Pro Bono

For the past several years, over 5% of our total attorney billable time was contributed to pro bono.

Our Commitment

We are committed to helping those needing legal services but unable to pay for it. Many people and organizations across the country face legal challenges without the means to meet those challenges. Our attorneys step forward to assist these children, struggling adults and nonprofit organizations in protecting their rights in the legal system when they cannot afford an attorney.

Some examples of our pro bono efforts include:

Representing the Center for Biological Diversity and the Friends of Fawnskin in California in the federal trial of an Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act case.
Protecting rights of indigent individuals in Housing Court and in other legal actions.
Working with the Minnesota Supreme Court’s Guardian ad Litem program to represent guardians in contested cases involving abused and neglected children.
Working with the Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts to represent both very young children and adolescents.
Serving as a pro bono District One hearing officer in attorney disciplinary cases in Mass.
Representing very young children and adolescents through the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation.
Assisting ArtReach with legal issues; ArtReach trains teachers to use dramatic arts with children who have suffered trauma from inner city life, war or natural disaster.
Assisting in immigrant and asylum cases.

Our Pro Bono Committee

Our firm’s Pro Bono Committee, headed by Robert J. Gilbertson, helps our attorneys find opportunities for pro bono work. The committee monitors the nature and extent of our pro bono services offered to the community, recognizes the many individuals who volunteer for pro bono work, and provides formal supervision and training for our firm lawyers.

Youth Law Initiative

One such program that our Pro Bono Committee monitors is the Youth Law Initiative. Our firm created the Youth Law Initiative to safeguard the legal rights of children and teens. This initiative is a firm-wide plan, and each office has its own projects that are tailored to meet the needs of the local community.

Atlanta

One Child, One Lawyer
The Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation and its One Child, One Lawyer Program trains lawyers to represent children in the foster care system. Attorneys at the Atlanta office of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. represent both very young children and adolescents. Recognizing that adolescents have unique needs, the same organization offers special training to help attorneys work most effectively with older kids.

Boston

Children's Law Center
Attorneys in the Boston office work with the Children's Law Center of Massachusetts, Senior Partners for Justice and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. Through these programs, our Boston attorneys represent children of all ages in special education and school disciplinary matters, guardianship, divorce and custody matters, and in immigration proceedings.
Children with severe developmental delay challenges, including blindness, paralysis and delayed cognitive functioning, often face daunting educational challenges. Our attorneys were able to achieve the placement of a one-to-one aide for one such child, something the Boston School System had been refusing to provide. This will help him achieve the goals of his Individual Educational Placement program as well as aid his overall development We will be continuing in our representation of him as he works towards his next educational evaluation.

Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Office works with the Alliance for Children's Rights to educate and provide legal services to young adults who have recently emancipated out of the foster care system. Our attorneys handle cases that address some of the myriad legal issues facing these individuals. Additionally, our attorneys participate in a variety of legal clinics regarding contract terms and conditions, consumer and credit issues, and tenant's rights.
The Alliance’s “Transitioning Youth Project,” aims to reach more youth who are "aging out" of the foster care system at 18. Ed Lodgen and David Martinez, attorneys at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L P. have been leading clinics since they were initiated. The clinics give older foster youth the opportunity to learn important life skills and to also get assistance as they face obstacles that are involved in transitioning from foster care into adult life.

Minneapolis

Guardian ad Litem
The Minneapolis office works with the Minnesota Supreme Court's Guardian ad Litem program to represent guardians in contested cases involving abused and neglected children. In 2006, our attorneys represented Guardian ad Litem in 16 cases, involving 34 children (almost all of them under the age of 5). Our attorneys committed nearly 4,000 pro bono hours on these cases. With limited resources, the state cannot always afford to pay an attorney to represent Guardians ad Litem. Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P,. has stepped in to help fill this legal representation gap, enhancing the prospects of securing a safe, permanent and loving home for each child as quickly as possible.
A Guardian ad Litem is critical when children are part of legal actions and litigation. The Guardian's only responsibility is to work for the best interest of the child. Often a Guardian needs legal support. Our attorneys work with Minnesota's Guardian ad Litem program and help these dedicated individuals achieve a result that is in the best interest of the child.
The cases are varied.
An incident of alleged "shaken baby" syndrome, where the child sustained injuries that are generally not associated with a simple fall, but rather typically associated with violent shaking of the baby. The Guardian had to determine whether to support or challenge termination of the parent's rights.
A child was removed from his mother's custody because of her alcoholism and use of methamphetamine. The father, who had been denied custody in a divorce decree with the mother, sought custody of the child in the juvenile proceeding. The Guardian did not believe that the father would be a suitable placement for the child because he was an untreated convicted sex offender.
Three children were removed from the custody of their parents because the parents were unfit due to alcoholism and other issues. The Guardian needed assistance in opposing placement with the grandparents who had raised three children of their own, each of which had issues with drugs, alcohol, or were otherwise not law abiding.
Our attorneys represented a Guardian who believed the biological parents of two young boys to be unfit. Through a six-day trial and subsequent appeal to the Minnesota Court of Appeals they advocated for the termination of parental rights of the biological parents. There is now a chance for the boys to be adopted by their current foster family. These attorneys continue to represent the Guardian in the biological parents' appeal of the lower court's decisions to the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Working with a volunteer Guardian, our attorneys helped a youth reach a court-approved settlement after a pickup truck-bicycle accident. The settlement provides the youth with funds to pay for a college education.
Through the Children's Law Center, Minnesota, our attorneys have represented sate wards in both Hennepin and Ramsey Counties in hearings, conferring with their social workers, and advising them of their rights and options.

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