One Oxford Centre 301 Grant Street, 20th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Phone: (412) 562-8800 www.bipc.com locations Alexandria, VA Buffalo, NY Charlotte, NC Denver, CO Fort Lauderdale, FL (two offices) Fort Myers, FL Harrisburg, PA Jacksonville, FL Miami, FL New York, NY Newark, NJ Philadelphia, PA Pittsburgh, PA Princeton, NJ San Diego, CA Tallahassee, FL Tampa, FL (two offices) Washington, DC Wilmington, DE THE STATS No. of Attorneys: 528 No. of Offices: 21 CEO and Managing Director: John A. Barbour Hiring Partner(s): Mary Ann Dunham lloyd S. Smith EMPLOYMENT CONTACT Laurie S. Lenigan Director, Legal Recruiting Phone: 412-562-1470 Email: laurie.lenigan@bipc.com Careers website: https://lawcruit.micronapps.com/sup/v3/ lc_supp_app_frm.aspx?lawfirm=113&id=0 MAJOR DEPARTMENTS & PRACTICES Bankruptcy & Creditors Rights Biotechnology/FDA Corporate Finance & Technology Energy, Environmental & Natural Resources ERISA Federal Government Relations Financial Services Health Care Intellectual Property Labor & Employment Litigation Real Estate State Government Relations Tax 74 2014 Vault.com Inc.
Who s Who Does the firm have one or more pro bono coordinators and/or partners? If so, how many? 2 Please provide a general description of how much of their time each of your pro bono coordinators and/or partners spends on pro bono work and/or administering the firm s pro bono program (e.g., less than half of their time, more than half of their time, all of their time). Less than half. What are some of the areas of law in which your firm has performed pro bono legal work since 2012? Asylum, Bankruptcy, Community economic development, Disability benefits, Domestic violence, Elder law, Employment, Family law, Homeless advocacy, Immigration, Indigent criminal defense, Prisoners rights, Social Security law, The arts and historic preservation, Veterans benefits/ appeals Are there areas of law in which, as a matter of policy or practice, your firm does not perform pro bono work? None Please provide the primary pro bono contact(s) s information below. Peter J. Ennis Shareholder, Co-Chair Pro Bono Committee Phone: 412-392-1689 Email: peter.ennis@bipc.com Sherman W. Smith, III Counsel, Co-Chair Pro Bono Committee Phone: 215-665-3922 Email: sherman.smith@bipc.com Does the firm have a pro bono committee? How often does the committee meet? Bi-monthly (six times a year) Please describe the composition of the committee. The committee is comprised of shareholder representatives from most of our larger offices as well as associates. Each of the shareholder representatives is supported in his or her office by either an associate or an administrative staff member. THE SCOOP Does your firm have a pro bono policy? Can associates bring pro bono matters of interest to the firm? How does the firm decide whether to take on a pro bono matter? Through the Pro Bono Coordinators. Has the firm signed on to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge? List up to 10 of your firm s pro bono clients or partners since 2012, including legal service providers or clearinghouses. McKees Rocks Clinic Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund HELP Clinic Homeless Advocacy Project Neighborhood Legal Services Legal Services of Northern Virginia Eastern District, Prisoner Civil Rights Panel Innocence Project Support Center for Child Advocates Bay Area Legal Services List up to three representative examples of your firm s pro bono matters since 2012. Please limit your answer to a short paragraph per matter. Assisted a Russian citizen who was seeking political asylum in the United States on the grounds of her political opinion and membership in a political social group. Human Rights First is an independent advocacy and action organization that challenges America to live up to its ideals. It believes leadership is essential in the struggle for human rights, and it, therefore, presses the U.S. government and private companies to respect human rights and the rule of law. Worked with the Hill House Association and its affiliates, the Hill House Economic Development Corporation and Centre Heldman Plaza, LLC, to locate a supermarket and affiliate retail, restaurant and office space in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. The Hill District lost its last supermarket in the mid-1980s. Since that time, it has been defined as a food desert by the United States Department of Agriculture because of the limited opportunity to purchase fresh, healthy, nutritious food and groceries. In April 2011, Buchanan began working with the Hill House Association regarding financing for and construction of the retail development, which will house a leased Shop n Save. The firm also played a role in the project by assisting with additional bridge financing, grants, construction loans and New Market Tax Credit financing. In addition, the firm Visit www.vault.com for company rankings, ratings and reviews to learn what it s really like to work in an industry or company and how to position yourself to land that job. 75
