We believe we have a responsibility…
individually and collectively … to make an impact in our communities. It’s part of what inspires us about practicing law together.
Lawyers across our teams – litigation, transactional and regulatory – are engaged in advancing social justice and equity and meeting the challenges of climate change. We fight for the vulnerable: veterans, children, immigrants and others. We innovate for more equitable financing. And we collaborate with the global legal community to provide humanitarian assistance around the world.
Our 2023 Impact
Top 10 for pro bono impact for the past decade
– The American Lawyer
99%
89%
86,000+
Top 10
No. 5
No. 1
No. 2
Band 2
participation in the United States
participation in Europe and Asia
hours devoted to 750 individual and nonprofit pro bono clients and 125 legal services organizations
for US pro bono impact for 10 consecutive years and international pro bono impact for 9 consecutive years
– American Lawyer 2024 Pro Bono Scorecard
on Am Law’s Breadth of Commitment list which ranks firms by the percentage of U.S.-based lawyers who performed 20+ hours of pro bono work in 2023
for Pro Bono
– Law360, 2023
Social Impact Leader
– Law360, 2023
for Impact Investing
– Chambers USA, 2024
Our Areas of Focus
Click to learn more about each area of focus.
40%
13%
12%
12%
8%
5%
5%
5%
Justice & social equity
Immigration & Asylum
Empowering Nonprofits
europe & Asia
Veterans Rights
Environmental Justice & Sustainability
Impact Finance & Social Enterprise
Partnering with clients
What Pro Bono Means to Us
Program Leaders
Our program is led by two full-time pro bono lawyers, Rene Kathawala (LinkedIn | Contact) in the U.S. and Amy Grunske (LinkedIn | Contact) internationally, who maximize the impact for our clients, our communities and our team. They help our lawyers find projects that personally interest and inspire them and also lead numerous initiatives with in-house client teams and legal aid partners.
“I’m most proud of the pro bono work I have been able to do on behalf of our nation’s veterans. Like many other Federal Circuit law clerks, I witnessed at the beginning of my legal career how disadvantaged these veterans are in a legal system that is meant to benefit them, and what a difference a lawyer can make. I came out of my clerkship with a sincere desire to be part of the solution. I am so grateful to have been able to build a significant pro bono practice representing both individual veterans and groups aligned with pro-veteran interests to advocate for a legal regime that properly recognizes the debt we as a nation owe to these men and women and affords them the assistance they need to pursue their claims. The single proudest moment of my legal career was stepping up to the podium to argue the Procopio en banc case, knowing that the benches behind me were filled with Blue Water Navy sailors who were there both relying on me and cheering me on as their advocate. Their sacrifices and their support meant everything.”
“As I’ve become a more experienced attorney, I look for ways to use my legal expertise and experience to make a meaningful, positive impact in communities of color. Orrick’s strong commitment to pro bono and social justice creates the perfect opportunity to help shift the balance of equity and make a real difference.”
– Nathelie Ashby, Of Counsel and Racial Justice Fellow
– Mel Bostwick, Orrick Supreme Court & Appellate Partner, as told to Bloomberg Law
“My pro bono work at Orrick has always been a natural extension of the work I do daily. I joined our E&I team in large part because I wanted to work on the transition to a sustainable energy sector. I wanted to do well at something while also doing some good. Being an Orrick Racial Justice Fellow was an opportunity to do even more of that. Through my fellowship with Common Future, I worked with a team that is rethinking ways finance can operate in BIPOC communities to better help businesses in those communities grow. We started a fund for entrepreneurs that deployed credit based on criteria focused on character, not just credit scores. Doing this kind of substantive work for others is why I went into law in the first place.”
– Jennifer Keighley, Orrick Complex Litigation & Dispute Resolution Partner, as told to Law.com
“After I joined Orrick, I was lucky enough to continue working pro bono on a few cases I had worked on while I was at Planned Parenthood. And I’ve also worked on a wide range of other pro bono matters while at Orrick, from briefing (and arguing) immigration appeals in the Fifth and Ninth Circuits, to drafting amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court on a range of issues (including excessive force, the constitutionality of the death penalty, and reproductive rights). I firmly believe that all lawyers have a responsibility to give back to their communities by participating in pro bono work. In addition to the social value of pro bono work, these matters are often where associates will be able to take on leadership roles in their cases and obtain argument and other stand-up opportunities. So, I believe that partners have a duty to support and supervise associates doing pro bono work.”
– Walter Alarkon, Orrick Energy & Infrastructure Senior Associate and Former Racial Justice Fellow
Innovating Through the Orrick Racial Justice Fellowship Program
The Orrick Racial Justice Fellowship Program is a novel approach to private sector impact. We place experienced Orrick lawyers full time for a year at organizations dedicated to civil rights, criminal justice reform and economic equity. After the year, they return to our firm on track and continue to lead our efforts internally and in the community.
Our 2024 partner organizations are the Policing Project at NYU’s School of Law, the MacArthur Justice Center, Common Future and Acumen Fund.
Best Diversity Initiative
– The American Lawyer, 2022
Learn more about the program and meet our fellows
Promoting access to justice.
We have advocated for systemic change in many areas. Examples of our impact include:
Partnering with the Center for Reproductive Rights to convince a Michigan state judge to block a 24-hour waiting period, mandatory counseling and other requirements for people seeking abortions.
Shaping amicus arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court strengthening legal protections for the LGBTQ+ community, including the right to gay marriage.
