Ropes & Gray lawyers have fashioned careers at the firm that have enabled them to do top-notch work while at the same time participating meaningfully in a wide array of pro bono activities. This public service tradition at Ropes & Gray is rooted in the example set by the founders nearly a century and a half ago. In 1865, John Codman Ropes and John Chipman Gray joined together to form the law practice that is today Ropes & Gray. Each brought to the newly-formed firm both legal skills of the highest order and a commitment to use his skills to address not only the needs of the firm’s clients, but also matters of public concern. The public service commitment of the firm’s founders has remained a hallmark of Ropes & Gray and its lawyers ever since. As the current pro bono matters highlighted below show, client service and public service continue to go hand in hand at Ropes & Gray, just as they have since 1865.

Partner Ana Francisco and Chairman Brad Malt are important forces behind the firm's pro bono program. Ana heads up the Pro Bono Committee, and Brad handles one of the firm's environmental pro bono matters.

Rosalyn Garbose Nasdor, Ropes & Gray's Pro Bono Manager (pictured below), Byrne Harrison, Pro Bono Coordinator, and Kathy Falkenstrom, Pro Bono Assistant, administer the firm's pro bono program.

Ropes & Gray encourages our lawyers and staff to engage in pro bono work. We do not distinguish between pro bono clients and paying clients in terms of the quality of legal services provided or for purposes of associate reviews and compensation. By giving our associates as much credit for time spent on pro bono matters as for time spent representing the firm’s paying clients, we ensure our pro bono clients receive the same high level of service that is Ropes & Gray’s hallmark.

Ropes & Gray's pro bono activities are too extensive to address comprehensively on this website. Below are some examples of our pro bono work to provide a flavor of the depth and breadth of the firm's pro bono program. To learn more about the firm’s pro bono work, please take a look at the firm's most recent Pro Bono Annual Report.

Asylum and Immigration
Ropes & Gray has long been active in representing those fleeing repression based on political or religious beliefs, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, and safeguarding rights of immigrants. In 2008 alone, Ropes & Gray assisted over 90 asylum seekers. We also succeeded in forcing the government to stop years of delay in processing citizenship applications for lawful immigrants in the U.S.

Political Asylum/Immigration Representation (PAIR)
Since 1994, Ropes & Gray attorneys have represented indigent PAIR clients seeking political asylum in the United States. The firm and its lawyers have received several awards from PAIR in recognition of the significant contribution to its goal of providing legal representation to those fleeing persecution. Most recently, a team of associates was selected for the 2008 PAIR Mentor Award for its exceptional work as mentors for the Ropes & Gray attorneys representing PAIR clients, and the firm received the 2007 PAIR Pro Bono Outstanding Service Award.

Gina Gebhart (Washington University School of Law '05) leads the firm's PAIR program.

Human Rights First (HRF)
The firm also represents asylum seekers referred by HRF, an international human rights organization.  In 2008, we began work on a new matter for a transgender client from Peru. In his home country, he faced routine harassment from police and was attacked by gang members.

Immigration Equality
Immigration Equality is a national organization fighting for equal immigration rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and HIV-positive (LGBT/H) community.  We are currently assisting ten clients referred by Immigration Equality and recently won asylum for one client, a gay man who fled persecution in Jamaica.

Clinics
Massachusetts Legal Clinic for the Homeless (MLCH)
Under the auspices of the Lawyers Clearinghouse on Affordable Housing and Homelessness, a team of Ropes & Gray lawyers and paralegals conducts half-day legal clinics for the disadvantaged twice a year at area homeless shelters. At these clinics, our lawyers meet with indigent individuals to select those matters in which we can be of assistance. We have represented many homeless people on a variety of matters, including obtaining Social Security benefits, obtaining public housing assistance, appealing evictions, negotiating criminal surrenders, and settling disputes with creditors, taxing authorities, employers, and landlords.

