Author Archive
Attorney Reeves Whalen Picks Fights for Good Causes
June 13th, 2011. By BrendaC
Lawyers Giving Back looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we’re talking with attorney Reeves Whalen of Burg Simpson…
Attorney Reeves Whalen: “…whenever you have an opportunity to see how others live it changes…what you are willing to do to help other people.”
Attorney Reeves Whalen epitomizes the idea that we are the sum total of our experiences. Raised in Massachusetts in a family of five biological and six adopted siblings, including a younger brother and sister who are disabled, an older brother with Down’s Syndrome, two African American siblings, a Hispanic brother and a Native American sister, Whalen comes to the table, any table in fact, with a depth and understanding few other young lawyers can match.
- Attorney Reeves Whalen helping at a Girls Orphanage in Haiti
“I think the lessons I learned from my childhood gave me a barometer to assess right and wrong and have definitely led me to a place where I feel pretty comfortable picking my fights,” says Whalen, who joined the Burg Simpson law firm after graduating from the University of Denver in 2007.
Whalen was nominated for the 2010 Colorado Bar Association’s Outstanding Young Attorney Award and recently named to the Denver Business Association’s Top 40 under 40 list. He is part of Burg Simpson’s mass tort litigation team and involved in Yaz birth control litigation and the DePuy hip replacement litigation. He also is managing a number of other personal injury files. At 32, Whalen is just getting started.
“Burg Simpson has always been committed to helping families in dire situations when they’ve been injured or hurt by large commercial interests. I am proud to be associated with this law firm. Just as I am in my personal life, people here are dedicated to the idea that when someone falls down you step in and help them.”
And for Whalen, stepping in to help goes far beyond the confines of the office or the courtroom. In 2009, before the earthquake brought international attention Haiti’s unfathomable problems, Whalen, inspired by a book about a doctor working in Haiti, did a tour of duty helping build an orphanage 3 hours from Port Au Prince.
“It was pretty scary actually,” says Whalen. “There’s no electricity, no clean water and no healthcare really. You are talking about a country that has 200,000 kids orphaned by the AIDS epidemic and over 50 percent of the population can’t read,” says Whalen who was there working with the Center of Hope organization.
Whalen also serves on the board of Save Our Youth (SOY), a Denver organization that emerged from the city’s problem with gang violence and offers mentorship to at-risk young people. “I personally mentor two young African-American brothers, one 14 and the other 17,” says Whalen who says he is attracted to projects that focus on education.
“There are good things out there worth fighting for, it changes your perspective on the world and there are a lot of worthy causes out there,” says Whalen who recently drove all night to get to an Indian reservation in South Dakota to participate as a guest teacher at a Native American history class.
“I think whenever you have an opportunity to see how others live it changes how you think and changes what you are willing to do to help other people,” adds Whalen.
Reeves Whalen is a graduate of Denver University of Denver Sturm College of Law. Whalen specializes in commercial litigation, products liability and personal injury cases at Burg Simpson. He has helped raise funds to finance a group of medical professionals who traveled to Haiti to assist in the earthquake relief efforts. In 2010, Whalen organized a Continuing Legal Education seminar on Immigration Reform.
Pro Bono Work: Study Reveals What’s In It for Lawyers
May 12th, 2011. By BrendaC
- Read more about Lawyers who give back
Across the US, there are thousands of lawyers who offer up their personal time to do Pro Bono Publico, from the Latin, meaning ‘for the public good’—usually shortened to ‘Pro Bono’. Many law firms now put a high value on giving back to their communities, or donating millions of hours every year to low-income people who cannot afford to pay for legal representation.
According to a survey by the American Bar Association, “at least 40 percent of low and moderate-income households experience a legal problem each year”. There is unfortunately a dearth of help available and legal aid is able to cover only about 20 percent of those who need help.
In March 2011, a survey of 200 lawyers from small and large firms commissioned by Lexis Nexis and Pro Bono Net, an organization that puts lawyers together with good causes, offers a glimpse into the motives of lawyers who pitch in to help Americans who are struggling to get through the legal system.
According to the study, “Why Lawyers Give Back: A Window into the Drivers and Barriers of Engagement in Pro Bono Work” (March 2011), an overwhelming number (75%) share their legal skills and time with deserving clients for reasons of personal fulfillment. The second largest group (43%) takes pro bono work because they believe in a particular cause and the third largest number (37%) because of an ethical obligation.
So, a profession that is often maligned as self-interested and more motivated by financial incentive than moral code, is in fact, one in which many frequently step forward because they believe it is the right thing to do.
“There are other reasons people do pro bono, but yes, I think that is accurate,” says Cristin Zeisler, who heads the pro bono department at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. “Most of our work is commercial, but 3 to 5 percent of our work focuses on the needs of low income people and [those who are] disenfranchised.”
“We do not have mandatory pro bono,” says Zeisler. “Our lawyers do it because they want to do it. A lot of it really does come from their passion.”
