Taproot Foundation and Winston & Strawn LLP Unite to Provide Pro Bono Training for Nation's Nonprofits

September 25, 2013 /3BL Media/ - As part of its Pro Bono Week 2013 campaign, Taproot Foundation will partner with Winston & Strawn LLP to provide pro bono trainings to nonprofits across the nation.  Taproot and Winston & Strawn will invite nonprofits from both of their grantee networks for joint trainings that cover both business and legal Pro Bono 101. Trainings will be held in each of Taproot’s five flagship cities: New York City, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco from October 20-26^th.   

Business and legal pro bono support are essential resources for nonprofits who are struggling to make ends meet, especially in this challenging economic climate. While pro bono has existed in the legal sector for decades, pro bono in the business world has only come to be seen as a viable and reliable tool for nonprofits to strengthen their organizational capacity relatively recently. As a result, many nonprofits do not realize that pro bono resources are available nor do they know how to access them. The goal of this training series is to begin to close that gap by educating more nonprofits about pro bono resources, and cross pollinating the legal and business networks.

Taproot and Winston & Strawn are leaders in the business and legal pro bono sectors respectively. Winston & Strawn was one of the first large law firms in the US to adopt a written pro bono policy, and more than 70% of its attorneys have committed to doing at least 35 hours of pro bono a year. Winston & Strawn’s rich tradition of pro bono legal service complement Taproot’s 12 years of experience in the business pro bono sector. Taproot re-established the business pro bono sector in 2001 and since has led development and growth. Taproot’s relationship with Winston & Strawn helps drive the pro bono marketplace forward – by combining legal and business pro bono expertise, nonprofits are better equipped to gain solve infrastructural challenges across the board.

About Taproot

Since 2001, Taproot Foundation has proven that pro bono service is a viable and reliable tool for strengthening nonprofit organizations. Today, Taproot continues to lead nationally by acting locally, and seeks to build a pro bono marketplace that, like philanthropy, is large, accessible, professional and transparent. By taking lessons learned from our award-winning Service Grant Program and applying them to our innovative new program areas, we work to stimulate the supply of pro bono resources through our corporate Advisory Services practice, as well as demand for these services by giving nonprofits the tools and training that sets them up for successful pro bono engagements. Our work has evolved to include thought leadership and international field-building, convening global leaders in the social sector to guide the design and direction of the pro bono movement while focusing on infusing a pro bono ethic into business professions, professional schools, companies and nonprofits in communities across the country and around the world. Visit www.taprootfoundation.org to learn more.

About Winston & Strawn

Winston & Strawn LLP is an international law firm with 17 offices located throughout North America, Asia and Europe.  The firm has a long-standing commitment to excellence in serving the public interest and was one of the first large law firms in the country to adopt a written pro bono policy in 1991, to become a signatory to the Pro Bono Institute Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge, to establish a well-funded charitable foundation, and to hire a full-time attorney pro bono counsel.

The firm asks that every lawyer and paralegal in the firm devote at least 35 hours to pro bono work during the year. In 2011 and 2012 nearly 70 percent of Winston's attorneys achieved this goal and have annually devoted in excess of 60,000 pro bono hours for the last several years. 

The firm has provided representation in numerous types of pro bono matters including but not limited to asylum, civil rights, community economic development, criminal defense, federal appellate, First Amendment/free speech, guardianship, habeas corpus, landlord/tenant, not-for-profit counseling, post-conviction relief, and public assistance.  It has received nearly 80 awards in the past decade commending its efforts.

The firm’s pro bono practice is currently managed by two full-time attorneys and led by Greg McConnell, who has 15 years’ experience in pro bono management.

More information about the firm is available at www.winston.com.

About Pro Bono Service

Pro bono--short for pro bono publico, "for the public good"—refers to professional services delivered without expectation of a fee to organizations serving the social good. It is both a form of support for community organizations as well as an increasingly core part of the ethic of business professionals from design to HR and technology, who believe that high-quality professional services are too important to only be available to those who can afford them.

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