Pro Bono News

The Colorado Pro Bono Committee has been active since the beginning of the New Year providing many highlights:

Pro Bono Achievement Awards

On March 15, 2006, the Colorado Chapter awarded its first Annual Pro Bono Achievement Awards to: 1) the Qwest Communications Law Department Pro Bono Program in recognition for its effort in providing a wide range of pro bono services to several community based organizations, including the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, the Gathering Place, and Colorado Legal Services; 2) Suzy Thevenet,  Corporate Counsel, Maxtor Corporation, for her work with Engineers without Borders; and 3). Ross Agre, General Counsel, Booth Creek  Ski Holdings, Inc., for his work with Snowboard Outreach Society.

Changes to the Rules of Professional Conduct

Len Segreti and John Linton met with James Peters and Constance Talmage, members of the Colorado Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission, to discuss the recent amendment to Rule 6.1 of the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct concerning Voluntary Pro Bono Public Service.   In November,  the Colorado Supreme Court adopted a Model Pro Bono Policy for Colorado Licensed Attorneys and Law Firms and is encouraging law firms to set an annual goal of performing 50 hours of pro bono legal services by each attorney in the firm.  While the focus this year has been on law firms, the revisions to Rule 6.1 apply to all attorneys, including in-house counsel.  We will be scheduling a program to invite Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey, Jim Peters and Connie Talmage to talk about the changes to Rule 6.1, the Access to Justice Commission’s efforts and how it applies to in-house counsel. For more information about the Access to Justice Commission visit www.cobar.org.

Non-Profit Need for Pro Bono Legal Services

Floy H. Jaffares, Senior Corporate Attorney, Cobank, and Len Segreti, and other members of the Colorado ACC Chapter continue to work with a group of attorneys from various law firms and agencies providing legal services to non profit organizations, including the Colorado Lawyers Committee, Colorado Nonprofit Association, Corporate Pro Bono, and Metro Volunteer Lawyers,  to  explore and develop a process to match non-profit organizations in need of pro bono legal services with volunteer attorneys. This is an area of likely interest to in-house lawyers because the probable nature of the needs of these organizations will match well with the expertise and experience of in-house lawyers.

Metro Lawyers

Metro Volunteers (not to be confused with Metro Volunteer Lawyers) is a non profit organization that helps individuals and corporate and community groups find volunteer opportunities at diverse service organizations throughout the metro Denver area.  Metro Volunteers also operates the Board Bank which helps match non-profit organizations seeking board members with individuals who have an interest in volunteering their time and talents as board members.  For more information about this program visit www.metrovolunteers.org or contact Joy Criminger at 303-282-1234, Ext. 303; joyc@metrovolunteers.org.

National Community Service Day Planning

The Colorado Chapter will be participating in the National Community Service Day sponsored by ACC National, an event which will be scheduled for some time in September.  If you are interested in helping coordinate the Chapters activities, or have a community service project that you would like to see ACC support, please contact Len Segreti at 303-383-6788 or Leonard.Segreti@Qwest.com.   

For those of you who may be interested in providing pro bono legal services to nonprofit organizations, you may want to attend the upcoming CLE program title Advising Nonprofit Organizations in Colorado, co-sponsored by the Business and Taxation Law Sections of the CBA.  The program is scheduled for May 12, 2006 at the CBA’s offices in downtown Denver.  Register online at www.cobar.org/cle.

Len Segretti
Pro Bono Chair, Director
ACC Colorado