TAG Alliances Annual Review 2020

As part of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) One Walk, Samet & Company (Massachusetts, USA - TIAG) participated in a month-long, firm-wide walking competition in hopes to reach the firm goal of 3,000 miles. In addition, everyone was encouraged to donate to Natalie’s Neighborhood in support of Managing Partner Jay Kessler’s daughter, Natalie, who was diagnosed with T1D seven years ago. The firm exceeded their fundraising goal, raising a total of $4,800 to help find a cure for T1D.

Bufete Escura (Barcelona, Spain - TAGLaw) sponsored the fellowship program "Becas por un sueño" from the Fundación Vicente Ferrer, which has set out to end extreme poverty by providing equal opportunity to quality primary and secondary education. Through the firm's contributions, the organization was able to build a new school and community center in one of the most vulnerable regions in India. 

This year, Abeng Law Firm (Cameroon - TAGLaw) fully sponsorsored and organized a Seminar on Cyber-protection and Legal Practice at the Royal Palace Hotel in Bonaberi Douala. They also sponsored, created, and managed a communication platform for all lawyers of the Cameroon Bar Association. The firm hosted five summer interns from the Faculty of Law of the University of Buea.

In 2020, A.S & Associates (Bangladesh - TAGLaw) collaborated with international humanitarian organizations like Malala Fund, Max Foundation, and Watershed. A.S & Associates advised Malala Fund on general operational structure and regulatory regime for NGO-NPO projects with foreign donation, the process of grant making, and monitoring the process of projects related to policy advocacy for girl’s education. They also advised WaterShed, an INGO based in Cambodia (with a holding Company in Singapore), and Max Foundation, an INGO based in Netherlands regarding incorporating and investing from abroad in both ‘for profit’ and ‘not for profit’ ventures in Bangladesh. The firm also collaborated with TrustLaw Foundation in arranging a webinar on conducting workforce management in a legally compliant manner during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Firm has worked closely with local charitable organizations and volunteers to support those who were greatly affected by the pandemic.

The Anderson Anderson & Brown Charitable Initiative (AABi) is the platform which facilitates all at Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP (Scotland - TIAG) to invest in the communities in which they operate by seeking partnerships with charities and inviting applications for donations, grants, and volunteer time. Since AABi’S inception in 2016, AAB staff have raised over £130,000 and donated over 4,600 hours of volunteer time.

Although unable to take part in volunteering days due to social distancing measures, the AABi Trustees continued the grant round funding process going in order to help charities adapt their service delivery for those in need. Since March, AABi has donated £15,000 to 19 charities across Scotland. Applications have ranged from craft supplies for virtual arts classes to be hosted for carers, musical instruments for disabled adults to take part in music classes at home, training equipment so that a junior triathlon team can train during the winter months, and vouchers allowing those in desperate need to receive funding for food and hygiene products. AAB also continued their annual Giving Tree activity but moved donations online for the first time. AAB also sponsored a scholar through The British American Foundation of Texas (BAFTX), an organization that provides scholarships to talented students. 

When Bergstein Abogados (Uruguay - TAGLaw) heard about a historic bookstore's plan to supply food, daily essentials, and books to those people in need during the COVID-19 pandemic, the firm quickly decided to sponsor the project.

The work done by the bookstore in Montevideo was so well received that it spread globally with interviews in places such as Spain.

In addition, Bergstein provided Pro Bono legal assistance to organizations such as:

• Helpers: an app that provides first aid assistance until the arrival of the ambulance
• Tzedaka Foundation: an organization dedicated to support 700 Jewish families in situation of vulnerability
• Legal advice to the Holocaust Survival Centre of Uruguay

Blake Morgan LLP (Cardiff & Southampton, England - TAGLaw) won the Physical Challenge of the Year award at the Countess Mountbatten Hospice Corporate Awards for the firm's fundraising efforts taking part in the Southampton ABP Half Marathon, The Romsey Relay. Private Client Partner Simon Burgess was also recongized as the outstanding achievement of the event following the "Drop your boss" Sky dive fundraiser.

Boodle Hatfield LLP (London, England - TAGLaw) has been quite active on the pro bono front including advising on the establishment of a charity supporting people affected by bereavement during the pandemic. The firm also provides ongoing advice to a leading arts charity.

