News & Announcements

Celebrating Years of Pro Bono Commitment and Service

November 24, 2020

Building on the strong history of pro bono service at Weil since its founding, in 2005 Weil became one of the first large law firms to formalize its pro bono program by instituting an official policy and hiring a dedicated professional staff to coordinate with legal services organizations to help those in need.

This year Weil celebrates 15 years since the Firm adopted its groundbreaking pro bono policy, which includes the goal of 50 hours per year per attorney, the expectation that every partner supervise a pro bono matter every year, and the requirement that all new attorneys  ̶  regardless of seniority  ̶  undertake a pro bono matter within two years of joining the Firm.

We are proud that, since then, this program has become one of the most successful in the profession, exceeding 1 million hours of service and winning every major pro bono award that can be bestowed on a law firm. Here are some highlights from the 15 years since the policy’s adoption.

We are grateful to all of our pro bono clients for the privilege of representing them over the past decade and a half, and look forward to many more years of fruitful collaboration with our partner organizations.

Weil assists the ACLU in protecting the rights and health of immigrants in detention at risk of contracting COVID-19, works with the Brennan Center for Justice to protect election integrity in the face of the health challenges to voting, aids small business owners with pandemic-associated challenges, and joins forces with a consortium of leading law firms on antiracism initiatives.
With the ACLU, Weil assists in the repatriation of a refugee wrongfully deported by U.S. authorities, works with the Center for Reproductive Rights to secure injunctions on behalf of physicians in two separate abortion free-speech disputes, and secures one of the largest ever religious discrimination recoveries under RLUIPA on behalf of a Jewish congregation in New Jersey.
Weil joins forces with Skadden to address the backlog of thousands of inmate requests to the Innocence Project for help, secures asylum and refuge for several LGBTQ+ clients fleeing persecution based on their sexual orientation, and delivers to the Pope the report from advocacy group Have No Fear regarding sexual abuse of children by Polish clergy.
Weil provides support at airports around the U.S. to immigrants, refugees and others threatened by the Executive Order travel ban on seven countries; marks 25 years of legal assistance to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation; and achieves a landmark civil rights victory for Mexican-American students in Tucson, Arizona proving that racial animus motivated the school district’s elimination of an ethnic studies program.
Weil assists survivors of the Paris terrorist attacks in claims for compensation, represents veterans seeking benefits after completing their service, and helps low-income entrepreneurs start businesses to achieve economic independence.
Weil protects the right of the East End Eruv Association to establish religious boundaries in three towns on New York’s Long Island, supports D.C. Appleseed’s study of the Anacostia River ecosystem, and joins AALDEF to challenge police surveillance of Muslims in the U.S.
Weil continues its longtime partnership with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest to represent special-needs schoolchildren, assists French charity Emmaus with sales activities to support the homeless, and launches an initiative to clear convictions of survivors of human trafficking.
Weil secures safe resettlement for a transgender Iraqi refugee, represents New Yorkers displaced by Superstorm Sandy and facing homelessness, and joins the Center for Constitutional Rights in a suit to end indefinite solitary confinement in California.
Weil helps young immigrants prepare Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applications, assists U.K.-based disability charity SCOPE in its social bond listing on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, and provides critical legal services in the founding and opening of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews (POLIN) in Warsaw.
Weil joins the Innocence Project to represent a Texas exoneree wrongly convicted of murder due to a prosecutor’s misconduct, successfully resolves complaints of racial discrimination by New York metro-area real estate agencies, and supports Least Developed Countries in U.N. Climate Change talks.
Weil works with the Pratt Center for Community Development to promote sustainable development in New York, advocates for immigrant children arriving alone in the U.S., and with The Legal Aid Society represents an Alabama death row inmate seeking habeas relief due to ineffective assistance of trial counsel.
Weil, with the Center for Reproductive Rights as co-counsel, reaches settlement upholding the free speech rights of a doctor providing abortion training at a Phoenix hospital; concludes a major anti-discrimination suit against the Baltimore Police Department; and assists E&Co in providing clean energy to communities around the world.
Weil helps Human Rights Watch develop a digest of International Criminal Court decisions, works with civil rights organizations nationwide on Election Protection, and supports a coalition of community groups opposing construction of a school on contaminated land in the Bronx.
Weil works with Bet Tzedek Legal Services to secure reparations for Holocaust survivors, assists Planned Parenthood Federation of America with its corporate documents, and joins the ACLU of Texas and MALDEF in a successful fight to have a federal court declare an anti-immigrant housing ordinance unconstitutional.
Weil inaugurates the annual Not-for-Profit Board Governance Symposium, joins the Vance Center to advocate for same-sex partnership rights in Colombia, and represents Puerto Rican day laborers as co-counsel with PRLDEF in an anti-discrimination suit.
2005

50

Partner Organizations

ACLU
ACLU of Texas
Advocates for International Development
Asian American Legal Defense Fund
Bet Tzedek Legal Services
Breast Cancer Research Foundation
Brennan Center for Justice
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Reproductive Rights
Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program
 D.C. Appleseed
E&Co
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch
Immigration Equality
Innocence Project
International Refugee Assistance Project
Lawyers Alliance for New York
The Legal Aid Society
MALDEF
Museum of Jewish Heritage
Museum of the History of Polish Jews (POLIN)
National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest
Oxfam International
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Pratt Center for Community Development
Public International Law & Policy Group
PRLDEF
Roma Rights Centre
Sanctuary for Families
SCOPE
Start Small Think Big
TrustLaw
Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice
Veteran Advocacy Project
For more information on our Pro Bono practice, please contact:

Miriam Buhl

Pro Bono Counsel

New York

Pro Bono Annual
 View the 2020 Pro Bono Annual Review

Many Weil attorneys and paralegals dedicated 50 hours or more to pro bono service in 2019:
View the list of 50-Hour Plus Performers.

Legalese