PRO BONO

Pro Bono Services at Manatt
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP has committed itself – as a firm and as a community of professionals – to promoting the ability of all citizens to have access to the legal system. Manatt professionals and staff are actively involved in the Firm’s pro bono representations. We annually devote at least 3% of our billable time and resources to hundreds of not-for-profit organizations and individuals unable to pay significant legal fees. Because we view pro bono as an integral part of our practice, we give pro bono matters the same attention, staffing, resources as our commercial matters. We also assign pro bono matters the same weight and credit as billable matters when evaluating our professionals’ contributions to the firm.

Manatt’s commitment to its communities is reflected through:

• An innovative, proactive pro bono program structure spearheaded by a full-time Director of Pro Bono Activities;
• A wide range of pro bono work including  impact cases and individual representation;
• Sponsorship of graduate school students through our own Torch Prize Fellowship; and
• Programs that extend the Firm's public service culture to non-lawyer employees, including our award-winning Manatt: Empowering DC Youth program and an annual 4.2-mile “Office-to-Ocean” race event that benefits local charities in Los Angeles.

Manatt lawyers conduct research for public interest organizations across the nation for use in appellate briefs defending constitutional rights. They provide corporate, regulatory and legislative services, handle real estate transactions, and protect intellectual property rights for not-for-profits. Firm professionals also represent families seeking to adopt children who might otherwise be trapped in the foster care system and individuals who have fled terror and abuse in their native countries.

In addition to handling referrals from a variety of legal services organizations in its communities, Manatt has proactively developed pro bono and community service programs to optimally utilize our legal professionals’ unique talents and interests.

• We have created a firm-wide program to serve refugee children and to act as mentor-attorneys assisting other law firms that take on Special Immigrant Juvenile Status cases.
• Our Silicon Valley attorneys provide advice to entrepreneurs in lower-income areas.
• Working with 9th Circuit Judge Harry Pregerson, we developed a legal clinic that serves recovering homeless veterans. In its first year, the Manatt Westside Veterans Clinic assisted over 150 U.S. vets in their efforts to rebuild productive lives.
• In Washington, D.C., Firm professionals use their lobbying expertise to benefit organizations whose goals are aligned with that office's Empowering DC Youth community initiative.
• In New York, Manatt attorneys have cultivated a multi-faceted relationship with Human Rights First by serving as outside general counsel for more than a decade.
• In Orange County, Manatt lawyers work with affordable housing representatives to alleviate the many burdens of homelessness.
• And in Los Angeles, professionals from multiple practice groups provide services to organizations working to redevelop abandoned inner-city commercial and industrial properties.

 2009 Pro Bono Brochure
 2008 Pro Bono Brochure