OPIA Blog

Last year, over 100 attorneys from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe contributed 3,617 pro bono hours to building a microfinance network in Latin America. The result was an $8.5 million dollar microcredit investment fund that would open entrepreneurial doors for millions of low-income people through tiny loans.

Private law firms are increasing their pro bono commitments to the microfinance industry, the banking sector for the world’s poor. In response to the recent jump in food prices and contracting credit, firms are stepping up and offering their finance expertise for the social good. Mary Rose Brusewitz, a global finance partner at Orrick, explains the motivation for such public interest work in this way: “Young lawyers are simply not planning on just working and earning money. They want to be inspired.”

To read the full article in New York Lawyer, click here.

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Sidley Austin LLP was announced as the ABA’s recipient of the 2007 ABA Pro Bono Publico Award. The firm was honored in recognition of its Capital Litigation Project, an on-going effort in which Sidley attorneys have been representing death row inmates on a pro bono basis since 2005. Working alongside organizations such as the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, the firm has contributed more than 75,000 hours to such matters in 2006 alone. Read more about the firm and its recognition here.