Among the lawyers who are not doing pro bono work, according to the “Why Lawyers Give Back” Survey, the majority said they simply did not have time (67%) to participate in pro bono projects. The next largest group (30%) said their workload at their firms didn’t allow them to donate hours for free.
Only a quarter (26%) of the lawyers who are not doing pro bono work said they “had no interest in pro bono matters”.
In firms with pro bono departments, a great deal of effort goes into allowing lawyers to bring forward their own pro bono areas and issues of interest because that leads to the most successful efforts. At Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, Zeisler tries to match donated hours and heartfelt desires. “That’s why managing pro bono at a law firm is a full time job and I take it very seriously. You want people to help lawyers channel their passions towards an issue in a community that is really going to make a difference,” Zeisler says.
ProBono.net is an online resource for lawyers and legal aid advocates working to make a difference for low-income and disadvantaged Americans. Lexis Nexis is the world’s largest data research company that provides electronic access to legal and public records.
Philadelphia Attorney Recognized for Work with Transgender Community
May 3rd, 2011. By BrendaC
Lawyers Giving Back looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we’re talking with Philadelphia attorney Natalie Hrubos of Greenberg Traurig…
Attorney Natalie Hrubos: “You can imagine how difficult life is when you are carrying around a piece of identification…that doesn’t match how you look to the world.”
- Attorney Natalie Hrubos
Attorney Natalie Hrubos may be young, but her compassion and understanding of an often marginalized and ostracized group makes her seem wise beyond her years. And her many hours of pro bono work with low-income members of the transgender community, combined with her efforts to educate other lawyers about the legal issues affecting this community, was recently recognized with a Young Lawyers Division community service award from the Philadelphia Bar Association.
“Lawyers don’t necessarily express an interest in working with transgender clients because they don’t understand the community in general or the type of legal issues that are unique to transgender people,” she says. “The result is a lack of legal services available to trans folks,” says Hrubos who is an associate in the Philadelphia office of the international firm of Greenberg Traurig.
“In fact, the community in general doesn’t understand this community,” adds Hrubos, “it is not just the legal community.”
At Temple University Law School in Philadelphia, Hrubos was a law student volunteer at the only lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender free legal clinic in the state. Answering phones, taking messages she learned a lot.
“Many of the calls came from transgender individuals who needed to change their names to better match their identity and their everyday presentation. They were trying to get help with correcting their documents to match their new legal name and correct their gender marker,” says Hrubos.
By gender marker, she means that little box on your driver’s license or credit card application that asks if you are male or female.
“You can imagine how difficult life is when you are carrying around a piece of identification, you have to keep showing it and it says a name and gender that doesn’t match how you look to the world.”
And when that information doesn’t match what people see, it is more than inconvenient—it can be downright dangerous.
“I have one client who was presenting ID with his credit card in line at the grocery store and two people behind him followed him out and hit him in the face several times and he came to our meeting with a black eye,” says Hrubos.
Hrubos is currently working on document changes for a teen that was so badly harassed he had to move to a new high school. “People in his new school don’t know he is transgender. He can’t really present identity documentation so he is always worried, for example, that his car might be pulled over and he’ll be ‘outted’ in front of new his friends.”
At Greenberg Traurig, Hrubos represents employers in all in aspects of employment and labor law. Gender identity issues, particularly in the workplace are a burgeoning area of law. Aware of that, many employers want to be proactive. “I am in a good position to help and counsel employers on how to address some of the employee relations issues that come within the context of a gender transition at work and to proactively eliminate bias against transgender workers,” says Hrubos.
In June, Hrubos is doing a continuing legal education workshop for lawyers at the 10th annual Trans-Health Conference in Philadelphia.
“It will provide an issues overview and some information on how to become more ‘culturally competent’,” says Hrubos.
“There are lot of people who can represent people doing a name change, it is more difficult to find someone who is culturally competent,” Hrubos says. “I had to learn to be ‘cultural competent’ and that’s why it’s important for me to continue doing it, because there aren’t a lot of other lawyers that can do it.”
Natalie Hrubos is an associate with the large international law firm of Greenberg Traurig. She represents and counsels management clients in all aspects of labor and employment law. She is also a member of the Legal Advisory Board for the Legal Services Department at the Mazzoni Center, the only agency in Philadelphia that provides direct legal services to low-income LGBT individuals facing legal obstacles related to sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
Attorney Andrew Strenio Discusses Team Effort to Release Cuban Doctor from Prison
April 26th, 2011. By BrendaC
Lawyers Giving Back looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we’re talking with Washington DC attorney Andrew Strenio of Sidley Austin…
Attorney Andrew Strenio: “When you…work with this kind of an individual you don’t begrudge a second that you spend on it”
Had it not been for the efforts of a group of American lawyers, Cuban human rights activist, Dr. Oscar Biscet might have continued to languish in a jail on the outskirts of Havana. But in March 2011, after eight years in prison, Biscet was released. It had taken six years and likely thousands of pro bono hours involving delicate negotiations by a determined and skilled group of lawyers to achieve freedom for Biscet.
