October.17.2014
In recognition of Orrick’s broad approach to pro bono work, offering counsel on matters far beyond litigation and representing clients across the globe, Orrick has for a third consecutive year earned a spot on Law360’s list of top pro bono firms.
The publication highlighted Orrick’s multiyear pro bono fellow program, which allows associates to focus on pro bono matters. The firm’s pro bono fellows have been particularly active in the social-impact investment space, advising clients such as Mercy Corps and the Calvert Foundation. According to Orrick associate and former pro bono fellow Eliza Golden, “The area of for-profit socially oriented investing has huge potential.”
Other key pro bono matters singled out by Law360 include advising the International Bar Association’s Human Trafficking Task Force in its efforts to prioritize markets for anti-trafficking training programs in 2015, offering legal counsel to Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and helping the Center for Reproductive Rights in its fight for abortion rights.
While the firm handles many high-profile pro bono matters with significant social impact, including cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, it is often the smaller cases, such as individual family law matters, that are the most rewarding to the Orrick lawyers who have taken them on. According to Orrick Pro Bono Counsel Rene Kathawala, “Anyone who has been in a courtroom knows that to do it without legal representation, and to do it as a poor person who has so much stress and pressure, is almost impossible.”