76 assisted with contracting for the construction of the project and the leasing and equipping of the supermarket, as well as the leasing and construction of ancillary retail space in the building. Provided pro bono representation to the Friends of Lambertville Public Library, a New Jersey nonprofit that sponsors special programs and exhibits, including a weekly independent and documentary film series and discussions with authors and directors. In addition to drafting amended and restated Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws, they drafted policies enacted by the Board of Trustees on intellectual property rights, conflicts of interest and nondiscrimination. They have also provided legal advice on Board Governance issues related to New Jersey laws governing nonprofits. BY THE NUMBERS What is the total number of hours that lawyers at your U.S. office(s) spent performing pro bono legal services, as defined by the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge, in 2012 and 2013? Do not include summer associate or non-lawyer pro bono hours in your answers. Total number of pro bono hours in 2012: 15,965 Total number of pro bono hours in 2013: 18,541 What was the attorney headcount in your firm s U.S. offices? Number of attorneys as of December 31, 2012: 409 Number of attorneys as of December 31, 2013: 400 Using the number of attorneys listed above, what is the average number of pro bono hours per attorney in your firm s U.S. office(s) during the following years? Average number of hours per attorney in 2012: 39 Average number of hours per attorney in 2013: 46 What percentage of attorneys employed during 2012 and 2013 in your firm s U.S. office(s) did at least 20 hours of pro bono during that calendar year? Percentage of attorneys who did pro bono work in 2012: 31 40% Percentage of attorneys who did pro bono work in 2013: 31 40% SUPERVISION AND EVALUATIONS Is there partner supervision on all pro bono matters? Do partner supervisors or, if applicable, senior associates provide written evaluations of associates work on pro bono matters? Are those evaluations taken into account in determining salary or bonuses?, they are taken into account when determining salary., they are taken into account when determining bonuses. Are those evaluations taken into account in determining advancement within the firm? Is there a pro bono requirement at your firm? No Does the firm give billable hour credit for pro bono work? Does the firm have a maximum number of pro bono hours that can be applied toward the billable hour target? What is the maximum number of pro bono hours that can be applied toward the billable hour target? 51 100 Does the firm consider pro bono hours when determining bonuses? PRO BONO POINTS What training opportunities are open to associates working on pro bono matters? Neighborhood Legal Services, Legal Services of Northern Virginia and others as they arise. Does the firm offer the use of support staff in handling pro bono matters? Please indicate how many total hours and average hours per person your summer associates spent performing pro bono in 2012 and 2013. Total hours summer associates spent on pro bono work 2012: 31 2013: 74 Average hours per summer associate spent on pro bono work 2012: 6 2013: 15 2014 Vault.com Inc.
Percentage of summer associates in your firm s U.S. office(s) engaged in pro bono work 2012: 50% 2013: 63% Does the firm have established programs, such as externships, that enable its associates to work in a public interest setting? No What other law-related public interest and community service programs (that are not pro bono as defined by the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge) do you offer and manage? For example, list any law school collaborations and public interest scholarships, auctions at law schools, monetary support, or fellowships. Our Firm gives annually to the United Way and makes monetary donations to various charities in our communities throughout the year and during the holiday season. What non-law related volunteer opportunities does your firm offer? For example, list any work with high school students and non-legal volunteerism for organizations like Habitat for Humanity. Buchanan is very proud to be a part of the community. In 2013, in conjunction with our Pro Bono commitment, we also created the firm s Community Outreach Program, in which various staff members provide their time to volunteer with organizations. Through this program, we assisted Martha s Kitchen in Washington, DC; participated in the Can Hunger event for the Central PA Food Bank in Harrisburg; held a holiday coat drive in Alexandria; participated in the Walk for Cystic Fibrosis in Philadelphia; donated gift bags to Camillus House in Miami; held a toy drive for Our Kids of Miami-Dade Monroe; raised money for the JDRF Walk in San Diego and Pittsburgh; and held a food drive in Princeton. Members of the Pittsburgh office volunteer with the United Way s Be a Middle School Mentor, which is a signature program of the Pittsburgh office. Throughout the school year, thirteen Buchanan employees spend an hour each week with their assigned mentees at two Pittsburgh middle schools. During their mentoring sessions, the mentors meet individually with their students to discuss career options, play games and serve as positive role models to the mentees. In addition, our professionals log thousands of hours as board members and business counselors to non-profit organizations in and around our communities. Please list any special recognition or awards your firm has won since 2012 for its pro bono work. Buchanan