inspiration
home
webinars
gamification
articles
Pro Bono
pub news
Stories
webinars
Gamification
Articles
archive +
July Issue
mintz
pro bono portfolio
//
Share to Social:
Leveraging Resources
to Counter a Crisis
Leveraging Resources
to Counter a Crisis
Public Health
Public Health
Guardianship Keeps Boy with Family Friend
Family Services
Asylum Granted for
a Family of Honduran Refugees
Immigration
Guardianship Keeps boy with family friend
Family Services
In this 2022 Pro Bono Portfolio, we invite you to learn more about our work and the incredible people and organizations we support.
Immigration
Pro Bono Portfolio
Read Story
Read Story
Read Story
Attorney Amanda Asaro talks about how a team of New York attorneys secured asylum for a Honduran Justice of the Peace and her family of five while assisting them with work authorizations, school applications, accessing health services, and more.
Asylum Granted for a Family of Honduran Refugees
Giving Hope to Individuals Exploited by the Sex Trade
Human Rights
Read Interview
Asylum Granted for a Family of Honduran Refugees
Listen to Story
Immigration
Asylum Granted for a Family of Honduran Refugees
Mintz Attorneys Help Fuel Equitable Growth at Bizgrow Conference
Giving Hope to Individuals Exploited by the Sex Trade
Guardianship Keeps Boy with Family Friend
Leveraging Resources to Counter a Crisis
Providing Critical Support to a Community Lifeline
Mintz Settlement Sparks San Diego Police Department Policy Change
Partnering and Giving Back with Clinic in a Box
®
Close
2022 Richard Mintz Pro Bono Award Winner
Amanda and the team won the
2022 Richard Mintz Pro Bono Award
for their hard work and dedication
to this case.
Pro bono service is at the heart of our culture and identity. Mintz attorneys and staff at all levels participate, using their legal skills and the resources of the firm to make a meaningful difference. Our award-winning pro bono work spans diverse issue areas, including asylum, domestic violence, small business support, guardianship, civil rights and liberties, substance use, nonprofit governance, and many more.
416
297
2022 Pro Bono Cases
2022 Pro Bono Participants
Mintz Attorneys
Help Fuel Equitable Economic Growth
at the Bizgrow Conference
Workshop
Watch Video
Providing Critical Support to a Community Lifeline
Community Outreach
Read Story
Mintz is proud of its longstanding and impactful pro bono program. We’ve been able to make a profound difference in each of the communities in which we operate, and beyond.
Managing Member
Bob Bodian
Leveraging Resources
to Counter a Crisis
Public Health
Read Story
Mintz Settlement Sparks San Diego Police Department Policy Change
Public Policy
Read Story
Guardianship Keeps Boy With Family Friend
Family Services
Read Story
Supporting a holistic approach to health care
Health Care
Read Story
This past year, attorneys and staff throughout the firm have dedicated themselves to making a significant difference through pro bono service. Their collective work has not only changed individual lives, but
also provided support for systemic change.
Member /
Chair of Mintz's Pro Bono Committee
susan finegan
Stories
Nonprofit Features
Our Team
Wellspring House, Gloucester, MA
Learn More
Jewish Family Services of
Los Angeles
Learn More
2022 Beacon of Justice Award
Click boxes to learn more
Purchasing the property solidifies JFS’s long-term position providing vital services in the community at that location – and eliminates future potential uncertainty. Additionally, the purchase eliminates costly rental expense for the organization, and will allow us to use those funds instead to support the community and our clients.
CFO of Jewish Family Service LA
David Felman
Pro Bono Team
Daniel B. Guggenheim,
Member
In June 2021, JFS had the opportunity to purchase the commercial property that houses its SOVA food pantry in Van Nuys, CA. Mintz attorney Danny Guggenheim worked with the organization and its leadership to purchase and finance the building from which it had provided critical services to the community for decades as a tenant. The transaction, made possible with a $5.7 million investment from the State of California, enabled JFS to transform the rental property into a permanent and viable base for its operations, reduce its overhead expenses, and expand its food pantry and wrap-around services to an ever-growing number of individuals and families struggling to meet their most basic needs.
