News
Public Interest
Jun. 19, 2002
Pro Bono Award Goes To MoFo
SAN FRANCISCO - Morrison & Foerster will be awarded one of five annual Pro Bono Publico awards for providing legal services to the poor, the American Bar Association announced Monday.
"I think it's a very important award," said Robert Weiner, chairman of the ABA's standing committee on pro bono and public service and a partner at Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C.
Established in 1984, the awards recognize individuals and organizations upholding the "fundamental obligation of lawyers - an obligation that is embodied in our code of ethics that we should serve those who can't afford to pay our fees," Weiner said.
ABA President Robert E. Hirshon will present the awards Aug. 12 at the Omni Shorham Hotel in Washington. Rosalynn Carter will be the keynote speaker.
Bar associations from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties and New York City, and from an array of legal services organizations, offered eloquent testimony in their nominations of Morrison & Foerster's pro bono contributions, Weiner said.
Andrew Martin, spokesman for the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, praised Morrison & Foerster for putting "concerns of people in front of everything else" following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
Lawyers in the firm's New York offices wrote and paid printing costs for books detailing legal resources available to victims and small businesses affected by the disaster.
The ABA also noted the pro bono work Morrison & Foerster lawyers have performed on the largest education class action in California history, Williams v. California, 312236.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups filed the lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court alleging the state has failed in its constitutional obligation to provide an equal education, by, among other shortcomings, hiring too few qualified teachers and providing inadequate school facilities.
Jack Londen, a partner at Morrison & Foerster's San Francisco office, served as chairman of the firm's pro bono services committee for more than a decade and is working on the case.
For years, Londen said, Morrison & Foerster has spent more than 10,000 hours annually performing pro bono services. Ten attorneys have worked full-time on Williams, he said. The firm hasn't been paid for any of that work, although it could recover its fees if the plaintiffs win. If that happens, Londen continued, the money will go to Morrison & Foerster's nonprofit fund, which makes charitable donations and pays expenses and expert fees for public interest work.
At least 3 percent of a big law firm's billable hours should be spent on pro-bono work, Londen said. Morrison & Foerster's effort equals about 5 percent, he said.
Lawyers at big law firms enjoy the most legal support and earn the most money, he added. "We can give back, so we should."
Other award winners include Michael Miller of New York; Luis A. Ochoa of Tucson, Ariz.; Rebecca Rundgren of Denver; and the Ohio Attorney General's Pro Bono Program.
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Joel Rosenblatt
Daily Journal Staff Writer
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