming as well as dinner and socializing in the evening. We’ll have you pretty busy with great times, so please try to join us. Our thanks to Maureen Alger and our other area members for putting together what surely will be a fabulous event. In addition, the Academy will roll into the California Pro Bono Conference which will be held the next day, October 9, in San Francisco as well. It will be hosted by our friends at OneJustice. However, given that it will be taking place at about the same time as the World Series, all are free to boycott if the Giants again reach the fall classic!

APBCo International

Madrid, Spain: For the first time, APBCo held a meeting on foreign soil. In October, Greg McConnell led a meeting of pro bono counsel from Great Britain, Australia, Spain, the U.S. and other lands, at the PilNET European Pro Bono Conference held in Madrid, Spain. The APBCo members in attendance shared practices and information with our counterparts and discussed ways in which can all try to work together. Seoul, South Korea: In December 2012, APBCo officers Harlene Katzman and David Lash were invited, along with Esther Lardent of the Pro Bono Institute, to participate in a one-day Pro Bono Symposium in Seoul, South Korea. This was the country’s first major gathering to discuss the role of pro bono in the Korean legal community and it drew representatives from private American and Korea-based law firms, including Simpson Thacher and O’Melveny & Myers, the Seoul and Korean Bar Associations, academics and journalists. The Symposium aimed to provide a new vision for how the nation and its law firms could expand and coordinate pro bono services. The goal was to inspire Korean law firms to think of pro bono as more than just an act of social responsibility, but as a culture of legal service to benefit socially and economically marginalized people. The event was hosted by Bae, Kim & Lee LLC (BKL) and the Dongcheon Foundation, which serves as BKL’s pro bono arm and a resource for pro bono more generally throughout Korea.

As something of a model, the United States legal community was held out as having a long-standing tradition of engaging in pro bono representation. Katzman, Lardent and Lash presented in depth illustrations of pro bono management, partnerships and practice to the audience of more than 120 Korea practitioners. In addition, Lash made presentations at a forum for law firm members as well as the country’s largest law school. He and Lardent were interviewed by the press and their comments about pro bono were published prominently throughout the country. The APBCo officers also met with leaders of the country’s burgeoning public interest movement. Lash later traveled to Tokyo, Japan, and met with a group of law firms that has recently put together a list-serve to promote pro bono collaboration among some of that country’s leading law firms. The audiences at all of these presentations were told about APBCo and all were anxious to grow to a point where a model such as ours could be implemented. Katzman and Lash expect to stay in contact with the many dedicated people they met on their travels. It was readily apparent how much value APBCo can share with like-minded people around the globe.

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At Pro Bono Symposium in Seoul, South Korea - Seated from left: David Lash, Esther Lardent, Harlene Katzman with Korean attorneys

COMINGS & GOINGS

The APBCo administrative inbox on our website has received many new requests for membership. Those who met the requirements and have become members since our last newsletter include:

Fiona Brett of Bingham Monica A. Fennell of Faegre Baker Daniels John Fleming of Sutherland Claire Fourel of Ashurst Kimberly Paulson of Bodman PLC Woody N. Peterson of Dickstein Shapiro Sarah Ramwell of Reed Smith

To returning members Scot Fishman (now at Manatt) and Rachel Strong (now at Bingham), so glad you’re back!

To Jaimie Fried Dockray we wish nothing but good things as she leaves our ranks after many years with Bingham. She will be pursuing other opportunities closer to home and intends to spend more time with her ten-year-old twin girls. She can be reached at jfdockray@gmail.com.

Our friend and APBCo Board member Laren Spirer writes: As most of you already know, I am leaving Debevoise. My last day will be April 12th. In the short term, I will be taking the reins from Scot Fishman as the newest consultant for Pro Bono Connection, offering outsourced pro bono program consulting to law firms, in-house legal departments and public interest legal groups (as soon as I get some clients). Please let me know if you have any leads or ideas. I'm also open to full-time positions, so please keep me in mind!

Please note that as of April 2, 2013, Ben Weinberg’s firm will be known as Dentons US LLP (in the US).