Burness Paull LLP (Scotland - TAGLaw) has undertaken Pro Bono work for Street Soccer Scotland, who they have a three year sponsorship with. The firm also donated £40,000 to Street Soccer Scotland to help them continue with their fantastic work, especially during lockdown. £10,000 was devoted to set up their Helpline so they could stay connected and offer support.

Despite the pandemic, the firm was still able to raise money for over 60 charities and run events including a virtual VE day celebration, virtual bingo, a clap for carers/art competition, 5k runs and virtual quizzes. The money raised during each of these events was donated to a dedicated charity.

This year, Cherry Bekaert LLP (Southeast, USA - TAG-SP) contributed to several charities including United Way, March of Dimes, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Junior Achievement.

Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP (San Francisco, California, USA - TAGLaw) believes that equal access to justice is fundamental to a fair and equitable society, and the responsibility to create access to justice has sustained the firm's dedication to pro bono work since its founding in 1890. In 2020, highlights of the firm's pro bono efforts included:

• Two Coblentz attorneys, Philip Feldman and Dan Bruggebrew, coordinated election protection efforts with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. More than 30 attorneys from the firm participated in election protection efforts leading up to the November 2020 election, including poll monitoring and staffing regional voter hotlines to answer voter questions and assist with registration, mail-in voting, and other questions.
• Rosan Agbajoh took the lead in representing a former Social Worker for Napa County who had pursued a pro se case of racial discrimination, harassment, and retaliation on her own for two years. Rosan stepped into the case and executed an aggressive discovery strategy of depositions and written discovery. The County agreed to mediation, and Rosan negotiated a very generous settlement that would not have been possible without her hard work and strategic thinking.
• Kadeidra Honey represented an inmate with serious health conditions whose life was threatened because of the COVID outbreak in prisons, drafting a petition to ask the Court to release the inmate during the duration of the pandemic. The inmate remains healthy to date and is grateful to Kadeidra for her work to get the petition heard.

One of the core values of Concern-Dialog Law Firm (Armenia - TAGLaw) is the belief that everyone has the right to protection of their essential rights and freedoms. The coverage of pro bono cases includes all the fields that Concern Dialog practices. Although there are no obligation pro-bono cases under Armenian legislation or Bar regulations, their staff members are encouraged to take pro bono cases including support within criminal law, assistance to new start-ups, and some civil law cases to vulnerable groups.

DQ Advocates (Isle of Man - TAGLaw) is committed to supporting a wide variety of sporting, cultural, and charitable causes on the Isle of Man and internationally. In 2020 the firm's Charity Committee raised more than £1,500.00 in total for a number of worthy causes including the Isle of Man (IOM) Food Bank, the Children’s Centre, Crossroads IOM and the Manx Breast Cancer Support Group.

Starting in January 2020, Dykema (Texas, USA - TAGLaw) became involved with The Promise of Justice Initiative’s (PJI) Jim Crow Juries Project aimed at combatting systemic racism. In collaboration with some of the firm’s clients, Dykema is working pro bono with the PJI as co-counsel to address the injustice stemming from Jim Crow laws passed in the 1800s permitting non-unanimous jury verdicts in state criminal trials. The laws were initially a state-sanctioned way to benefit plantation owners by replacing lost slave labor with prison labor.

PJI’s Jim Crow Juries Project is an unprecedented litigation campaign to restore justice to more than 1,500 people who are still in prison due to non-unanimous jury convictions, which were declared unconstitutional under the Sixth Amendment by the U.S. Supreme Court on April 20, 2020. The landmark decision applies to future cases and is currently not being applied retroactively, leaving people already serving sentences due to non-unanimous verdicts—including life without possibility of parole—to remain in prison. Through its work with the PJI, Dykema and its clients are helping to restore justice for those who remain imprisoned as a result.

Dykema and the PJI have been extremely busy in their efforts, as Federal criminal procedure dictates that these filings take place within a year of the April SCOTUS decision. According to the PJI, no other law firm has handled more cases for the project than Dykema.

