Reed Smith has two firmwide signature pro bono projects. First, the firm is helping rebuild distressed neighborhoods by providing pro bono assistance to the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (“LISC”). LISC is a nationwide nonprofit that provides grants, loans, and equity investments to community development groups seeking to improve struggling neighborhoods. Second, Reed Smith has launched a children’s initiative, working with the National Children’s Law Network and similar children’s agencies in several U.S. cities where the firm has a significant presence. By representing children and meeting their needs, including those in asylum proceedings, our participating lawyers help some of the neediest among us.
To plan and coordinate Reed Smith's pro bono efforts, the firm in 2005 named Christopher K. Walters, a long-time Philadelphia partner, to the fulltime position of Senior Pro Bono Counsel. In 2008, he was joined by California attorney Jayne Fleming, who became the firm's second fulltime Pro Bono Counsel.
The Pro Bono Committee includes 20 partners and associates drawn from offices throughout the firm.
Everyone benefits when you care to make a difference. Nobody represented that quality of service and generosity of spirit more than Sean Halpin, a young partner in the firm's Philadelphia office who passed away in 2004. In his memory, the firm created the Sean Halpin Award for Pro Bono and Community Service, to honor annually the Reed Smith person whose work best exemplifies Sean’s crusading pro bono spirit. In 2006, Jim Wood, an Oakland partner, won the award for his many pro bono achievements, particularly on behalf of persons with HIV/AIDS. In 2007, the award went to longtime Washington partner Doug Spaulding for his work on behalf of Guantanamo detainees. In 2008, the winner was our Advocates for International Development ("A4ID") team in the UK, which founded, supports, and promotes A4ID in the London legal community and beyond, bringing lawyers together with legal needs in the developing world. In 2009, Chicago partner Matthew O'Hara won the award for his exemplary longtime death penalty and Guantanamo detainee representations, which are ongoing.