KUDOS

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Congratulations to Melanie Gerber, who is celebrating 18 years as Pro Bono Counsel at Patton Boggs LLP. She has worked with four managing partners and four different pro bono committee partner chairs during her admirable tenure. The firm’s new managing partner, Ed Newberry, issued a 50-hour annual pro bono challenge to his partners (associates have always had a 100-hour pro bono requirement) last May, a move sure to keep Melanie, and all the firm’s attorneys, busy with important pro bono matters. On the occasion of her milestone professional anniversary, Melanie writes to us all:

“I would be remiss on this professional anniversary not to thank the invaluable pro bono colleagues who welcomed me to this community 18 years ago. They shared their creative strategies, their forms/materials, their law firm political tips, and quite a few lunch hours to help me learn the ropes, keep my balance, and remind me that I was not as alone as I often felt. Susie Hoffman, Jan Flack, Barbara Kagan, and Marsha Tucker, you have my eternal gratitude. As do all of you I've had the pleasure of knowing since...what a generous and vibrant community!”

Julie LaEace has been promoted to Associate Director of Firmwide Pro Bono at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, after the firm unaccountably rejected her suggestion of "Queen” as her new title.

DLA Piper is pleased to announce that Renée Chantler received the Living the Dream Award at the Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Awards Luncheon on January 31, 2013 at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.  The Living the Dream Award is presented to an attorney who has made an extraordinary pro bono contribution to the advancement of equal access and opportunity for disenfranchised individuals. Renee’s leadership, and her deep involvement in Voting Rights Act issues and the Election Protection program, were recognized as being the embodiment of Dr. King’s dream – to mobilize lawyers in support of civil rights to guard, secure, protect, and advance access to the right to vote.

Congratulations to Allegra Rich, Pro Bono & Philanthropy Partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, on her January marriage to John Nethery (photo below, in Fiji!)

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PROJECTS & CASES

300th Innocent Person ExoneratedFrom Pam Wandzel, Pro Bono & Community Service Manager, Fredrikson & Byron P.A.:

Damon Thibodeaux  was convicted of rape and murder and sentenced to death by the state of Louisiana in 1997. http://damonthibodeaux.com/.  Working with the Capital Post-Conviction Center of Louisiana and the Innocence Project at Cardozo, Fredrikson & Byron P.A. began representing Damon on his post-conviction appeal process in May 2000.  On September 28, 2012, Damon’s team of lawyers, along with Pro Bono Manager Pam Wandzel, were there to welcome Damon to freedom after he became the 300th innocent person to be exonerated.  http://www.fredlaw.com/news/press/pr120928.html .   

In addition to local and global press interviews (from as far away as New Zealand), the CBS show “48 Hours” has been documenting Damon’s life after exoneration.  Why?  Who knows?  It may be because Damon was reunited with his 20-year old son on the evening of his release – the first time they had seen each other since his son was six months old.  Or it could be because Damon, born and bred in the South, chose to move to the Land of 10,000 Lakes to start his new life.  Guided by his lawyer, Steve Kaplan, and Pam, Damon has already finished his GED program, started college placement classes, and started a part-time job at Fredrikson where he does not have to explain where he has been for the past 16 years.  Pam, who also managed the case from the day the firm accepted it, is proud of the many ways Fredrikson has supported not only this very important work, but Damon personally as well. 

Troutman Partners with In-House Lawyers at Pro Bono ClinicsFrom Dorothy Jackson-Stallworth, Pro Bono Manager, Troutman Sanders LLP:

On December 7, 2012, Troutman Pro Bono Partner Mark VanderBroek and 15 lawyers from the firm’s Orange County and San Diego offices worked with about 15 in-house lawyers from NBC Universal in a project to provide advanced health care directives and financial powers of attorney for senior citizens.  Lawyers from Public Counsel and Bet Tzedek conducted a one hour training at NBC Universal’s offices, and participants were transported to a local senior center where Troutman and NBC Universal lawyers were paired together to advise and help the seniors complete the directives and powers of attorney.  The day concluded with a celebratory dinner.  It was very successful and well received by both Troutman and NBC Universal lawyers, who plan to work together on pro bono initiatives in the future.

