Commitment to the community is an important part of our culture at Cooley Godward Kronish and a fundamental component of our vision and values. We strive to give generously of our time, talents and resources to the communities in which we practice, and pro bono work is one of the primary ways we fulfill that goal. Because we view the Pro Bono practice as an integral part of the Firm, we give pro bono matters the same staffing, attention and resources as billable matters. We also assign pro bono matters the same weight and credit as billable matters when evaluating each attorney’s contributions to the Firm.
Business and litigation attorneys from all Cooley offices are actively involved in our Pro Bono practice. Our breadth of expertise enables us to take on a wide variety of matters, including impact litigation, individual cases referred through community clinic programs and transactional work for micro-entrepreneurs. We also regularly handle asylum, guardianship and social security benefits cases, and we actively represent a broad array of foundations and not-for-profit organizations.To demonstrate our commitment to the Pro Bono practice, we have appointed an attorney to serve full-time as Pro Bono Counsel, coordinating and developing the Pro Bono practice across the Firm.
Powerful Praise
Our pro bono efforts have received recognition from many sources:
- The Casa Cornelia Law Center presented Cooley's San Diego office with its "La Mancha Award" for the Firm's commitment to providing quality legal services to victims of human and civil rights violations (2008)
- The San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program named associate Aaron Arnzen "Lawyer of the Year" in recognition of his leadership and significant pro bono services on behalf of prison inmate Carlos Rosado (2008)
- The ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law Pro Bono Committee awarded associate Wendy Brenner the "Frances Perkins Public Service Award," recognizing significant pro bono services (2007)
- The National Law Journal selected a national class action matter handled by Cooley as one of the country’s top four pro bono cases of the year (2005)
- The ABA Business Section presented Cooley with its “National Public Service Award” for the Firm's overall commitment to pro bono (2005)
- The Legal Aid Society of New York honored Cooley’s New York office for outstanding service to clients in immigration cases and presented eight individual awards to Cooley attorneys and a legal assistant (2005)
- California Lawyer named partner Steven Friedlander “Attorney of the Year for Pro Bono” for his work on the Lucas case (2005)
- Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach awarded Cooley its “Legal Impact Award” for our work representing immigrant women subjected to domestic violence and abuse (2004)
- The Public Interest Law Firm, a program of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, presented Cooley with its “Public Interest Counsel Champion Award” for our work on a number of litigation matters (2004)
- Bay Area Legal Aid honored Cooley for its leadership role in sponsoring legal services in the Bay Area (2004)
- The Volunteer Legal Services Program of the Bar Association of San Francisco selected Cooley as its “Outstanding Law Firm in Public Service” (2004)
- California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) recognized Cooley for our efforts to protect the constitutional right of access by CRLA to migrant farm workers living in suburban work areas (2004)
