[ Our Philosophy ]
Pro Bono
You’ve seen elsewhere on this website the kind of cool work you’ll find at Holland & Hart, but most of those examples are for fee-based clients. Probably of equal interest to you is the opportunity you’ll have to work with clients who have little or no ability to pay for your efforts. Job satisfaction stems from both.
"We accept as a guiding principle that this firm has a special obligation to participate in public service activities without expectation of compensation and we expect each lawyer to accept and act upon that principle." - from Holland & Hart's Statement of Principles
As a new associate, you’ll be encouraged from the beginning to take on pro bono clients. And although all matters are subject to conflict screening, the firm does not dictate which side you should represent or what types of cases you may undertake on a pro bono basis.
"On average, our lawyers commit approximately nine percent of their chargeable hours to pro bono work and community service. Because time spent on pro bono matters is encouraged, not challenged or demeaned, our lawyers can be involved in pro bono work not only without sacrificing their career goals, but as a means of furthering their personal and professional development." - David Broadbent, Pro Bono Coordinator
Lawyers and staff throughout our 14 offices contribute great amounts of time to professional organizations, pro bono work, public service and charitable activities. We’re pretty proud of what we do to help build our communities. Here are just a few examples:
We led the challenge that ultimately resulted in the U.S. Supreme
Court’s overruling of Colorado’s Amendment 2, which
would have permitted discrimination based solely upon a person’s
sexual orientation.
To assist a legal-aid organization in Colorado, lawyers and
legal assistants in several of our Colorado offices recently
concluded a two-year project in which we represented nearly 50
children and their families. We appealed the “welfare reform”-related
termination of the children’s Supplemental Security Income
benefits, with an 80 percent success rate.
We are expanding our multi-office Indian Law Practice Group,
and have several Native American lawyers actively engaged in
that effort. Lawyers in that group and a corps of roughly 20
other volunteers have agreed to undertake representation of tribal
clients in need.
Several of our Aspen lawyers helped the Aspen Center for Environmental
Studies buy the Rock Bottom Ranch and thereby protect it from
development. They not only did all of the legal work, but convinced
one of the office’s clients to make the final donation
of funds required to close the deal.
Lawyers in our Billings office successfully defended the Montana
Spay/Neuter Task Force when a local veterinarian tried to shut
down the free clinic on the grounds that its services constituted
unfair competition.
A retired Of Counsel lawyer has chaired Colorado planning for
legal services to low-income persons since 1995, at which time
he was a full-time partner of the firm. As part of that effort,
he worked with another of our partners and others in planning,
negotiating and drafting to effect the merger of Colorado's three
legal aid programs into a single, statewide entity now known
as Colorado Legal Services.
In Boise, we capped off a ten-year major environmental litigation
effort against the United States Air Force on behalf of citizen
conservation and sporting groups in Idaho. They opposed the Air
Force’s plans to expand air- and ground-based training
activities over the desert and canyon-land country of southwestern
Idaho, an area of unique biological diversity and Native American
cultural heritage that has frequently been suggested for national
park or national monument status.
Lawyers in our Colorado Springs office have represented many
homeowners in administrative proceedings to preserve largely
low-income, historically significant, ethnically diverse neighborhoods
that provide affordable housing in the city.
In cooperation with the ACLU, we are challenging the use by
the Colorado Supreme Court’s Board of Law Examiners of
certain bar exam application questions about the applicant’s
history of mental health and substance abuse treatment. Our clients
contend such questions violate their right to privacy and the
Americans with Disabilities Act.
A lawyer in our DTC office recently became involved in the International
Justice Mission, a Christian-based organization committed to
bringing relief to children in bonded slavery (e.g., in India)
and forced prostitution (e.g., in Thailand), people unlawfully
detained, and victims of other injustices.
The efforts of our lawyers, and particularly our staff, have by no means been limited to pro bono legal work. We have also undertaken all sorts of community service activities, many of them through the Holland & Hart Foundation. To our knowledge, we are the first law firm in the country to have formed such a free-standing, nonprofit entity to advocate, empower people for and undertake all manner of public and community service endeavors. The following are some examples of our activities, which involve lawyers, staff, alumni and more.
We’ve adopted a nursing home, and provided companionship
and enjoyable events for the residents, as well as material assistance
in the form of money, clothing and personal care items.
One of our lawyers created and administers a program to provide
tutoring and mentoring for at-risk, often impoverished public
school children. Dozens of our lawyers, legal assistants and
staff members have served or are serving as tutors in that program.
Lawyers and staff members in nearly all our offices have assisted
in fundraising and construction for Habitat for Humanity.
We’ve done fundraising for all manner of entities that
serve the needy and have donated more food, toiletries and clothing
-- through drives of others’ making and our own -- than
we could possibly tally.
"Every kindness is deserving, every caring thought is rewarded, every step taken to help lead someone else forward is a step of progress for all of us." - from The Holland & Hart Foundation