In September, a group of lawyers from Troutman’s Richmond, Virginia, office worked with over 20 Capital One in-house lawyers on a nonprofit “clinic-in-a-box” project, that was organized though Corporate Pro Bono (a partnership of the Association of Corporate Counsel and the Pro Bono Institute).  Capital One lawyers came to the firm’s office and were trained by Troutman lawyers on legal issues affecting nonprofit organizations, including employment , IP, real estate, corporate and tax law issues.  The lawyers then were paired and met with representatives from nine local nonprofits to provide legal audits through a ten-point checklist. 

Willkie Obtains Favorable Judgment in Protracted Divorce MatterFrom Stacey E. Paradise, Director of Attorney Training & Pro Bono, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP:

Attorneys from Wilkie Farr, working in conjunction with inMotion, the NYC nonprofit that provides pro bono legal services for indigent women and children, obtained a favorable judgment for a pro bono client in a protracted divorce matter. Willkie succeeded in obtaining a pendente lite award of spousal support and a modification of child support which includes the requirement that the father pay a large percentage of the child’s college expenses. This motion was filed some time ago, but due to the adversary appearing pro se, the decision on the motion was delayed significantly by the court. The parties were married in 1992, had a daughter that same year and a son in 2002. The couple separated in 2008. The wife, who did not obtain a GED or work outside the home, except by assisting the husband with his business at his request, claimed that the husband was physically, mentally and verbally abusive toward her throughout their marriage.

Willkie has been a Corporate Partner and pro bono and financial supporter of inMotion since its founding in 1993. In 2008, the firm established an externship with inMotion, where on a four-month rotation Willkie externs are given a full caseload in Family Court and Supreme Court. Willkie was honored with inMotion’s "2011 Commitment to Justice Award for Outstanding Firm" and several recent team awards.

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ARTICLES BY & ABOUT APBCo MEMBERS

A GHOST OF A CHANCEBy Joseph A. Sullivan, Special Counsel & Director of Pro Bono Programs, Pepper Hamilton LLP, and Samuel W. Milkes, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, Inc.Excerpted from The Pennsylvania Lawyer - January/February 2013

The limited ability of many disadvantaged persons to afford to hire counsel has led to new efforts to bridge the gap, such as limited representation efforts that include ghostwriting. But guidance for lawyers in this area is still evolving. So, lawyers took notice when the Pennsylvania Bar Association Committee on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility and the Philadelphia Bar Association Professional Guidance Committee recently released a joint formal opinion on the subject, entitled “Representing Clients in Limited Scope Engagements.” Joint Formal Opinion 2011-100. While there has been a fair amount of coverage of this opinion itself, we believe there is a benefit in offering some analysis of the opinion and some further guidance about how best to implement limited scope engagements that include ghostwriting.

I. Limited Representation: Where Does It Fit In?

A word about the title of this article. Often, a person may have just a ghost of a chance of succeeding in litigation or the drafting of a document without the help of an attorney. The person may not know how to file an Answer to a Complaint for eviction, for example, or may not know what to file to contest a property tax assessment. Many people are not aware of the rules of evidence or what a burden of proof entails. For reasons such as these, some basic advice and, in some cases, ghostwriting can give this person a much greater chance of overall success, even though the person will thereafter be on his or her own. As stated in Opinion 2011-100, limited representation engagements are permitted and encouraged by the Rules of Professional Conduct (especially Rule 1.2 of the Rules of Professional Conduct). We suggest that lawyers consider giving clients more than a ghost of a chance by providing appropriate limited services in those situations where for a variety of reasons, full services cannot be offered.

Opinion 2011-100 could fairly be characterized as a two-part endeavor. First, the Committees detail the degree to which lawyers may limit the scope of their client representation, such as by subject matter, degree of involvement and type of tribunal. Next, the Committees outline a number of ethical considerations applicable to this kind of representation, particularly involving ghostwriting. We applaud the suggestion that lawyers may reasonably limit the scope of representation, with the client’s informed consent, because in our view such representation offers hope to many who otherwise would have to “go it alone.” We also applaud the ethics analysis as to appropriate kinds of limited representation, including ghostwriting, and we offer some further guidance that may make it easier for lawyers to take this sound ethical analysis and put it into practice for those in need of legal help.