Jeff Katz (Boston University School of Law '00) and Sarah Clinton (Boston University School of Law '05) not only represent MLCH clients but they also manage the program. Sarah won a pro bono award from the Lawyers Clearinghouse for her exemplary work and commitment to MLCH.

Suffolk Probate Court — Lawyer for the Day Program
Our lawyers serve as the "Lawyer for the Day" at the Suffolk County Probate and Family Court and provide indigent individuals with legal advice concerning any matter before the court. The matters range from child custody, to paternity testing and divorce, to guardianships, probating wills, and more traditional probate matters.

Kevin Willis (Suffolk University Law School '96) oversees the Suffolk Probate Court program and provides training to participants. Kevin is the 2008 winner of the firm's Deborah Levi Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service.

Boston Housing Court — Attorney for a Day Program and the Trial Attorney Project
Each Thursday for four months of the year, attorneys from various practice groups within the firm serve as the "Attorney for a Day" in Boston Housing Court providing legal advice to pro se indigent parties with matters before the court. Lawyers have advised on eviction proceedings and claims for compensation for uninhabitable dwellings.

Through this advice-only clinic, the Volunteer Lawyers Project, a leading provider of free civil legal assistance to low-income residents of Greater Boston, working with the housing court judiciary, created the Trial Attorney Project to allow these pro se parties to benefit from the counsel of volunteer attorneys inside the courtroom as well. Through the Trial Attorney Project, volunteer attorneys provide representation at jury-waived or jury summary process trials. Ropes & Gray participated in the program as the pilot firm in January 2007, and in 2008 won the Dennis Maguire Pro Bono Award from the Volunteer Lawyers Project.

NYC Family Court Self-Represented Legal Services Project
Attorneys in the New York office participate in the NYC Family Court Self-Represented Legal Services Project. This Brooklyn and Manhattan-based project is a first-of-its-kind pro bono project where attorneys from firms provide advice and counsel during 30-minute one-on-one sessions with pro se litigants who come to Family Court on matters involving child support, visitation, custody, guardianship, and paternity. Representation during that day is limited to the one-time consultation with clients, with no follow-up required or expected. This project has been extremely well received by the clients who have been served. It also affords pro bono attorneys an excellent opportunity to make a big impact without a significant time commitment.

Bill Sussman supervises the NYC Family Court Legal Services Project. Madeleine Kane (Georgetown University Law Center '07) has been an active participant since the project's inception in January 2008.

Housing and Homelessness
Homeless Empowerment Project
For the past 17 years, Ropes & Gray has acted as general counsel to the Homeless Empowerment Project (HEP), publisher of one of the nation's first street newspapers, Spare Change News. HEP is devoted to ending homelessness in the metro-Boston community by providing income, skill development, and self-advocacy opportunities to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Ropes & Gray lawyers also serve as co-clerks to HEP's board of trustees, and provide legal advice to the board and the organization.

Protecting Housing
Ropes & Gray has made the preservation of housing and enforcement of basic housing standards a focus of its pro bono program. Lawyers across our offices have represented low-income tenants in eviction proceedings, and have filed suits to challenge appalling housing conditions, including lack of heat, bug and rodent infestation, mold, and other potential harmful conditions.

The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia
The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia provides civil legal aid to individuals, families, and communities in the District who could not otherwise afford to hire a lawyer. Through this organization, Ropes & Gray attorneys have been able to assist indigent individuals with housing issues, social security claims, and pro se divorces, among other matters.

Samantha Barrett Badlam (University of North Carolina School of Law '06), left, and Christine Ennis (University of Virginia School of Law '06), center, have represented clients through The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. Bruce Manheim, right, is a member of the Pro Bono Committee and a partner in the DC office.

The Legal Aid Society of San Mateo and The Law Foundation of Silicon Valley
Both the Legal Aid Society and the Law Foundation focus their efforts on helping disadvantaged people improve their lives through equal access to justice. Working with these agencies, the firm has assisted in guardianship matters and with restraining orders in domestic violence situations.