- Attorney Andrew Strenio of Sidley Austin
“It was just phenomenal news,” says Andrew Strenio from the Sidley Austin firm in Washington DC.
“We were a proud partner in the effort, but it was really a collaborative effort,” says Strenio. “There really were so many people involved including Jeremy Zucker from Hogan Lovells here in DC.”
Since the 1980s, Biscet, a medical doctor, has been a fearless advocate for basic civil liberties in Cuba. His pro democracy position came with considerable risk to his safety and well-being.
In 2002, Biscet was arrested, charged and sentenced to 25 years in prison as an enemy of the state. Known and respected internationally for his opposition to the Cuban government, Biscet has been likened to Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel and others who have risked their lives in David and Goliath human rights struggles.
In fact, Biscet was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in February, just weeks before his release from prison.
If Biscet had been willing to accept exile as the price for freedom he might have been released sooner according to Strenio. “Oscar made it clear he would stay in prison no matter how long it took in order to be able to remain in Cuba, which shows his love of his country,” says Strenio.
“He was also subjected to horrific conditions during his imprisonment which were certainly barbaric,” says Strenio. “Despite all that, he had this immense personal and moral courage in refusing to accept exile to another country as the price of release.”
Strenio won’t discuss how the group managed to negotiate Biscet’s release, but it is fair to say they talked to anyone that they believed might have influence with the Cubans.
“Any attorney knows it is a challenge to achieve a result in your home district and the farther away you go from home the more complicated it becomes,” says Strenio.
“Dealing with the situation in Cuba is extraordinarily complicated both because of the dictatorial nature of the regime and because of the distance and because of Dr. Biscet’s plight of being imprisoned unjustly for such a long period of time,” he adds.
How many hours he and other lawyers involved spent working on the Biscet case is impossible to know.
“It added up to a considerable amount,” says Strenio. “But I don’t think any of us involved in the process stopped to count. When you do this kind of work with this kind of an individual you don’t begrudge a second that you spend working on it. In fact you feel quite honored to be able to help to such a person.”
Andrew Strenio is a partner in the firm of Sidley Austin. Considered a top-flight full-service international firm, Sidley Austin has 1,600 lawyers working in 17 cities in the US and around the world. Strenio’s practice focuses on domestic and international anti-trust law. He is also a former Federal Trade Commissioner.
Attorney Douglas Fox: Helping US Servicemen a “Humbling Responsibility”
April 19th, 2011. By BrendaC
Lawyers Giving Back looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we’re talking with attorney Douglas Fox of Cozen O’Connor law firm…
Attorney Douglas Fox: “If you are going to be deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq, the last thing you need is a legal problem on your mind.”
- Attorney Douglas Fox
US military personnel have legal issues just like everybody else. And last year, the American Bar Association (ABA) saw a need to reach out to US servicemen and servicewomen and connect them with lawyers who were willing help on a pro bono basis.
“We jumped at the chance,” says attorney Douglas Fox, whose firm, Cozen O’Connor, was asked to become one of the founding members of the ABA Pro Bono Military Project.
“We thought it was an incredibly exciting and humbling responsibility and opportunity to help active servicemen and women. If you are going to be deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq, the last thing you need is a legal problem on your mind and we felt this was a way for lawyers to give back.“
Even before volunteering to be a founding member of the Pro Bono US Military Project, Cozen O’Connor had an impressive pro bono track record. Last year alone according to Fox, who heads the firm’s pro bono committee, Cozen O’Connor attorneys did more than 16,000 pro bono hours—with a total time value of some $6 million.
“These were hours given to those who otherwise would not have been able to access legal services,” says Fox. “We handle all kinds of pro bono cases, from very high visibility cases to cases that don’t make the headlines, like the pro bono military project cases, but they are equally important to us and they are, of course, important to our clients.”
In the high-profile category you can include Lozano v. Hazelton, a civil rights case that is now before the Supreme Court. For the last four years, along with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others, Cozen O’Connor has being fighting a Hazelton, Pennsylvania city bylaw that would punish landlords and employers who rent to or hire so-called illegal aliens.
Cozen O’Connor has several hundred lawyers with 20 offices across the US and is also represented in London and Toronto. Although it is a general practice firm, its lawyers don’t do a lot of family law. With the Pro Bono US Military Project, Fox says, “This is an opportunity for our lawyers who don’t practice family law to go outside their comfort zone. It is something that lawyers who take on these cases are anxious to do because they know the need is so great.”
“Many of the cases are family law cases. They are adoptions, child support, divorces—cases of that nature. They are issues that need to be dealt with in order to put the minds of the servicemen and women at ease,” Fox adds.
“There is no question, even today with this program, not all of the legal needs of military personnel are being met,” says Fox. “Even with the great work of the ABA Pro Bono Military Project we know there are needs that are not being met, however, we have been very excited to do what we can do.”
Douglas Fox concentrates his practice in subrogation and recovery, property insurance, commercial and civil litigation. Before joining Cozen O’Connor in 1985, Fox served as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia. Fox has also previously served on the board of directors of the Philadelphia Committee to End Homelessness.
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