Of course, in issuing their Opinion, the Committees added a caveat that it is just that: an Opinion. It is advisory only and is not binding on the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court, or any other court. The Committees further noted that all of the Rules of Professional Conduct apply in limited representation situations, and that other sources of law, such as court rules and regulations governing practice before government agencies, also apply.

II. Why Is A Limited Representation Option So Important?

III. Limited Representation from the Private Bar and Legal Services Perspectives

IV. The Overall Principles Set Out in Opinion 2011-100

A. What Are “Reasonable Circumstances?”

B. What Does “Informed Consent” Mean in These Circumstances?

V. Ghostwriting – Is Disclosure to the Court or to Other Parties Required?

To read the full article: http://www.pabar.org/public/probono/GhostOfAChance.pdf

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BUT I’M A PATENT ATTORNEY! I CAN’T DO PRO BONO: How the America Invents Act helped me prove my patent attorneys wrongBy Katie Niejadlik, Pro Bono Manager, Fish & Richardson P.C.

It’s been established within our community that the nature of our job can be challenging. Limited budgets, nominal support staff, institutional roadblocks at our firms – these are just a few of the myriad obstacles we all face in our daily quests to run successful law firm pro bono programs. Managing the pro bono program at a firm exclusively dedicated to intellectual property presents its own set of challenges. All of my lawyers are also scientists or engineers (quite the combination – you should see our cocktail parties!), and nearly half my firm’s billable work involves patent prosecution. As you might guess, engaging these attorneys in pro bono work is a daunting task. Prior to 2011, there simply weren’t a lot of patent prosecution-related pro bono opportunities.

Enter the America Invents Act. Signed into law by President Obama in September 2011, AIA provided for the creation of a new pro bono program to assist financially under-resourced independent inventors and small businesses. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office launched the Inventors’ Assistance program, starting with a pilot program in Minnesota and expanding to five regional outposts in 2012, with 10 additional programs to launch in 2013. Because of this, I can finally approach my patent group with worthwhile pro bono projects that they’re not terrified of handling.

Fish & Richardson has played a prominent role in the growth of this relatively new program. In June 2012, the Inventors Assistance Program yielded its first patent to one of our pro bono clients. Our client’s invention is a resistance exercise and physical therapy apparatus called “Kefty Kord.” After initially being rejected by the USPTO, the inventor teamed up with a patent associate in our Minneapolis office, who quickly arranged an interview with the patent agent responsible for rejecting the application. Less than a year later, the patent was issued. Since then, our client has obtained two fitness-related patents and two related to electrified roadway systems. For solo inventors like our client, the patent system can be extremely daunting. Drawn-out patent prosecution proceedings, especially when a patent is rejected, can be costly. Utilizing IP lawyers to help navigate these waters is crucial for this client population in order to exercise their intellectual property rights.

The Federal Circuit Bar Association is now handling the national administration of the program as well as serving as the National Clearinghouse for interested eligible individuals and businesses. The Clearinghouse serves the regional outposts by providing initial screening; the regional outposts then make their own determinations with respect to eligibility and availability of pro bono assistance. Fish has partnered with several of the regional clearinghouses. Attorneys in our California, Texas, Boston, and Washington DC offices are actively working on cases and serving on task force committees for programs being rolled out in 2013. The FCBA is still determining how it will handle referrals going forward, and the regional outposts, at this point, have different referral mechanisms (some send referrals directly to me; some require interested attorneys to fill out an online form; some send messages via carrier pigeon). But at its early stages, it has proven to be a success with my attorneys, and has finally given me an appropriate comeback when my patent group tells me that pro bono just wasn’t made for them.

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VINSON & ELKINS AND PRO BONO NET USE SKYPE TO REACH LOW-INCOME CLIENTS SEEKING LEGAL SERVICES Excerpted from a Microsoft LCA/Skype Case Study

Business Challenge: Vinson & Elkins is an international law firm with 16 offices around the globe. It specializes in energy law and also provides opportunity for their attorneys to take on pro bono cases to assist low-income families and individuals. With its headquarters in Houston, Texas, interested attorneys and legal professionals regularly staff events to help intake new pro bono cases. Due to the economic recession, the firm has found the number of people in need of assistance growing — on a typical weekend, as many as 200 people line up outside the office just to complete the initial intake paperwork.