Both Christa Worley (University of California, Berkeley School of Law '02), left, and Kelly Baxter (Santa Clara University School of Law '04), right, have represented clients on guardianship matters.

Death Penalty Cases
Ropes & Gray has two pending death penalty cases. By helping these clients utilize the various avenues of relief available to them to appeal and, if successful, undo their death sentences, Ropes & Gray joins other firms that seek to ensure that those on death row have received adequate representation.

Partner Dalila Wendlandt and Aaron Katz (Harvard Law School '04) are currently working on the firm's death penalty cases.

Pinochet Matters
Ropes & Gray has been involved in cases benefitting victims of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's regime since the late 1970s when we participated in efforts to obtain an indictment against General Pinochet for the murders of Orlando Letelier and Ronnie Kapen Moffitt in the 1976 Embassy Row bombing in Washington, D.C. Since then, attorneys have worked closely with Fundación Presidente Allende, a Spanish foundation established to aid victims of the Pinochet regime.

In one matter, acting on a U.S. Senate report suggesting that Riggs Bank had assisted Pinochet to conceal millions of dollars in violation of a 1998 asset-freeze order issued by a Spanish court, we filed a lawsuit against the bank to ensure that the victims could recover civil damages. We reached a historic settlement with Riggs Bank to resolve the case, recovering $9 million, an amount equal to General Pinochet's funds on deposit at the time of the Spanish court's freeze order, for victims of murder, torture, and kidnapping.

The firm has most recently assisted Fundación Presidente Allende and Victor Pey Casado with an arbitration matter related to the Pinochet government's seizure of Sr. Pey's newspaper publishing company.

Partner Sam Buffone, seen here with Elena Glas (American University Washington College of Law '07) and Christine Ennis (University of Virginia School of Law '06), leads the firm's work for the Fundación Presidente Allende.

The Carter Center
In 2007, the Ministry of Mines (Ministry) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) created an Interministerial Commission for the Revisitation of Mining Contracts (Commission) to review contracts governing investments in the DRC's mining sector.

The Ministry requested that the Carter Center, a human rights organization founded by former President Carter and his wife Rosalynn, follow the contract review process. The Carter Center requested the assistance of the International Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP), which requested assistance from a senior partner at the firm. With the assistance of a team of attorneys, the senior partner, John Reboul, analyzed five of the most important contracts and prepared a memorandum to the Minister of Mines (in English and French translations) commenting in detail on the contracts and concluding that the contracts were some of the most one-sided agreements he had seen in 30 years of practice.

The Commission presented its report and recommendations to the DRC and based on the Commission's report, previous analyses of the agreements, as well as analyses prepared by the Ropes & Gray team and Columbia University, the DRC government determined that certain terms of many of these agreements should be renegotiated, and that there may be grounds for termination of a number of the agreements. The DRC formed a ministerial-level task force to guide "Phase II" of the contract review process. Columbia University volunteers and Ropes & Gray have worked with the Ministry to articulate possible strategies for implementing DRC government policy in relation to the mining contracts, and executing Phase II of the contact review process. This work has culminated in the Ministry's presentation to the task force of two proposed "options papers" and proposed "terms of reference" to obtain experts for the renegotiation of the mining contracts.

We have continued our involvement in the project by reviewing further contracts and meeting with representatives of the mining companies.

"Cool Papa" Bell
We recently represented the daughter of the famous Negro League baseball player James "Cool Papa" Bell in a lawsuit against The Topps Company, Inc., challenging Topps's unauthorized sale of baseball cards featuring Mr. Bell. Mr. Bell was one of the first Negro Leaguer to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and is widely regarded as one of the fastest baseball players ever. His friend and teammate Satchel Paige famously said that Mr. Bell was so fast he could switch off the light and be in bed before the room got dark. His daughter filed a complaint in federal court after she learned that Topps sold baseball cards falsely stating that Mr. Bell "earned his nickname after falling asleep right before a game." We recently reached a favorable settlement of the matter.

