Pro Bono

Duane Morris' Pro Bono Program provides free legal services to those in its communities least able to afford them. Highlights include:

• LatinoJustice Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF), a national civil rights organization, honored Duane Morris with its 2012 Pro Bono Publico Award. The firm received the award in recognition of its "essential" assistance on two cases: Perez-Santiago v. Volusia County and Delrio-Mocci, et al. v. Connolly Properties, et al., both of which involved challenges to basic Latino civil and human rights.

• A team of Duane Morris attorneys reached a settlement of a voting-rights case brought on behalf of Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens in Volusia County, Fla. Under the settlement, the county will provide all citizens with bilingual ballots for all elections, beginning in 2012. The settlement marks the first language-access voting-rights case in which a municipality has voluntarily agreed to apply the basic principles of the federal Help America Vote Act to voting equipment used in jurisdictions providing language-accessible ballots.

• Duane Morris attorneys in the firm's Miami, Newark and New York offices sponsored clinics for the Holocaust survivor reparations program. Through this program, attorneys help Holocaust survivors apply to the German government for benefits relating to work those survivors performed in ghettos in German-occupied areas.

• Attorneys across our offices help pro bono clients with domestic violence issues, housing, asylum, adoption, and disability matters, and regularly assist nonprofits incorporate and obtain tax-exempt status.

Community Highlights

Duane Morris contributes to and supports the People's Emergency Center Community Development Corporation, Pennsylvania's oldest and most comprehensive social services agency for homeless women, teenagers and their children.

The firm contributes to the community through food drives, blood drives for the American Red Cross, winter coat collections and an annual United Way campaign. Recently, the San Francisco office collected 400 pounds of food for the San Francisco Food Bank and raised funds for Project Open Hand. The New York office delivered Thanksgiving dinner baskets to grandmothers raising their grandchildren due to the death or illness of their adult children. Duane Morris also delivered to the American Red Cross and to Partners in Health over $77,000 earmarked for their Haiti relief efforts.

The firm played a key role in funding the new Raymond Pace and Sadie T.M. Alexander Chair in Civil Rights at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. The endowed chair supports the work of legal scholars in the area of civil rights and race relations.

Sustainability

Duane Morris is committed to sustainability, and is a member of American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) and other industry organizations, and its attorneys participate actively in helping establish the policies and rules that will further stimulate the development of the renewable energy industry.

Duane Morris' San Francisco office is LEED certified, and its Las Vegas office is LEED Silver Certified and part of a downtown revitalization effort.

Several Duane Morris lawyers are LEED accredited, and many are active researchers, writers and speakers on "green" issues. They are also leaders in their communities, spearheading business and residential community programs and initiatives to promote sustainable practices.