was awarded the Community Impact Award in Hershey, Pa. at the 2014 Governor s ImPAct Awards. The award is given to a company that exemplifies the tenet of doing well by doing good. The winners in this category show a sustained commitment to the growth and development of their employees and the communities in which they does business. The firm was noted for its Visit www.vault.com for company rankings, ratings and reviews to learn what it s really like to work in an industry or company and how to position yourself to land that job. involvement in civic and nonprofit groups, including United Way s Be a Middle School Mentor program, the Education Partnership, Sarah Heinz House, the Pressley Ridge School for Autism and more. Outside of work, our professionals are active in more than 85 different boards of local organizations in the Pittsburgh area, including organizations focusing on children, education, business, economic development, legal services, energy, healthcare, arts and culture, history, sports and recreation, religion, social issues and animals. The Pittsburgh office was honored as a Good Neighbor during the United Way s Fred Rogers Good Neighbor Day due to the office s participation in the United Way s Be a Middle School Mentor program, as well as our additional significant support of other United Way of Allegheny County volunteer initiatives. Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Fowler White Boggs sponsored the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Service Awards, which took place at the Chester H. Ferguson Law Center in Tampa. Bay Area Legal Services and the Hillsborough County Bar Association presented the annual awards to individuals and groups to recognize their pro bono service for attorneys in the circuit who have provided 20 49, 50 99 or 100+ hours of pro bono service. Sarah Lahlou Amine, an associate in the Tampa office, was recognized for donating in excess of 100 hours, Ashley Trehan, an associate in Tampa, was honored for donating close to 50 hours, and Alice Weinstein, counsel in Tampa, was honored in the 20 49 hour category. Steven Zuchelli, an associate in the Pittsburgh office received an award for his work in coordinating Pittsburgh s HELP (community legal outreach project), which is a program aimed to provide pro bono legal services once a month at the Operation Safety Net (OSN) office. OSN is a health care, case management and housing program for the local homeless population. The organization s goal is to give individuals a means to obtain the necessary benefits needed to get off the streets, as well as to provide a way to repair problems of their past so that they can move on to a healthier lifestyle. The firm was also recognized as a whole for its continuing support of the program. Tanya Bosi, counsel in the firm s New York office, was recognized with Buchanan s first-ever Community Service Award in 2013 for her involvement with the Superstorm Sandy relief efforts. Peter Ennis, shareholder in the Pittsburgh office and co-chair of the firm s Pro Bono Committee, was honored by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute with the (Association for Continuing Legal Education) - ACLEA Award for his work on the Employment Law Deskbook at the Employment Law Institute WEST. Through the efforts of shareholders Brian North and Doug Coopersmith, and associates Elizabeth Klaproth and Hilleary Nguyen in the firm s Philadelphia office, the firm was awarded the Homeless Advocacy Project s Inaugural Law Firm Recognition Award at the 2013 Volunteer Awards, which honors the region s outstanding volunteers. The firm was recognized for the work it has done on the SOAR project, a mission designed to help homeless individuals 77
receive social security benefits on an expedited basis. In addition to the firm s award, Elizabeth was awarded the Legal Services Recognition Award, and Brian received the Adopt Coordinators Award. The Pittsburgh Pro Bono Partnership, of which Buchanan is a founding member, named the firm a recipient of the 2012 Super Lawyers Pro Bono Awards. The award recognizes the Partnership s dedication to numerous pro bono projects. The Partnership is comprised of law firms, corporate law departments and the Neighborhood Legal Services Association and works to meet the needs of local, indigent clients. For the second consecutive year, Buchanan has ranked in the top 100 law firms for pro bono legal services among the AM Law 200. Two key metrics are used in the ranking: the average pro bono hours per lawyers and percentage of lawyers with more than 20 pro bono hours. The Obediah Cole Foundation for Prostate Cancer recently recognized Buchanan for its pro bono intellectual property services. Mike Dever, shareholder and Vicki Cremonese, a patent and trademark specialist, both in the Pittsburgh office, served the Foundation of which former Pittsburgh Steeler Robin Cole is the President, with all of the Foundation s trademark work. Because the Foundation treated the pro bono services work as a work-in-kind contribution equivalent to a sponsorship, the firm was also recognized as one of the sponsors for the Foundation s annual 5k/10k event, which is held on Father s Day to raise money for the Foundation. Please add any additional information about your firm s pro bono program. Buchanan s pro bono