Lawyers in Morrison Foerster offices all around the world live out our proud pro bono tradition every day. In all matters, we are guided by the principle of according equal dignity and applying equal rigor to our pro bono endeavors. Likewise, the Morrison & Foerster Foundation, one of the oldest law firm-affiliated charitable foundations in the United States and funded primarily by MoFo’s lawyers and staff, promotes our collective social engagement while respecting and celebrating the differences that make our communities thrive.
In September, the MoFo Foundation announced the largest set of grants in its history, in recognition of its 40th anniversary. The Foundation celebrated the milestone with $1.7 million in large Special Project Grants for nonprofit organizations broadly serving disadvantaged youth and families.
Two of the firm’s pro bono partners, Advocates for Children of New York (AFC) and Oakland REACH, were among the organizations nominated by lawyers and employees and chosen by the Foundation to receive funds from this year’s Special Project Grants Program.
The Foundation donated $225,000 to AFC, which will assist in the addition of a Bilingual Education Advocate to provide direct assistance to migrant families living in shelters who are experiencing barriers to a quality public education.
AFC’s mission is to ensure a high-quality education for New York students who face barriers to academic success, focusing on students from low-income backgrounds with special education needs. AFC services include legal representation, trainings, and workshops for families, communities, and educators. The organization also engages in policy advocacy and impact litigation to compel education reform.
In July, a team of MoFo litigators—supported by attorneys at AFC—secured early intervention services for a three-year-old child with autism who was wrongfully denied assistance by public agencies in New York City. After a lengthy hearing and even lengthier settlement negotiations, the defendants agreed to provide the child 210 hours of compensatory services and to pay $75,000 in attorneys’ fees. This was an excellent outcome for the child and her family, who needed these early intervention services to help the child overcome a significant developmental delay. The case presented novel jurisdictional issues between the Department of Health and the Department of Education, and the MoFo team’s creative strategy broke the deadlock in time to make a real difference in the client’s life.
“The jurisdictional questions presented us with a difficult and interesting case, but honestly our client and her family couldn’t have cared less about the thorny legal issues. What matters is that, together with the great team from AFC, we got what our client needed—exactly what we try to do for all of our clients,” said New York partner Michael Miller.
Along with Michael, the MoFo pro bono team included Washington, D.C. associate Victoria Dalcourt Angle and New York associate Jacqueline Chervak.
The Foundation donated $150,000 to the Oakland REACH, which will help create a new curated mobile tech platform, inREACH, that provides supplemental academic support to accelerate learning and help close the achievement gap for low-income children of color in Oakland, California.
Oakland REACH empowers families and community members by providing them with training to become tutors for students in Oakland’s lowest-performing schools. Additionally, the program equips them with the skills to effectively advocate for the educational needs of these students.
Oakland REACH was a plaintiff in the firm’s recent pro bono case, Cayla J. v. State of California, in which MoFo secured at least $2 billion in funding to support California students who fell behind during the COVID-19 pandemic—one of the largest education-related settlements in U.S. history. Under the settlement agreement, local education agencies will direct Emergency Block Grant Funds to evidence-based programs that are proven to increase student outcomes. The programs must serve the lowest-performing students in the school district, identified using a data-driven “needs assessment” process that incorporates academic performance as well as absenteeism data.
The MoFo pro bono team, led by the recently retired Michael Jacobs, was also comprised of Palo Alto partners Lily Li and Erik Olson, Los Angeles partner Purvi Patel, San Diego partner John Lanham, Palo Alto associates Chelsea Kehrer and Max Levy, and San Francisco associate Ian Bennett.
Learn more about MoFo’s commitment to pro bono work.