Lawyers Giving Back Archive
Attorney Holly Baer Kammerer: It’s about Helping Others
June 28th, 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 Holly Baer Kammerer of Burg Simpson…
Attorney Holly Baer Kammerer: “Some people might believe ‘lawyers are in it for the money’, but it’s certainly not the case in our firm.”
A skilled attorney and mother of three boys, Holly Baer Kammerer never loses sight of why practicing law is important to her. A personal injury attorney with the well-known firm of Burg Simpson, Kammerer has come to the rescue of families in crisis, injured children, children with disabilities and recently she’s become involved in representing women harmed by the controversial birth control pill, Yaz.
“I became a lawyer to help people through a process—for a lot of people, personal injury litigation is a very difficult process and it can be very confusing,” says Kammerer. “It can take time and it is coupled with the fact that clients often have serious injuries and they are in pain and that can magnify the difficulty.”
Kammerer considers she is fortunate to be part of a firm that puts an emphasis on practicing law to the highest moral and ethical standards. Although like everyone else in our society, lawyers have to be compensated for the work they do, the money is secondary. “Some people might believe ‘lawyers are in it for the money’, but it’s certainly not the case in our firm. I believe we are in it for the right reasons and we believe in giving back to the community.”
Burg Simpson has given millions of dollars to community organizations in the Denver area over the last two decades. Some of it has gone to the Denver Symphony, some to the Craig Hospital that specializes in the treatment of spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury patients—and other recipients include multiple charitable causes that make up a long list of ongoing projects.
Kammerer spends many of her off hours helping low income families access early childhood education as the Vice President/President Elect for the Wild Plum Center in the Longmont and Boulder County area. “There are many children in the area from families that live below the national poverty level,” says Kammerer. “Many of the kids have a combination of issues and I am interested in that and focused on that. My oldest son has a genetic disability and early intervention in his preschool years was extremely important and I certainly know how important that is.”
Members of the Burg Simpson team recently agreed to put themselves out there in a t.v. commercial to raise money for worthwhile projects. “I thought, I am a lawyer,” Kammerer says with a soft laugh. “I don’t want to do commercials, but it does help raise money and that helps our community.”
It is late in the day as Kammerer talks about the business of being a lawyer and she is finishing up some work at home as her three boys return from school. “It is true it goes deeper. I love being a lawyer and helping people and if I wasn’t able to help people and be involved in charitable work, I guess I would be happy to be at home with my boys.”
Holly Baer Kammerer is a shareholder in the law firm of Burg Simpson and has been a practicing lawyer for 19 years. Her career began in Washington D.C. and she joined Burg Simpson in Denver in 1996. She has recovered millions of dollars for her clients including a $2.5 million personal injury verdict in US District Court for the District of Colorado. Kammerer also volunteers with children in the St. Vrain Valley School District and she volunteers on behalf of children with disabilities, specifically in education and research regarding Velo Cardio Facial Syndrome (VCFS).
Burg Simpson: Denver’s Tight ‘Knit’ Law Firm
June 20th, 2011. By BrendaC
Lawyers Giving Back looks at a side of lawyers and law firms 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 legal secretary Gina Clement of Burg Simpson…
Legal Secretary Gina Clement: “giving back…is really rewarding and makes me like working here even more.”
It maybe isn’t what you’d expect to happen at a law firm like Burg Simpson, but then again it might be. A major law firm that engages itself in serious litigation is hardly the place you’d expect to find people knitting in the office lunchroom—but that is exactly what happens several times a year.
The “Kaps for Kendall” knitted hat drive started six years ago when legal secretary Gina Clement was struck by the strength and courage of a young Denver, Colorado woman who was born with Fanconi Anemia (FA), a rare and often fatal blood disease.
To save her life, Kendall Atkinson would have to undergo a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately it meant losing her long curly hair—no minor inconvenience to a young girl just barely out of her teens. To cope with the hair loss, Kendall began knitting hats.
Sadly, the bone marrow transplant failed and Kendall died at age 20. But the knitted hat drive continues and, through the efforts of the Burg Simpson knitters, it continues to raise money for the Fanconi Research Fund and provide warm fuzzy hats for individuals across the US who are going through treatment for FA or other diseases, like cancer, that might also involve hair loss.
“At first I thought won’t that be fun, we will do something for charity,” says Gina Clement. “And when I met the Atkinson family I felt like I had known them my whole life. I absolutely love to knit and it’s a great way to do something for the community.”
Burg Simpson has a deep and abiding commitment to giving back to the community and the firm has earned a reputation for contributing time and hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to a variety of worthy causes in the Denver area.
For legal secretary Gina Clement it’s a nice break from some of the more weighty issues the lawyers and staff usually deal with. “It’s a chance to cool your head a little bit,” says Clement. “It’s just really awesome that everyone genuinely cares about giving back here. It is really rewarding and makes me like working here even more.”
Gina Clement is legal secretary to attorney Michael Burg, founding partner of Burg Simpson.
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.
Lawyer Wall of Heroes: 26 Stories You Really Should Read
May 25th, 2011. By AbiK
Chances are, none of the lawyers shown above is really comfortable with the title “hero”. And we usually reserve the honor for caped crusaders in tights or, joking aside, those who’ve shown incredibly selfless acts of courage in the face of devastating events. But for the individuals who were extended a helping hand during their own personal hour of need—often when everyone else had turned their backs on them—these attorneys are indeed truly heroes.
In each of our interviews with these attorneys, the majority shared this one quote with our senior legal correspondent, Brenda: “It’s the right thing to do.” If you’re wondering what that ‘thing’ is for each of them, click on their images above to find out. The legal practice areas they’ve chosen to champion and the causes they’ve chosen to support are as diverse as can be imagined—from Hurricane Katrina to children with special needs to the transgender community and even one that combines practicing with preaching.
We continue to be inspired by the pro bono stories we share in our Lawyers Giving Back columns. We hope you are, too.
If you know an attorney who ‘gives back’, let us know—we’d love to share their story as well. Drop us a line at .
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.
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