For the people of Los Angeles, Jewish Family Service LA (JFS) is a trusted source of support and services, helping individuals and families of all ages and identities live with dignity. The organization’s vast network of comprehensive services includes the SOVA Community Food & Resource Program food pantries, which ensure all in the communities it serves have access to free and healthy groceries, personal care items, counseling, and other social services.
A Permanent Lifeline for Those Facing Hunger in Los Angeles
Climate Change AI
Learn More
Having the chance to provide stability and support to such a deserving family – one who had the only life they had ever known abruptly turned upside down – has been one of the highlights of my professional career. Our Mintz team is very excited for what’s ahead for them and honored to have played a role in their American dream.
Associate /
2022 Pro Bono Award Winner
Amanda Asaro
pro bono champion award
Pro Bono Team
Pete S. Michaels,
Member / Co-Chair,
Financial Services Practice
Kati Pajak Strzelczyk,
Associate
Bylaws are a foundation that makes the work of Wellspring’s Board of Directors possible. They are a live document that informs literally every action taken – from who and how leaders join the organization, to processes for decision making, financial health, etc… Having relevant and refreshed bylaws has already streamlined our work and literally enables us to achieve our mission every day.
President & Executive Director, Wellspring House
Melissa Dimond, Sc.M.
In 2021, Wellspring’s Board of Directors decided it was time to update the organization’s bylaws to better reflect its growth, and the needs of the community, as they exist today. Mintz attorney Pete Michaels, a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer for the organization, recruited Mintz attorney Kati Pajak Strzelczyk to amend Wellspring’s bylaws, aligning them with the operational and governance practices currently in use. The new bylaws better support Wellspring’s multi-faceted work, and help to advance their vision of a just society where every member of the community thrives.
Up through 2006, Wellspring partnered with landowners to establish more than 10 affordable housing properties with 140 units, all of which remain today. Starting in the early 2000s, Wellspring began offering comprehensive training and education programs to help parents attain jobs with higher wages. Nowadays, it employs a strategy that is rare among Massachusetts nonprofits: maintaining core offerings of shelter, crisis intervention and homelessness prevention alongside and within all other education, job training and career advising programs. This means that every year 1,200 families and young adults in Wellspring’s programs have the best opportunity possible to reach true financial security and a healthy quality of life.
Founded in 1981, Wellspring was one of the first nonprofits in Massachusetts to offer a physical home as a family shelter where parents and children could start to recover from homelessness. Since then, the organization and its communities have changed, but Wellspring’s dedication to meeting the evolving needs of the people it serves has not.
New Rules to Meet the Needs of Today
Pro Bono Team
Garrett T. Galvin,
Associate
Susan L. Foster, Ph.D,
Member
Within a session, we at Climate Change AI learned and understood what it meant to be compliant with GDPR from the perspective of a US-based organization. Additionally, the lawyers provided a draft of our privacy policy and a list of actionable items that facilitated an internal plan of action within our organization. We are extremely grateful for Mintz’s impeccable services and their careful attention in resolving our questions.
Executive Director, Climate Change AI
Priya Donti
Understanding community-level data is critical to CCAI’s efforts, and any organization operating in the European Union (EU) must remain compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For many organizations, especially those based outside of the EU, navigating GDPR compliance can be overwhelming due to the information being decentralized. To support these efforts, CCAI engaged Mintz attorneys Sue Foster and Garrett Galvin to help them understand the rules and navigate the processes to remain compliant. In addition to this work, Sue and Garrett drafted a privacy notice for the organization and remain as counsel, providing strategic guidance that is essential to CCAI continuing its activities in Europe.
Climate Change AI (CCAI) was founded in 2019 with the belief that machine learning can play an impactful role in tackling climate change. Since then, CCAI has created a diverse community of worldwide stakeholders, including researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, companies, and NGOs, all working together to identify high-impact climate issues that can be addressed by machine learning.
Supporting the Fight Against Climate Change
Mintz partners with nonprofits across the country, providing pro bono legal support that enables them to further their missions and best serve individuals and their communities.