Supporting a constitutional challenge that resulted in expanding Missouri’s underfunded indigent defense system.
Securing settlement of a civil rights case mandating reforms in a Massachusetts police department.
Fighting for reforms to New York’s family court and civil justice system to require prompt decision-making in all cases and protect the rights of indigent mothers seeking child support.
Working with Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to end a robocall campaign designed to disenfranchise Black voters in key battleground states during the 2020 U.S. elections.
Safeguarding rights.
We have a long record of protecting vulnerable immigrants. Examples of our impact include:
Winning two cases in the U.S. Supreme Court as well as others around the nation protecting immigrants from deportations resulting from arbitrary enforcement detention policies.
Filing a lawsuit, in collaboration with Tahirih Justice Center, to secure interviews for 17 asylum seekers – all were granted asylum.
Collaborating with immigrant rights organizations to bring the first class action lawsuit challenging the U.S. government’s Migrant Protection Protocols policy on the basis of disability. We achieved a settlement enabling hundreds of asylum seekers with disabilities to access safer conditions and other protections.
Helping asylum seekers from war-torn countries such as Ukraine and Afghanistan to access refugee assistance and reunification with their families.
Supporting the mission driven.
We provide comprehensive outside general counsel services to 200+ nonprofit clients focused on areas such as environment, education and racial justice. A few of our clients include:
iNaturalist, one of the world’s most popular citizen-science sites working to connect people to nature and advance biodiversity science and conservation.
Recidiviz, a data platform working to accelerate progress toward a smaller, fairer criminal justice system.
GirlTrek, an innovator in bringing wellness to 700 million Black women worldwide.
The Hispanic Scholarship Foundation, which provides scholarships and support to prepare students for college and the professional workforce.
A global imperative.
We collaborate with peer law firms worldwide to pioneer advances in pro bono practice, from mobilizing for refugees from war-torn nations to helping fill gaps in social services. Financial Times recognized three refugee-focused pro bono initiatives we help lead in Europe. Examples of our impact include:
We have mobilized globally to aid Ukrainian war refugees, helping document war crimes, negotiate humanitarian ceasefire corridors and investigate the use of Russian assets for reparations. This includes a collaboration with eight other law firms supporting charitable organization Safe Passage to help Ukrainian refugees navigate the UK’s Homes for Ukraine visa program (recognized at the Financial Times 2023 Innovative Lawyers Europe Awards).
We took the lead in the collaborative response of 42 law firms across the UK, France, Germany and Italy to the refugee crisis in Afghanistan, creating pro bono projects in each country.
We lead the Greece Collaborative, a pro bono collaboration between Orrick and five other law firms and the NGO European Lawyers in Lesvos to address an access to justice crisis for asylum seekers in Greece.
We obtained rare refugee status for an Iranian citizen in Japan – an extraordinary result with life-saving consequences.
We have collaborated in China with ForNGO, establishing a roadmap for the country’s emerging philanthropic sector.
We are working at the forefront of access to justice and family reunification projects across Europe, helping adults with learning disabilities and mental health difficulties to secure benefits and families with terminally ill children to obtain housing.
We collaborated with PILPG to help with accountability measures that will benefit the Rohingya who were subject to genocide in Myanmar.
Standing up for heroes.
We have won multiple appellate cases protecting benefits for thousands of veterans while also advocating for veterans in administrative proceedings, working with the National Veterans Legal Services Program, The Veterans Consortium and Swords to Plowshares. Examples of our impact include:
Winning a precedent-setting Federal Circuit case establishing a pathway to benefits for Blue Water Navy vets exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
Arguing an appeal during the 2024-2025 Supreme Court term for an Air Force veteran stemming from an administrative veterans court’s denial of a PTSD benefits claim.
Bringing a class action on behalf of veterans to force systemic reforms for correcting military records, which had resulted in denials of benefits.
Accelerating the transition.
We support innovators working to positively impact climate change. Examples of our impact include:
Assisting climate justice nonprofit RE-volv in developing an innovative solar loan product that will help community-serving nonprofits become more sustainable.
Developing a new iteration of the Forest Resilience Bond for longtime client Blue Forest Conservation, drawing on blended finance to mobilize private capital at scale to support forest restoration efforts.
Shaping measures in every state to ensure federal infrastructure money to address climate change is equitably distributed to disadvantaged communities.
Investing in change.
We were the first global law firm to establish an Impact Finance & Investment practice, supporting investors and entrepreneurs working to improve the quality of life for people in every part of the world. Examples of our work with longstanding pro bono clients include:
Serving as counsel to Acumen America, a division of Acumen Fund, in an investment into SUMA Wealth, a platform that helps the Latinx community build, manage and sustain wealth.
Supporting A to Z Impact Foundation in a complex transaction to support BluLever Education, an innovative South African vocational education startup.
Helping global nonprofit investment firm Calvert Impact Capital with a debt transaction with a new borrower that lends to small businesses in under-resourced communities in the United States.
Our collective commitment.
We partner with our clients’ in-house legal teams to amplify our impact. Examples include:
With Cisco, we provide representation to vulnerable clients, including advocating for children and conducting legal clinics for a wide range of underserved populations from low-income small business owners to LGBTQ+ individuals seeking to change their names, gender markers and identity documents.
With PayPal, we are helping 14 veterans with discharge upgrade applications to vindicate their service and make them eligible for benefits they cannot presently access.
