NEW YORK, October 29, 2014: Morgan Lewis has been recognized with a 2014 Cornerstone Award by the Lawyers Alliance for New York (Lawyers Alliance). The annual award honors institutions and individuals for exceptional pro bono legal support of nonprofit organizations working to better the lives of low-income city residents. Individual Morgan Lewis partners have been recognized by Lawyers Alliance in the past, but this is the first time that the firm will receive the organization’s highest honor for its longstanding commitment to business and transactional pro bono work.
In honoring Morgan Lewis, Lawyers Alliance noted “the firm’s New York office has handled a disproportionately large volume of business and transactional law pro bono matters for its size.” In nearly 20 years, Morgan Lewis’s New York office has worked through Lawyers Alliance to provide legal assistance with corporate, structuring, governance, contract, employment, and intellectual property law to more than 60 nonprofit organizations on more than 70 business and transactional law matters, including 10 new projects in the last year alone.
“Lawyers Alliance has been a great partner to our firm over the years,” said Morgan Lewis Pro Bono Partner Amanda Smith. “We are pleased to be recognized for our efforts. However, the real honor comes from providing meaningful assistance to those who are less fortunate.”
A signatory of the Pro Bono Institute’s Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge, Morgan Lewis has built an extraordinarily diverse and innovative Pro Bono practice, performing more than 71,000 hours of pro bono representations in 2013. The firm’s Pro Bono Practice strengthens its bonds to the communities in which it practices and makes a profound difference in the lives of its clients. In 2014, Morgan Lewis again pledged to focus at least 3% of its total billable hours on pro bono matters. Learn more about the firm’s Pro Bono Practice.
Morgan Lewis will be formally honored by Lawyers Alliance at a ceremony on Thursday, October 30, 2014, in New York City.