Member / Chair, Immigration Practice
John Quill
Following the U.S. military pullout in Afghanistan, a
call went out to help Afghanistan nationals who faced
life-threatening conditions. Mintz quickly rose to the challenge, and over 110 colleagues volunteered to prepare Immigrant Visa and Humanitarian Parole applications for individuals who have ties to Massachusetts, many of whom were specifically targeted by the Taliban. We also combined with Senator Markey’s office to find referrals for hundreds of other individuals; and have filed federal litigation in conjunction with the ACLU of Massachusetts in an attempt to force action on these pending applications.
Partnering and Giving Back with Clinic in
a Box®
Workshop
Read Story
2022 Mintz Pro Bono
Special Recognition Award
Afghanistan Refugee Project
Humanitarian Parole Applications Completed
70+
Professional Staff & Attorney Volunteers
100+
To Top
To Top
Supporting a Holistic Approach to Health Care
Pro Bono Committee as of December 6, 2022
Pro Bono Committee
Kerime Akoglu, New York
Paul Churchill, San Francisco
Susan Cohen, Boston
Lara Compton, Los Angeles
Drew DeVoogd, Boston
Brian Dunphy, Boston
Sue Finegan, Chair, Boston
B’anca Glenn, DC
Natalie Groot, Boston
Courtney Herndon, Boston
Narges Kakalia, New York
Julie Korostoff, Boston
Mathilda McGee-Tubb, Boston
Cassie Paolillo, Boston
Nada Shamonki, Los Angeles
Farrah Short, DC
Pro Bono Awards
2022 leadership award
honoree
The National Legal Aid and Defender Association honored Mintz with a 2022 Beacon of Justice Award, recognizing the work the firm undertook in 2021 to address racial disparities.
Greater Boston Legal Services recognized Mintz with the Pro Bono Champion Award for the firm’s outstanding contributions to GBLS’s Asian Outreach Project’s Community Intake Clinic.
The Greater Boston Food Bank awarded Mintz the 2022 Leadership Award for the firm’s invaluable legal counsel and advice regarding employment law, corporate governance, real estate, and contracting in support of GBFB’s mission of ending hunger in Eastern Massachusetts.
Heading Home awarded Mintz, ably led by Rebecca Lee and her team, for their extraordinary work in preventing family homelessness at the Casa Nueva Vida Shelter.
© 2022 Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
To Top
Click boxes to learn more
Jewish Family Service LA (JFS)
Wellspring
Climate Change AI (CCAI)
mintz
pro bono portfolio
//
2022
Stories
Nonprofit Spotlights
Our Team
incredible
special recognition award
2022 Mintz Pro Bono
Afghanistan Refugee Project
Asylum Granted for
a Family of Honduran Refugees
Immigration
Mintz helped a family friend become the legal guardian of two teen boys after one of their adoptive mothers died and the other became too ill to care for them, ensuring significant financial and other benefits for the boys.
Guardianship Keeps Boy
with Family Friend
After helping to launch an organization focused on combatting opioid and substance abuse in 2017, Mintz has served as its pro bono counsel — assisting with the incorporation of RIZE Massachusetts as a nonprofit and advising its leaders.
Leveraging Resources to Counter a Crisis
Click boxes to learn more
Nonprofit Pro Bono Spotlights
For a complete list of Pro Bono awards, please click here.
View the 2021 Pro Bono Journal
Transcending
View the 2020 Pro Bono Journal
Resilience
© 2023 Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo. P.C.
Share to Social:
Collaborating to Improve
Lives and Communities
Pro bono service is at the heart of Mintz's culture and identity. Together, we provide individuals with life-changing assistance and support the nonprofit organizations that care for our communities.
Learn More
Family Services
Read Story
Public Health
Read Story
HOME >>
Rare Asylum Granted for a Family of Honduran Refugees
Human Rights
Read Interview
Read Story
Providing Critical Support to a Community Lifeline
Workshop
WAtch Video
Providing Critical Support to a Community Lifeline
Public Policy
Read Story
Mintz Settlement Sparks San Diego Police Department Policy Change
Public Health
Read Story
Leveraging Resources to counter a crisis
Family Services
Read Story
Guardianship Keeps boy with family friend
Health Care
Read Story
Supporting a holsitic approach to health care
Workshop
Read Story
© 2023 Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
All Rights Reserved.