Clint Conner (University of North Carolina School of Law '03) was part of the "Cool Papa" Bell team.

Open Society Justice Institute (OSJI)
We have been assisting the Open Society Justice Initiative on various projects involving access to judicial information within the U.S. and abroad. OSJI is a program of the Open Society Institute that promotes law reform initiatives around the world relating to human rights and transparency. OSJI recently published an influential study on Transparency & Silence, assessing how fourteen countries fared in providing information to the public.

Health Care
Medical Legal Partnership | Boston
Ropes & Gray is one of the first firms to participate in the "Adopt-a-Health Center" program sponsored by Medical Legal Partnership | Boston (MLP). This innovative program promotes health through preventive legal services in community-based health and social services centers. The primary goal of the program is to help low-income families address non-biologic factors (e.g., food, education, housing) known to influence, and in many cases to impair, child health.

Ropes & Gray staffs a weekly legal clinic at "Dot House," located in the Fields Corner neighborhood of Dorchester, and provides ongoing representation for patients referred to the legal clinic by the center's medical staff. Matters typically fall into at least one of five primary areas: housing, immigration, public benefits, education, and family law.

Anna Baxstrom Rawlings (Harvard Law School '07) and Michele Garvin are active in the Medical Legal Partnership program.

Medicare Rights Center (MRC)
Working with Medicare Rights Center, Ropes & Gray prepared an analysis and recommendations on healthcare policy presented to the Obama administration. MRC is a Medicare beneficiary advocacy organization. It asked us to develop a white paper to advise the new administration of steps it could take promptly after coming into office to improve the Medicare program. Ropes & Gray worked with MRC to develop a list of ten MRC priorities, and drafted detailed policy statements on each. The analysis was distributed widely on Capitol Hill and to members of President Obama's transition team.

Nonprofit Assistance
Ropes & Gray regularly represents not-for-profit organizations in a variety of pro bono matters, including gaining tax-exempt status, acquiring property, and defending against lawsuits. The following are some highlights of what we have accomplished for these worthwhile organizations.

Hope for a Healthier Humanity Foundation
Ropes & Gray has represented the Hope for a Healthier Humanity Foundation since its foundation. The organization coordinates and delivers charitable health care services in Latin America, training personnel in rural communities; providing clinics in outlying areas and to underserved populations; and collecting and delivering donated medicines, medical supplies, and medical equipment. Since helping in its incorporation, Ropes & Gray has served as the organization's general counsel, most recently assisting the network in its registration as a NGO in multiple Latin American countries.

A Far Cry
We have represented one of Boston's preeminent self-conducted string ensembles since soon after its founding in 2007, when we prepared A Far Cry's incorporation as a Massachusetts non-profit corporation and 501(c)(3) application. A Far Cry is a group of dedicated musicians who collaboratively produce and perform music internationally, hold residencies at leading musical institutions, and, through educational workshops and free concerts in its store-front space in Boston, develop close relationships with small community audiences. In its short history, A Far Cry has received tremendous praise and support from members of the musical community in Boston and beyond, including the New England Conservatory, The Boston Globe, and Strings Magazine. We counsel A Far Cry on a wide range of legal issues, including tax, real estate, contract negotiation, intellectual property, and corporate governance matters.

Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP)
We advise NEDAP in protecting its copyrights as they relate to an educational program that provides lower-income individuals with basic money-management and other economic skills. In 2006, attorneys on the client team were honored by NEDAP at the organization’s 10th anniversary celebration.

Adam Saltzman (Fordham Law School '06) is one of our lawyers who was honored by NEDAP for his help in protecting the organization's copyrights.

Not-for-Profit Incorporation and Tax Matters
The firm’s corporate and tax attorneys have helped numerous not-for-profit groups form legal entities and address associated tax matters. These include:

East Greenbush Miracle League (EGML)
We assisted EGML in its incorporation and successful application for both Internal Revenue Service and New York State tax-exempt status. The mission of EGML is to provide special-needs athletes with the opportunity to play sports on a safe and appropriate field. Ropes & Gray assisted EGML in its negotiations for the construction of its multi-purpose synthetic field which houses softball/baseball, football, soccer, and track and field. It is the first special-needs, multi-sport field of its kind in the country and other cities are beginning to model similar projects from the engineering designs.

