Pro Bono Honorees: Spring 2009
Kirkland & Ellis, Palo Alto

Pro bono is so important to the attorneys at Kirkland & Ellis that the firm signed the American Bar Association’s pro bono challenge, pledging that Kirkland attorneys would spend at least 3% of their billable time working on pro bono matters. The firm generously allows its attorneys to receive full billable credit for all pro bono work with no limit on the amount of time they spend on pro bono.

Despite the fact that the office only opened its doors 8 short months ago, Kirkland & Ellis’s new Palo Alto office has become a Silicon Valley leader in pro bono.  Almost half of the attorneys in the office have done pro bono work with the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County. Attorneys at Kirkland Palo Alto work primarily in the areas of Intellectual Property Litigation and Private Equity Mergers & Acquisitions, but the matters they have taken pro bono deal with subjects such as child guardianship, domestic violence, and helping senior citizens with advanced health care directives. This summer, the office's Summer Associates will also be working on pro bono cases, and they are genuinely looking forward to it.

Thanks to their proximity to the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University, the Palo Alto office has also been excited to take on pro bono work through the Peninsula Family Advocacy Program (FAP), a medical-legal partnership that includes Lucile Packard.  Brooke Heymach, Legal Director of FAP, says that Kirkland & Ellis has adopted FAP as a key part of their pro bono work and are providing supportive pro bono services with hopes to expand their work with the program.

“We really want to be a go-to firm for Legal Aid, and for that reason, we have tried to take on as many representations through the organization as our attorneys can handle.  We have reached out to partner with numerous area legal services organizations, but none have been as responsive or as receptive as the Legal Aid Society.  Every interaction we have had has been positive.  We find the work rewarding because Legal Aid's clients are all truly deserving and in real need of our help” says associate Daniell Newman, the pro bono coordinator for the Palo Alto office. 

Rosalind Yoo worked at a domestic violence clinic in law school and says it was one of her most gratifying experiences. She continues doing pro bono work and has taken more than 6 pro bono cases dealing with domestic violence from Legal Aid. Her most memorable Legal Aid case was her first client whom she was able to help protect from a violent abuser. Her client’s abuser had held a knife to her throat and threatened her life. Yoo worked fast to make sure a permanent restraining order was issued and worked with the District Attorney to make sure that her client’s abuser was brought up on criminal charges. She was proud to see her client continue to secure her own future by applying for a U-Visa, which is given to those who have suffered substantial abuse, and to have helped in the prosecution of a crime. Seeing that her first client had learned to stand up and advocate for her own rights, proved to Rosi that this was precisely the kind of work she should be doing.

Cases like these make the attorneys at Kirkland & Ellis’s Palo Alto office deserving of recognition as this month’s Pro Bono Honoree. We are proud to honor their commitment to pro bono and thank them for their work with Legal Aid clients.