View the 2021 Pro Bono Journal
Transcending
Collaborating to Improve Lives and Communities
Pro bono service is at the heart of Mintz's culture and identity. Together, we provide individuals with life-changing assistance and support the nonprofit organizations that care for our communities.
Learn More
NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHTS >>
OUR TEAM >>
family services
public health
Nonprofit Spotlights >>
our team >>
To Top
Jewish Family Services of
Los Angeles
Mintz partners with nonprofits across the country, providing pro bono legal support that enables them to further their missions and best serve individuals and their communities.
Click boxes to learn more
Nonprofit Pro Bono Spotlights
Purchasing the property solidifies JFS’s long-term position providing vital services in the community at that location – and eliminates future potential uncertainty. Additionally, the purchase eliminates costly rental expense for the organization, and will allow us to use those funds instead to support the community and our clients.
CFO of Jewish Family Service LA
David Felman
Pro Bono Team
Daniel B. Guggenheim,
Member
In June 2021, JFS had the opportunity to purchase the commercial property that houses its SOVA food pantry in Van Nuys, CA. Mintz attorney Danny Guggenheim worked with the organization and its leadership to purchase and finance the building from which it had provided critical services to the community for decades as a tenant. The transaction, made possible with a $5.7 million investment from the State of California, enabled JFS to transform the rental property into a permanent and viable base for its operations, reduce its overhead expenses, and expand its food pantry and wrap-around services to an ever-growing number of individuals and families struggling to meet their most basic needs.
For the people of Los Angeles, Jewish Family Service LA (JFS) is a trusted source of support and services, helping individuals and families of all ages and identities live with dignity. The organization’s vast network of comprehensive services includes the SOVA Community Food & Resource Program food pantries, which ensure all in the communities it serves have access to free and healthy groceries, personal care items, counseling, and other social services.
Jewish Family Service LA (JFS)
A Permanent Lifeline for Those Facing Hunger in Los Angeles
Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles
Click to learn more
Purchasing the property solidifies JFS’s long-term position providing vital services in the community at that location – and eliminates future potential uncertainty. Additionally, the purchase eliminates costly rental expense for the organization, and will allow us to use those funds instead to support the community and our clients.
Pro Bono Team
Founded in 1981, Wellspring was one of the first nonprofits in Massachusetts to offer a physical home as a family shelter where parents and children could start to recover from homelessness. Since then, the organization and its communities have changed, but Wellspring’s dedication to meeting the evolving needs of the people it serves has not.
Up through 2006, Wellspring partnered with landowners to establish more than 10 affordable housing properties with 140 units, all of which remain today. Starting in the early 2000s, Wellspring began offering comprehensive training and education programs to help parents attain jobs with higher wages. Nowadays, it employs a strategy that is rare among Massachusetts nonprofits: maintaining core offerings of shelter, crisis intervention and homelessness prevention alongside and within all other education, job training and career advising programs. This means that every year 1,200 families and young adults in Wellspring’s programs have the best opportunity possible to reach true financial security and a healthy quality of life.
In 2021, Wellspring’s Board of Directors decided it was time to update the organization’s bylaws to better reflect its growth, and the needs of the community, as they exist today. Mintz attorney Pete Michaels, a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer for the organization, recruited Mintz attorney Kati Pajak Strzelczyk to amend Wellspring’s bylaws, aligning them with the operational and governance practices currently in use. The new bylaws better support Wellspring’s multi-faceted work, and help to advance their vision of a just society where every member of the community thrives.
New Rules to Meet the Needs
of Today
Jewish Family Services
of Los Angeles
Wellspring
President & Executive Director, Wellspring House
Melissa Dimond, Sc.M.
Pete S. Michaels,
Member / Co-Chair,
Financial Services Practice
Kati Pajak Strzelczyk,
Associate
Bylaws are a foundation that make the work of Wellspring’s Board of Directors possible. They are a live document that inform literally every action taken – from who and how leaders join the organization, to processes for decision making, financial health, etc… Having relevant and refreshed bylaws has already streamlined our work and literally enables us to achieve our mission every day.
