Pro bono work presents a great opportunity to fill a need in the community as well as a way to sharpen and diversify a lawyer's skills.  At Finnegan Henderson, pro bono representation is regarded as an important part of professional development.  To help ensure that all our lawyers enjoy a rewarding experience, we've developed a variety of innovative and stimulating pro bono opportunities.

Litigation Mentor Program - This unique program combines service to the community with top-notch litigation training.  Barbara Butterworth who leads the effort, previously served as Deputy Director and Adjunct Professor of the Juvenile Justice Clinic of Georgetown University Law Center, and she has extensive criminal trial experience.  The program enables our up-and-coming trial lawyers to accept court appointments as defense counsel with training, assistance, and encouragement from Barbara and other experienced litigators at the firm.  Barbara serves as co-counsel and gives our lawyers a thorough grounding in the rigors of the courtroom and jury persuasion tactics as they represent their indigent criminal defendants in local courts.

Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts - Since assuming full-time responsibility for the WALA program in January 2004, we have matched over 160 people from the arts community who need legal advice or representation on arts-related issues with volunteer lawyers.  Many of the volunteers come from D.C.’s largest law firms, but they also include lawyers from medium and small firms, solo practitioners, government lawyers, and corporate counsel looking for an opportunity to do pro bono work.

Children's Law Center - More than two-dozen of our lawyers provide assistance to foster parents who are trying to adopt neglected children.  We also have helped CLC establish and implement their training program.

Lawyers for Children America - This organization, which provides guardians ad litem for adoption cases, has close ties to the Children’s Law Center.  The difference is that the guardians advocate as lawyers for the children, not the birth parents or adoptive parents.

Women Empowered Against Violence - After completing a training program with WEAVE, our volunteers represent battered and threatened people—mostly women—in obtaining protective orders and other protections from beatings, sexual assaults, and harassment.

Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless - One Monday each month we accept new pro bono clients for the Center for Creative Nonviolence Homeless Shelter.  The cases are varied and fascinating with clients that defy the stereotype most people have of homeless people.  Many work two jobs, but just can’t find affordable housing near their places of employment. All of them are very grateful for the helping hand dealing with bureaucracy.

Fresh Lifelines for Youth - FLY works to reduce juvenile crime and incarceration through legal education, mentoring, and peer leadership services.  In promoting FLY's mission of educating disadvantaged and at-risk youth to help them become more responsible, accountable, and capable of making healthier lifestyle choices, our volunteers have spoken to 7th and 8th graders at the week-long Middle School Program on the legal consequences of crime.  We are currently working with FLY to develop its Record Sealing Project, which helps eligible youth navigate through the process of sealing their juvenile records.

Legal Counsel for the Elderly - Our cases for this branch of the AARP involve helping elderly clients who have been victims of predatory lenders, fraud, overreaching family members, and red tape bureaucracy.

University Legal Services - The federal government contracts with ULS to enforce many of the important welfare programs in DC, like overseeing mental health beds at St. Elisabeth's Hospital.  One of our recent cases for the agency involved representing a mentally ill resident of the hospital who had several thousands of dollars worth of bonds held for her by the staff.  After the bonds turned up missing, we assisted the patient with insurance claims and other measures to recoup the loss.

Asylum Representation Program - One of our longest-established pro bono efforts, this program provides assistance to refugees who've fled from racial, religious, ethnic, political, and social persecution.

Arts Council of Silicon Valley - In a rare opportunity to use the firm's IP skills in its pro bono endeavors, we worked with an ACSV non-profit program, the Artsopolis Marketing Partnership, to develop a comprehensive licensing and network membership package for Artsopolis.com, an online resource for arts and cultural information.  A group of our lawyers filed a patent application to protect the underlying Artsopolis.com software and business method and several trademark applications to protect the product name and logo.  A growing number of arts communities around the country are now part of the Artsopolis Network of licensees that use the website software and Artsopolis' services for maintaining and managing their calendar sites.

Legal Aid Society - We have helped Legal Aid develop their litigation training program, and we are on their volunteer attorney list to assist on cases ranging from landlord-tenant to child custody disputes.

DC Bar Pro Bono Program - The Bar looks to us as a resource for litigation when they are in need of an experienced litigation firm.

Trademark Pro Bono Program - Through a grass roots referral network at the firm, our trademark lawyers have provided pro bono services to organizations ranging from start-up technology companies, to rock bands and .coms.