In 2020, Gecić Law (Montenegro & Serbia - TAGLaw) became a member of the Corporate Social Responsibility Forum (Forum za odgovorno poslovanje) in order to further Pro Bono efforts and initiatives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gecić Law recognized the stress that the current situation puts on everyone, and especially entrepreneurs and business leaders. In light of this, the firm saw an opportunity to help by launching the Coronavirus GLaw Hub free online portal. The portal provides 24/7 news and commentary on the measures imposed in four jurisdictions and their legal implications across 17 practices. The articles are written by some of the best legal minds in the region, who want to help their clients navigate the legal maelstrom, and support the wider fight against the pandemic by helping their community understand the new measures and abide by them with least disruption to their daily lives.
The firm also organized another annual Taborosi Scholaship for law students in Serbia in December 2020, despite the global crisis.

Some of the most relevant probono work that Gómez-Pinzón Abogados S.A.S. (Colombia - TAGLaw) performed last year include:

Environmental Education Río Quito, Chocó: Recent rulings of Colombian Constitutional and Supreme Court recognizing the Atrato River and Amazon Region as subjects of rights are precedents that represent a breakthrough in the struggle for the protection of these ecosystems and, overall, for the protection of environmental rights. The visit to the Rio Quito community, a tributary of the Atrato River in the Department of Chocó in Colombia, shows that further actions must be enforced, specifically aimed at involving the victim communities and people responsible for the river pollution in the decision making processes that impact in any way these places and communities. This, with the objective of providing mechanisms that help and educate every person on the need to ascertain the environmental protection of the river.

Juvenile Restorative Justice – Fundación ProBono Colombia: The District of Bogotá has a program for Juvenile Restorative Justice where Gómez-Pinzón lawyers have participated. This program is an alternative mechanism for the criminal process for minors and aims to ensure reparation guarantees for the victim. "At Gómez-Pinzón we truly believe that Probono work can not only change the life of the clients, but the lives of the lawyers themselves and the face of Colombia altogether."

Headrick Rizik Alvarez & Fernandez (Dominican Republic - TAGLaw) routinely partakes in pro bono work in favor of different types of NGOs varying from industrial clusters such as CONEP and AIRD, to assisting CEDIMAT with legal matters, the largest non-profit hospital in the country. Various members of the Firm have also assisted Participación Ciudadana, an important nonpartisan civic movement that advocates for democratic advances. Additionally, Headrick is a member of TrustLaw and has entered into the Pro Bono Declaration of the Americas, managed by The Vance Center.

Each year, Herrick, Feinstein LLP (New York, USA - TAGLaw) works with multiple pro bono organizations to give back to the community in a variety of important areas. For example, the firm provides legal advice, information, document drafting, and other brief services to low-income Manhattan residents aged 60 and over through the firm’s partnership with Volunteers of Legal Services, The Elderly Project. Herrick lawyers advocate for the homeless by providing advice and representation to residents of homeless shelters on a variety of matters related to public benefits as well as other issues through their work with the Legal Clinic for the Homeless, which is part of the City Bar Justice Center. This year, Herrick lawyers helped with "Election Protection" to ensure every voter’s voice was heard at the polls. Additionally, the firm has lawyers who help foreign-born nationals secure a U Visa, (a special visa available only to victims of specific crimes who cooperate with law enforcement), and also lawyers who provide pro bono legal support to women living in poverty in New York City through Her Justice. Herrick is proud to give back to the community in such varied and meaningful ways.

With COVID-19 hitting so many people this year, Jaffe made a meaningful donation to three local charities to provide assistance to those in need of food and shelter.

Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer & Weiss, P.C. (Michigan, USA - TAGLaw) joined forces with 10 other local law firms to fight against racial injustice. All firms agreed to commit to the following:

• Continue to advocate for equality, equity and justice for all and institute additional policies and practices at our firms to further those goals.
• Create regular and supportive forums for our attorneys and staff to have open and constructive dialogues about structural racism and racial justice.
• Re-double our efforts to increase the diversity and representation of African American people and other people of color within our partnership ranks and leadership teams.
• Continue to partner with organizations focused on racial justice by providing pro bono services, personnel resources and funding support.
• Dedicate pro bono legal support and other resources for African American people and other minority entrepreneurs and small business owners.
• Advocate for appropriate policing reforms that include unconscious bias, de-escalation and other progressive training techniques, improved diversity in law enforcement hiring and promotion decisions and legislation that mandates zero-tolerance for police officers who injure or kill unarmed, non-violent, and non-resisting individuals

The firm also has a partner working closely with a client that has donated over 1.25 million masks locally. This partner was responsible for selecting all organizations, figuring out delivery logistics, and being the main point of contact, taking a half day off each week to handle deliveries since March.