The long lines present a hardship for the people in need of help, and also make it difficult for Vinson & Elkins to staff the clinics with enough volunteer lawyers to handle the growing caseload. Most volunteer attorneys are already engaged with full-time, paid work, and they have little time to devote to pro bono cases. While Vinson attorneys prefer to offer assistance in person, they find it difficult to schedule time to work at the clinic, especially on weekends. The pro bono clients also find it challenging to attend in-person meetings due to transportation issues and childcare limitations.

Another nonprofit group, Pro Bono Net, has similar organizational difficulties. Pro Bono Net is a New York-based organization that supports efforts in the U. S. and Canada to increase access to legal aid for millions of low-income people. It has a vast network of legal aid organizations, volunteer pro bono lawyers and clients in need of legal services, and it seeks to boost collaboration among the groups and aid low-income individuals by leveraging information technology.

Solution: Vinson & Elkins is solving its scheduling dilemma with Skype, the software application that enables people to chat and make voice and video calls over the Internet. Ellyn Josef, Pro Bono Counsel at Vinson & Elkins, uses Skype regularly to stay in touch with her far-flung friends and family, and she is impressed by its ease of use, reliability and the immediacy it brings to her remote communications. She is convinced that Skype is the ideal communications tool for addressing the needs of distributed pro bono clients. She is also happy that she can use Skype to help pro bono clients at little or no cost to Vinson & Elkins.

Josef launched her Skype program during National Pro Bono Week at an event held in conjunction with the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program (HVLP), a not-for-profit program that provides critical legal services to thousands of people each year. The HVLP functions as a clearinghouse in which lawyers from all over Houston select cases to take on a pro bono basis. Rather than routing pro bono clients through long first-come, first-serve lines on Saturdays, Vinson & Elkins now has its volunteer attorneys use Skype to service clients. First, the Vinson & Elkins attorneys hold video calls with pro bono clients during which they match them with the right lawyer for their case. Next, the HVLP offers the clients virtual appointments by Skype. The clients come to the HVLP office at the appointed time to meet via Skype with their assigned lawyers for 30-minute consultations. In-person follow-up meetings are then scheduled as needed. The Skype program is so successful that Vinson & Elkins is now looking at other ways toleverage the technology. Josef explains, “I envision many other situations in which Skype can be used to deliver services to clients — such as for Social Security, veterans and immigration issues.” She believes that Skype will be useful in helping elderly and disabled clients who have difficulty traveling to events, and also helpful to those who require the aid of an interpreter because Skype can be used for multiple-party calls. “By using Skype, the firm can cut travel time for all parties involved,” explains Josef.

Skype works just as Josef anticipated. She says, “There have been no challenges on the side of the clients because instead of going to a community center, new clients can just go to the office of the provider. And there have been no technical issues either.” Just one purchase was made to get the program started - five headsets for the HVLP and five for Vinson & Elkins.

Adam Licht, Director of Product Management at Pro Bono Net, has had similarly positive experiences with Skype. He envisions using Skype as a tool to replace expensive conferencing equipment and to expand the reach of pro bono work into rural areas. “Skype is confidential, secure and immediate, delivering all the benefits of an in-person meeting except the handshake,” comments Licht.

Benefits: Skype offers real benefits to both pro bono clients and their attorneys. Clients receive legal aid at a specific time and place that works well for them, while lawyers can remain at work in their offices and help three or four pro bono clients in a single afternoon.

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MIDSIZE FIRM STEPS UP FOR HOLOCAUST SURVIVORBy Leigh JonesExcerpted from the National Law Journal’s Pro Bono Hotlist

In 1939, Joanna Boisen’s client was one of 160,000 Jews in Poland’s Lodz ghetto. For more than four years, he worked as a janitor in the Nazi-guarded center, where 43,500 people died from disease, starvation and murder. His duties included collecting decaying corpses and taking them to a dump.