commitment emphasizes the importance of contributing to the community. The firm encourages and supports participation by individual attorneys in various community and charitable activities by providing pro bono legal services on an organized and regular basis. Our strategic plan also reaffirms our commitment to pro bono. The purpose of our pro bono committee is to build additional interest and support within the firm for pro bono work and to communicate the pro bono efforts to our offices. We also believe the communication between offices will help to seed new pro bono ideas in the different geographic areas where our firm is located. The participation of shareholders on this committee demonstrates both internally and externally the commitment of our firm to pro bono work. Attorneys are always encouraged to become involved with different pro bono projects, including McKees Rocks Clinic, Philadelphia VIP, Homeless Advocacy Project, Volunteers for the Indigent Program, Lawyers for the Arts and others as they arise. The firm is a Signatory of the Annual Pro Bono Challenge Report, which is an initiative of PBI s Law Firm Pro Bono Project. The Annual Pro Bono Challenge serves as a guidepost to assist major law firms in increasing their commitment to pro bono legal services to at least 3 percent. In 2013, Buchanan met the 3 percent requirement, reporting 18,541.1 hours of pro bono work. Of those hours, 6,697.7 were dedicated to litigation, and 11,843.4 were non-litigation hours. Sampling of Buchanan s Pro Bono Legal Programs McKees Rocks Legal Clinic is a signature project of the Pittsburgh Pro Bono Partnership and is staffed by attorneys from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, ALCOA and Burns White. The Clinic is a referral source that accepts civil cases such as landlord/tenant, bankruptcy, child support, etc. Dauphin County Bar Association Veterans Disability Claims Project assists veterans in the presentation and prosecution of their disability claims in the US Department of Veterans Affairs and through the federal appeal process. An initial decision on a disability claim by the Department of Veterans Affairs may take up to 24 months, and final decision by the Board of Veterans Appeals on appeal may take up to 5 years. Homeless Advocacy Project s SOAR Project is a referral source in Philadelphia in which several of our attorneys assist the homeless with SSI and disability benefits. Under the SOAR program, applications for individuals likely to be awarded SSI benefits are fast-tracked, with an average wait time between submission of the application and approval of only 30 days. The cases require meeting 1 2 times with the client, obtaining medical records, writing and/or coordinating the writing of a letter of support for the application and filling out and submitting the application. Philadelphia VIP partners with corporations that do business in Philadelphia to further its mission and help low-income Philadelphians receive access to justice. Partnerships at this level provide significant resources that allow VIP to help a growing number of clients. Buchanan works on civil cases and corporate matters for the indigent, and our work includes issues regarding guardianships, divorce, custody, homeownership and advice to non-profit corporations. Christian Legal Aid/Ascension Church and Allegheny Center Alliance provides free counsel to clients who have verified incomes below certain levels. Counseling sessions typically last approximately 45 minutes, and clients must attend a screening session the week prior to the counseling session. Screening sessions are conducted by law school student volunteers, and relevant information is passed to the attorney meeting with the client. Approximately 50 attorneys volunteer with Christian Legal Aid, including attorneys from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney and other law firms in the Pittsburgh area. Support Center for Child Advocates volunteer child advocates are teamed with social workers from the Support Center to represent abused and neglected children in dependency cases in Family Court. Children who are adjudicated are either in the custody of DHS and placed in foster homes or under DHS supervision in their family homes. A child advocate appears on the child s behalf in periodic review hearings in Family Court to ensure that necessary services are being provided. In more extreme cases, we represent the child s interests in proceedings to terminate parental rights and place the child in an adoptive 78 2014 Vault.com Inc.
home. Child advocates also appear with children in criminal court in cases where the child is a victim of a crime or is a witness to another crime. Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts provides small and midsized arts organizations, and low-income artists, with pro bono legal assistance for arts-related legal needs to include malpractice insurance coverage through the Allegheny County Bar Association. It promotes cooperation, understanding and communication between the arts and law. Both Buchanan s Pittsburgh and Philadelphia offices provide pro bono services for this organization. Visit www.vault.com for company rankings, ratings and reviews to learn what it s really like to work in an industry or company and how to position yourself to land that job. 79