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Pro Bono


Dickstein Shapiro has an active and varied pro bono program, the focus of which is to provide legal services to members of the community who cannot afford to pay for those services. The firm’s Pro Bono Committee and full-time Diversity/Pro Bono Counsel focus on growing and enhancing Dickstein Shapiro’s pro bono partnerships and leading the pro bono program for all attorneys and staff. Dickstein Shapiro has developed strong pro bono relationships with numerous organizations in Washington, DC, New York, and California, which train and support volunteers on different types of pro bono projects and offer the firm a myriad of ways to give back to its communities. As pro bono work is an important component of the firm’s culture and an individual’s professional development, Dickstein Shapiro gives full billable hour credit to the first 100 hours of pro bono work and anything over 200 pro bono hours. In addition, all pro bono time between 100 and 200 hours is afforded 50% billable hour credit.

Although Dickstein Shapiro’s pro bono program has grown tremendously in recent years, pro bono always has been an integral part of the firm and many of our community partnerships are longstanding. For example, the firm, has partnered with Bread for the City, a volunteer organization that offers medical, legal, and job counseling services to the working poor of Washington, DC, for more than a decade. Through that program, the firm provides legal services to numerous clients, in matters ranging from foreclosure cases to assistance in handling wills and estates. Dickstein Shapiro contributed significantly to the development of Bread for the City’s expanded facility in southeast Washington, DC, named the Dickstein Shapiro Legal Clinic, which opened its doors on October 1, 2002. The firm also has partnered with Bread for the City’s “Holiday Helpings” program for many years, and each year has raised money to provide Thanksgiving dinners to more than 2,000 Washington, DC families in need, and to provide groceries to them for the weeks that follow.

Bread for the City is just one example of the firm’s close relationships with community organizations. Dickstein Shapiro also works with numerous other groups, such as Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Human Rights First, Legal Counsel for the Elderly, Lawyers for Children America, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), The Alliance for Children’s Rights, and Women Empowered Against Violence, Inc. (WEAVE), among others, to bring the benefits of legal representation to all members of our community.

As there are many needs that cannot be met by legal assistance alone, Dickstein Shapiro also participates in various community and philanthropic programs. Employees of the firm have established their own nonprofit organization, “Doing Small Miracles for Others,” to raise money for area programs. Since its inception in 1987, Doing Small Miracles for Others has hosted an annual drive to raise money for children’s holiday toys, which then are donated to more than 20 local charities and homeless shelters. The organization also coordinated and distributed the firm’s relief efforts for the victims of the tsunami in December 2004/January 2005. Contributions to Doing Small Miracles for Others are received from Dickstein Shapiro employees and partners, as well as from former employees who previously donated to the annual drives. The organization neither seeks external sponsorship nor has administrative overhead costs. All personnel and administrative costs are absorbed by the firm.

The firm and many individual firm attorneys have been recognized for their pro bono efforts. A sampling of these acknowledgements are below:
  • 2010 – Dickstein Shapiro was recognized by the nonprofit educational group The Kingsbury Center for its pro bono legal work by renaming its primary meeting space the Dickstein Shapiro Board Room. Dickstein Shapiro attorneys Jonathan Odell, Emanuel Faust, Jonathan Levi, and Larry Eisenstat have led the firm’s efforts to provide the Kingsbury Center with legal services, ranging from contracts and employment matters, to governmental and financial counsel. 
  • 2009 – Dickstein Shapiro was selected as a finalist in the Washington Business Journal’s 2009 Philanthropy Awards in the “Community Change and Impact in Philanthropy” category. The award honors the region’s most active and inspirational companies making an impact in their communities through financial and volunteer philanthropic work. The firm’s selection was the result of its commitment to charitable giving and pro bono programs.
  • 2008 – Dickstein Shapiro was honored as Outstanding Corporate Partner of the Year by the Washington, DC Metro Area Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. The firm was nominated by its longtime partner, Bread for the City, a non-profit organization that provides vulnerable residents of Washington, DC with food, clothing, medical care, and legal and social services. Among previous corporations and foundations that have received this honor, Dickstein Shapiro is the first law firm to be recognized as Outstanding Corporate Partner of the Year. Since 1996, Dickstein Shapiro and its employees have donated more than $1 million to Bread for the City’s legal and food programs, in addition to providing hundreds of hours of pro bono legal services for the organization and its clients.
  • 2008 – Dickstein Shapiro was named the Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year in the large law firm category by the DC Bar Pro Bono Program in June 2008. The award honors one firm each year for its pro bono program, and this year, Dickstein Shapiro’s Washington, DC office was recognized for its considerable commitment of legal assistance, time, and money to local individuals and organizations in need.
  • 2006 – Dickstein Shapiro was honored with the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs’ 2006 Vincent E. Reed Award for the firm’s support of public education. Dickstein Shapiro’s unique, decade-long partnership with Washington, DC’s Duke Ellington School of the Arts earned the firm high marks with the Committee. This partnership brings high school students together with attorney mentors to explore real-world legal challenges, and also provides opportunities for the students to develop their artistic abilities.
  • 2005 – Dickstein Shapiro’s employee-led nonprofit organization, Doing Small Miracles for Others, was awarded The Rich Masucci Goodwill Award from the Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber for its continued support of the Chamber’s annual Christmas Goodwill dinner through toy, food, and supermarket gift card donations.
  • 2004 – Dickstein Shapiro was awarded the DC Bar’s 2004 Frederick B. Abramson Award in recognition of its work in partnering with the DC Bar to implement the Landlord Tenant Resource Center.
  • 2004 – Counsel Amy Nice won two awards for her work in immigration law, one of which was for her service to the Immigration Legal Resource Center as National Pro Bono Counsel for the previous three years (the 11th Annual Phillip Burton Immigration & Civil Rights Award). Her second award was the Presidential Award from the American Immigration Lawyers Association in recognition of her excellence in the immigration field. This is the highest honor bestowed upon an immigration attorney.
  • 2002 – Partner Robert Moss won Bread for the City’s 2002 Volunteer of the Year Award for his outstanding work with Bread for the City’s legal clinic.
  • 2001 – Associates Andrew McFarland and Ben Ogletree won the Washington, DC Children’s Advocacy Center’s (CAC) Volunteers for the Winter Quarter award in 2001 for their contributions to the CAC, which works to minimize the trauma suffered by child abuse victims, and to improve the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases.
  • 2000 – Dickstein Shapiro was honored by WEAVE for its support.
  • 2000 – Dickstein Shapiro and partner Joe Kolick were presented with a certificate of appreciation by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia “in recognition of the valuable services rendered as a member of the Civil Pro Bono Panel.”  
“I am so proud of the many Dickstein Shapiro attorneys who are dedicated to using their talent to help those in need. They have shown that it is possible to make a difference in the life of another, and the world is a better place because
of them.”

Michael Nannes, Chairman

 
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