For Immediate Release
Monday, March 2, 2009
Contact:
Julie Brueggemann, Marketing Manager, Bryan Cave, julie.brueggemann@bryancave.
Dustin Kight, Communications Manager, Family Equality Council, dustin.kight@familyequality.
Bryan Cave Begins Pro Bono Relationship with Family Equality Council
Boston, MA—Bryan Cave LLP announced today it will begin a substantial pro bono relationship with Family Equality Council, a national nonprofit organization working to ensure equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) families. The firm’s LGBT lawyers’ affinity group selected the organization after a year-long vetting process. The group looked at nonprofit organizations that are LGBT focused, non-partisan, humanitarian, have a national footprint and are in need of pro bono legal services.
"Family Equality Council's work to ensure equality for LGBT families will be dramatically affected by the partnership with Bryan Cave and their considerable resources and legal expertise," said Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of Family Equality Council. "In a year when Family Equality Council is prioritizing its work on family policy, Bryan Cave's assistance will be vital to our progress and success."
While the firm will continue to handle a significant number of pro bono matters in a wide variety of areas, this is the first time a Bryan Cave affinity group has focused so much of its pro bono resources on a single organization.
In selecting the Family Equality Council, the Bryan Cave LGBT affinity group sought to invent a new model of pro bono services.
“We wanted to center our activities on service that was meaningful and effective, but also, given the economy, efficient. By partnering with Family Equality Council, we can contribute the things we have in abundance – legal knowledge, passion and patriotism – as well as library resources, conference space, technical assistance and office equipment. We can give big in a year when we can’t really dig deep,” said Coco Soodek, a partner in the firm’s Chicago office and member of the LGBT affinity group.
“The affinity group is thrilled to be forming this relationship with a dynamic organization on the forefront of LGBT equality issues,” said Jason Hall, an associate in the firm’s St. Louis office and member of the LGBT affinity group. “We look forward to a long-lasting and rewarding union for Family Equality Council, Bryan Cave and the LGBT community.”
The first project the firm expects to work on for Family Equality Council is to undertake a comprehensive research survey of current federal laws affecting LGBT families. "Most immediately, Family Equality Council’s public policy department will leverage the extraordinary gift of Bryan Cave’s expertise in legal research and analysis to act on opportunities for federal policy reform,” said Kara Suffredini, director of public policy at Family Equality Council.
Although the LGBT lawyers’ affinity group will coordinate the pro bono activities in conjunction with the firm’s pro bono committee, all lawyers are invited to participate.
“This represents an opportunity to employ the diversity of our lawyers and our expertise in service to the community,” said Bryan Cave Chairman Don Lents. “We are proud to provide the depth and reach of our firm to an effective organization that is expanding its national footprint. For more than a century, Bryan Cave has been on the vanguard of the law and we intend to stay there as professionals, as advocates and as a firm.”
About Family Equality Council
Family Equality Council works to ensure equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families by building community, changing hearts and minds, and advancing social justice for all families. We recognize and believe that the laws, provisions and ordinances that hurt LGBT-headed families also hurt so many others—single parents, blended families, families of color, and more. To that end, Family Equality Council is standing strong to defeat anti-family legislation and promote pro-family legislation. For more information, please visit www.familyequality.org.
About Bryan Cave LLP
Bryan Cave LLP has a diversified international legal practice. The firm represents a wide variety of business, financial, institutional and individual clients, including publicly held multinational corporations, large and mid-sized privately held companies, partnerships and emerging companies. Subsidiaries Bryan Cave International Trade and Bryan Cave Strategies LLC provide trade and customs consultancy and government relations and strategic counsel, respectively. Aided by extensive investments in technology, Bryan Cave's more than 1,200 lawyers and other consulting professionals in 26 offices across the United States, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe and Asia efficiently serve clients' needs in the world's leading business and financial markets. For additional information, please visit www.bryancave.com.
###