Great Leaps for Higher Learning, Inc. (Great Leaps)
Ropes & Gray attorneys have helped to incorporate and are in the process of gaining tax-exempt status for Great Leaps. The program is based in the South Bronx and aims to enhance the lives of junior high school students by combining academics with athletics. Great Leaps provides a safe and healthy after-school environment where students are tutored in academics while also being coached in athletics. By becoming a tax-exempt corporation, Great Leaps will be able to attract greater funding and gain increased visibility, allowing the program to grow and reach the lives of more students.

The District Attorney’s Office Assistant DA Program
Ropes & Gray sends a litigation associate to Middlesex County and to Kings County every six months, for a six-month term, to work as a full-time assistant district attorney.

Mike Howe (Columbia Law School '04) recently returned from a six-month stint at the Middlesex District Attorney's Office.

Walk to the Hill
Each year, the Boston Bar Association and the Massachusetts Bar Association again sponsored the "Walk to the Hill for Legal Aid." The goal of the Walk is to bring hundreds of private attorneys to Beacon Hill to talk to their legislators about the importance of increasing funding for civil legal aid programs.

Hundreds of attorneys, including 56 Ropes & Gray attorneys, participated in the Walk in 2009. It was critically important that the private bar make a strong showing to ask Massachusetts legislators to expand funding to better meet the critical, long documented need for civil legal services.

To raise awareness of the importance of increasing funding for civil legal aid programs, 56 Ropes & Gray attorneys participated in the Walk to the Hill for Legal Aid on January 22, 2009.

Honors and Awards
In March 2003, the firm announced the creation of the Deborah Levi Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service to honor Ropes & Gray attorney Deb Levi, who lost her long and hard-fought battle with cancer in August 2002. Among her many contributions to Ropes & Gray, Deb worked tirelessly and devotedly on pro bono and public service projects large and small. Each year the memorial award is given to one or more lawyers for their outstanding pro bono or public service efforts on behalf of the firm.

Pro Bono Committee Chair, Ana Francisco, and 2008 Deborah Levi Award recipient, Kevin Willis at the 2008 Community Service, Diversity, and Pro Bono Awards Ceremony.

Ropes & Gray’s dedication to pro bono work has also been recognized by organizations with which we partner on pro bono matters. Below you will find additional information on that recognition.

Most recently, the firm received the 2008 Hope Award from RESOLVE, Inc. Also in 2008, the Ropes & Gray Housing Court team received the 2008 Dennis Maguire Pro Bono Award from the Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association; four associates were honored the 2008 PAIR Pro Bono Mentor Award; New York Lawyers for the Public Interest recognized three attorneys at their Pro Bono Advocate Awards; Lawyers Clearinghouse recognized ten attorneys for their participation in the Community Legal Referral Program; inMotion named three associates as recipients of their 2008 Commitment to Justice Award for Outstanding Legal Team; and the Student Hurricane Network honored an associate with a Service Recognition Award for her involvement and commitment to Gulf Coast recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

New York associate Janice Jabido (Tulane Law School '06) was honored for her work on behalf of the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In 2007, the firm received the 2007 PAIR Outstanding Service Award for our work with asylum seekers and the 2007 Pro Bono Award from the Women's Bar Foundation Family Law Project for Battered Women for our work on those family law cases. Also in 2007, the New York City Bankruptcy Assistance Project recognized the contributions of three lawyers, including the co-head of the firm's Bankruptcy Department; inMotion presented three attorneys with its Commitment to Justice Award for Outstanding Legal Team; and two associates in New York were honored by the Louisiana Supreme Court and Louisiana State Bar Association for their work in New Orleans after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.