Donations went to the following:

• 250,000 for secretary of state for all SOS office and poll workers.
• 1,000,000 to hospitals, schools, student groups, senior centers, SMART bus drivers, police/fire/ems, nurses, City of Detroit, Wayne and Oakland County, memory care centers, traveling physicians groups, and religious organizations of all faiths.

LEADELL Pilv Advokaadibüroo AS (Estonia - TAGLaw) performs pro bono legal aid for the Cancer Treatment Foundation "The Gift of Life" - a private foundation whose mission is to help patients whose treatment is not considered sufficiently ‘cost-effective’ by the state insurance. The foundation pays for new and extremely expensive medicines/drugs which patients could not otherwise afford themselves. The firm has also participated in "field work" for the organization - collecting donations at public events, shopping malls etc. With over 300 volunteers the foundation has become one of the most well-known and successful charities of Estonia.

Osborn Maledon, P.A. (Arizona, USA - TAGLaw) attorneys assisted a group of South Sudanese refugees in Phoenix, Arizona form a nonprofit corporation and secure tax-exempt status. The nonprofit serves as a hub for the community where they will host cultural events and meetings, as well as educate the broader Arizona community about the incredible journeys and strengths of the South Sudan people.

Peregrine Corporate Services (Isle of Man - TAG-SP) directors, Basil Bielich and Martin Hall, are trustees of the Manx Solidarity Fund, which was set up to help the Isle of Man community with funding due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To support those who lost homes, land, and livestock as a result of the devestating 2020 bushfires in Australia, the Partners and staff of Piper Alderman (Australia - TAGLaw) raised close to $10,000. Donations went to country fire associations in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia as well as the Red Cross and Backpacks 4 Kids.

In 2020 Popov, Arnaudov & Partners (Bulgaria - TAGLaw) provided pro-bono assistance to the Bulgarian based charity foundation "On the other side" working in the field of drug addiction prevention.

Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP (Delaware & Pennsylvania, USA - TAGLaw) is representing individuals with mental health conditions who are incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail, in a class action lawsuit filed on September 15, 2020. The lawsuit, filed together with the Abolitionist Law Center and the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, alleges severe and systemic constitutional violations, as well as violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, for the Jail’s failure to provide adequate mental health care and its discriminatory treatment of people with psychiatric disabilities.

The attorneys and staff at Williams Mullen (North Carolina & Virginia, USA - TAGLaw) support countless individuals and organizations through community service for charitable and civic organizations; through pro bono legal work; and by donations from the Williams Mullen Foundation.

Some highlights from 2020 include:

• Serving as law firm sponsor of the Virginia Equality Bar Association Name and Gender Change CLE and Clinics. The clinics, held throughout Virginia, assist transgender clients with name change applications, petitions for gender marker changes, birth certificate corrections, and other legal record corrections.
• Serving as law firm sponsor of the Virginia Virtual Wills & Advance Planning Document CLEs, helping hundreds of clients in creating basic life planning documents, this year in a virtual setting.
• Joining seven other area North Carolina firms for a Law Firm Challenge to benefit Haven House Services, a 501(c)3 nonprofit helping approximately 1,200 youth in the Raleigh area each year. The total amount raised by all eight firms this year was over $31,000.
• Contributing gift cards during the winter holidays to support InterAct of Wake County, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending the cycle of domestic and sexual violence. It is the county’s largest provider of comprehensive services, and gives victims and survivors access to 24-hour crisis hotlines, emergency shelter, court advocacy and e-filing of protective orders, individual and group counseling, licensed sexual assault nurse examiners, personal and economic empowerment programs, and youth education services.