Pro Bono & Services Communautaires

Creating positive change through pro bono efforts, volunteer service and charitable giving is mission-critical to our Firm.

In collaboration with pro bono partner organizations, we fight for equality and justice, impacting the individuals and communities we serve for the better. In 2023 alone, we volunteered more than 70,000 hours.

Championed by our Firm-wide team and local committees in each office, our pro bono and community service program is a top priority.

We apply the same high standards of quality, service and care to our pro bono clients that we do to any other client. We achieve results and drive tangible outcomes that make a real difference in the lives of people in our communities.

Experts estimate that at least 80% of low-income Americans go without desperately needed civil legal assistance and that more than one billion people around the world survive on less than $1 per day.

McDermott’s pro bono program seeks to help bridge this gap.

At the heart of our practice is a dedication to ensuring equal access to justice. Every day, we partner with nonprofit and community-based organizations to advocate for asylum seekers; champion human and civil rights; and fight for housing, education, food, benefits and economic justice for individuals in our communities.

We emphasize three key global initiatives: providing legal services to displaced persons around the world; fighting wrongful convictions; and supporting nonprofits, small businesses and entrepreneurs from traditionally marginalized communities globally.

McDermott’s volunteer service and philanthropy programs seek to revitalize the Firm’s local communities. Our lawyers and staff professionals roll up their sleeves and get involved with projects including:

• Serving as board members or trustees for a variety of organizations
• Mentoring and tutoring inner-city students
• Partnering with Rise Against Hunger and other local organizations on an annual Days of Service initiative
• Revitalizing parks, schools and other public spaces
• Sponsoring charitable walks and runs
• Donating clothing, equipment and supplies to schools and community-based organizations
• Each year, investing more than $1 million in charitable donations to our communities and funding an Equal Justice Works Fellow who focuses on access to justice issues