President & Executive Director, Wellspring House
Melissa Dimond, Sc.M.
Climate Change AI (CCAI) was founded in 2019 with the belief that machine learning can play an impactful role in tackling climate change. Since then, CCAI has created a diverse community of worldwide stakeholders, including researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, companies, and NGOs, all working together to identify high-impact climate issues that can be addressed by machine learning.
Understanding community-level data is critical to CCAI’s efforts, and any organization operating in the European Union (EU) must remain compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For many organizations, especially those based outside of the EU, navigating GDPR compliance can be overwhelming due to the information being decentralized. To support these efforts, CCAI engaged Mintz attorneys Sue Foster and Garrett Galvin to help them understand the rules and navigate the processes to remain compliant. In addition to this work, Sue and Garrett drafted a privacy notice for the organization and remain as counsel, providing strategic guidance that is essential to CCAI continuing its activities in Europe.
Supporting the Fight Against Climate Change
wellspring house, gloucester, MA
Climate Change AI (CCAI)
Garrett T. Galvin,
Associate
Susan L. Foster, Ph.D,
Member
Pro Bono Team
Member /
Chair of Mintz's Pro Bono Committee
susan finegan
This past year, attorneys and staff throughout the firm have dedicated themselves to making a significant difference through pro bono service. Their collective work has not only changed individual lives, but
also provided support for systemic change.
To Top
To Top
LEARN MORE >>
Wellspring House, Gloucester, MA
LEARN MORE >>
Climate Change AI
LEARN MORE >>
HOME >>
NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHTS >>
OUR TEAM >>
mintz
pro bono portfolio
//
© 2023 Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
All Rights Reserved.
View the 2021 Pro Bono Journal
Transcending
Collaborating to Improve Lives and Communities
Pro bono service is at the heart of Mintz's culture and identity. Together, we provide individuals with life-changing assistance and support the nonprofit organizations that care for our communities.
Learn More
our team >>
home >>
Pro Bono Committee as of December 6, 2022
Mathilda McGee-Tubb, Boston
Cassie Paolillo, Boston
Nada Shamonki, Los Angeles
Farrah Short, DC
Natalie Groot, Boston
Courtney Herndon, Boston
Narges Kakalia, New York
Julie Korostoff, Boston
Kerime Akoglu, New York
Paul Churchill, San Francisco
Susan Cohen, Boston
Lara Compton, Los Angeles
Pro Bono Committee
To Top
For a complete list of Pro Bono awards, please click here.
honoree
Heading Home awarded Mintz, ably led by Rebecca Lee and her team, for their extraordinary work in preventing family homelessness at the Casa Nueva Vida Shelter.
2022 leadership award
The Greater Boston Food Bank awarded Mintz the 2022 Leadership Award for the firm’s invaluable legal counsel and advice regarding employment law, corporate governance, real estate, and contracting in support of GBFB’s mission of ending hunger in Eastern Massachusetts.
pro bono champion award
Greater Boston Legal Services recognized Mintz with the Pro Bono Champion Award for the firm’s outstanding contributions to GBLS’s Asian Outreach Project’s Community Intake Clinic.
2022 Beacon of Justice Award
The National Legal Aid and Defender Association honored Mintz with a 2022 Beacon of Justice Award, recognizing the work the firm undertook in 2021 to address racial disparities.
Click boxes to learn more
Pro Bono Awards
HOME >>
NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHTS >>
OUR TEAM >>
mintz
pro bono portfolio
//
© 2023 Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
All Rights Reserved.
View the 2021 Pro Bono Journal
Transcending
Collaborating to Improve Lives and Communities
Pro bono service is at the heart of Mintz's culture and identity. Together, we provide individuals with life-changing assistance and support the nonprofit organizations that care for our communities.
Learn More
Drew DeVoogd, Boston
Brian Dunphy, Boston
Sue Finegan, Chair, Boston
B’anca Glenn, DC
Nonprofit Spotlights >>
home >>