For years, her client, now 92 and living in a low-income assisted-living center in Auburn, Washington, sought reparations as a Holocaust survivor. But frustrated by red tape, dimming memories of witnesses and technical glitches, he gave up trying.

Boisen, a full-time pro bono counsel at Seattle-based Foster Pepper, decided to take up his cause five years ago. She worked with German authorities, answering their questions about dates, providing documentation and, as time went by, pressuring them ever harder. “My letters got more and more aggressive,” she said.

Her client requested anonymity for this article—he fears he will lose the reparations she obtained for him if his identity is revealed, Boisen said.

Joanna P. Boisen, Pro Bono Counsel, Foster Pepper PLLC

Boisen’s job as a full-time pro bono lawyer is unusual at a firm the size of Foster Pepper, with about 120 lawyers. The firm brought her aboard five years ago, partly because the Washington State Bar Association was leaning on attorneys to provide 30 hours of pro bono service annually, said Robert Kunold Jr., the firm’s chief executive officer. “We felt like with Joanna, we could at least collectively meet some of that goal,” he said, adding that Boisen often backs up other attorneys on pro bono matters.

One of the problems for Boisen’s client was determining which of two funds his reparations should come from. One fund pays survivors who received wages for their work in the ghettos; another pays those who did not. Her client was in the second group, but because he received rations of food and water for his work, his petitions for reparations repeatedly got bogged down.

“They are meticulous,” she said of the German officials who decide on reparations payments. If a date entered on a form is off by as little as one day, the paperwork can get kicked back, she said. In July, she got a letter from the German social security program saying that her client would receive $28,000 in back payments and $800 each month for the rest of his life. It was a “huge award,” compared with those most frequently given by the office, she said.“When I called my client, he cried and said that he now could finally spoil his grandchildren,” Boisen said. She added that those grandchildren are now in their 50s.

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IN MEMORIAM: BRICKER LAVIK

From Ken Cutler, Managing Partner of Dorsey & Whitney LLP:

It is with deep regret that I inform you that our colleague and good friend Bricker Lavik died on Friday, March 1, 2013.  Bricker is survived by his beloved wife, Tonja Orr.

Bricker Lavik started his legal career as an attorney at the Legal Aid Society. In that role he represented clients in cases involving consumer credit, garnishments, repossessions, evictions, government benefits and more. He brought three Department of Housing and Urban Development administrative complaints resulting in the creation of 784 new units of low-income housing. He was lead counsel in a class action case raising deceptive trade practices claims, resulting in rent abatement claims procedures for tenants in a 100 unit apartment building.

Bricker joined Dorsey in 1986 and continued his efforts to ensure that low-income clients receive access to legal services by doing Pro Bono work and serving on numerous committees and boards. Because of Bricker’s leadership, Dorsey joined the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge as a charter signatory in 1993 and successfully achieved that Challenge for 20 consecutive years.

Bricker was the soul and conscience of Pro Bono and as such, received many recognitions including the Hennepin County Bar Association’s Distinguished Service Award in 2006 and Dorsey’s first ever Pro Bono Award for Distinguished Service in 2012.  His commitment to serving the public was deep and pervasive.  Humble and selfless, Bricker inspired us all never to rest on our laurels.

Bricker’s personal and professional passion for justice were among his most enduring qualities.  He remained vibrant and vital through the most extreme health challenges imaginable.  He seized every moment not because it could be his last but because he understood moments are to be seized.Rather than battle these various maladies, he accepted their truth and dealt with them rationally, working as an eager partner with many outstanding medical professionals most notably his primary care team at the Mayo Clinic.

In the wake of this heartbreaking news, I am reminded of what a great inspiration Bricker was to so many people.  He was a kind, generous, undaunted and wonderful person.  And for this, we are grateful and our world is truly a better place.

From Pam Wandzel: Bricker was also awarded the William Reese Smith Jr. Special Services to Pro Bono Award in 2006 by the National Association of Pro Bono Professionals during the Equal Justice Conference.  Bricker cared so much about pro bono.

From Steve Schulman: Heartbreaking news. A pillar of the Twin Cities community.

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