LOS ANGELES, June 18, 2015: Morgan Lewis has received the distinguished Law Firm Pro Bono Award from Public Counsel, an honor granted only to those organizations that demonstrate an extraordinary commitment to providing public interest legal services. Public Counsel is the nation’s largest and most established pro bono law firm of its kind and an invaluable partner in the efforts Morgan Lewis has made to serve the public good.
Morgan Lewis has partnered with Public Counsel for decades on a wide variety of cases and matters. In recent years Morgan Lewis lawyers, with Public Counsel, have secured housing for the indigent, protected abused women, assisted vulnerable children in sex trafficking cases and in Guardian ad litem proceedings, and co-authored an amicus brief for an important case before the Ninth Circuit. From 2013-2015, Morgan Lewis, serving as lead counsel, worked with Public Counsel and other public interest law firms in a seminal case that resulted in court approval of a settlement assisting a class of over 100,000 individuals and the most significant reforms in over two decades to the assistance program aiding the most vulnerable individuals in Los Angeles County.
In 2014, Morgan Lewis contributed more than 75,000 hours to pro bono service, providing general representation to thousands of nonprofit organizations around the world and successfully handling cases involving public benefits, immigrant rights and civil liberties. The firm is a signatory to the Pro Bono Institute’s Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge, pledging to spend at least three percent of its billable hours each year on pro bono matters.
“We are honored to receive the 2015 Law Firm Pro Bono Award from Public Counsel, an organization with which we have been privileged to collaborate for decades on some of the most significant and challenging public interest initiatives,” said Morgan Lewis Chair Jami McKeon. “The true reward, however, is in the work we perform to help those in need of legal assistance who might not otherwise receive it.”
Ms. McKeon accepted the award at Public Counsel’s William O. Douglas Dinner in Los Angeles on June 17. The award was presented by Sandra Phillips, who serves as general counsel at long-time firm client Toyota Motor Sales. For more information on the award-winning pro bono practice at Morgan Lewis, visit www.morganlewis.com/our-firm/pro-bono.