2021 ReportReal Need, Real Progress As we look back on a year that was difficult for so many in our communities, McGuireWoods wants to thank everyone who contributed time and talent to our pro bono program. The firm has a long history of pro bono service dating back to 1834. Over the years, during challenging times, our dedicated lawyers helped vulnerable populations with their legal needs. Perhaps at no time has this need been more acute than during the past few years, as communities struggled with the social and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and confronted racial and social injustice. McGuireWoods lawyers addressed pro bono legal needs through long-term representations, client intake sessions, virtual legal clinics and socially distant in-person clinics. In 2021, the firm opened more than 450 new pro bono engagements and completed work for 1,200-plus low-income individuals, nonprofits and small businesses. We made an impact by joining the Law Firm Antiracism Alliance and the Alliance for Asian American Justice. In addition, the firm launched the Appellate Justice Initiative to affect real change in the criminal justice arena by identifying and challenging practices that infringe on the constitutional rights of defendants. We stood side-by-side with corporate clients to provide pro bono education and services by holding more than 25 events in 2021, as well as through our medical-legal partnership with Dominion Energy and VCU Health and through the Charlotte Triage program with Bank of America, Duke Energy, Wells Fargo and Truist. This work impacts our communities and culture and goes a long way toward closing the justice gap. JONATHAN HARMON CHAIRMAN McGuireWoods a letter from the chair McGuireWoods 2021 Pro Bono Report2Pro Bono Stats 72% of lawyers did pro bono work 83% of associates did pro bono work Lawyers worked 29,390 pro bono hours Average pro bono hours per attorney: 30 34% of attorneys performed 20 or more pro bono hours “Our corporate clients want to know that we share pro bono as a common value. Our progress in pro bono is thus important to our business, too. The work that we do matters.” — MCGUIREWOODS PRO BONO DIRECTOR ANGIE ZIMMERN “ ‘Community’ is a core value of our firm, and the firm seeks, through its pro bono work, to improve the lives of people in need in the communities where we live and work. We are proud of our professionals who give their time to help advance access to justice.” — MCGUIREWOODS MANAGING PARTNER TRACY WALKER McGuireWoods 2021 Pro Bono Report3Associate Pro Bono Awards As part of the firm’s annual celebration of National Pro Bono Week, on Oct. 27 McGuireWoods presented 2021 Pro Bono Awards to associates Drew Gann and Emilie McNally. Drew helped spearhead one of the first eviction diversion programs in the country, initiated by Mayor Levar Stoney after Richmond was featured on the front page of The New York Times for having one of the highest eviction rates in the nation. Drew helped recruit and train volunteers to serve as conciliators between landlords and tenants — the key administrative and legal component of the program. “I am very proud to receive this award,” Drew said. “The eviction diversion program was a first-of-its-kind program that continues to serve as an exemplar for programs across the nation. While we had many ups and downs, and a pandemic thrown into the mix, we have changed the lives of many Richmond residents and I look forward to seeing what it can accomplish for years to come.” Emilie, now a partner in Richmond, helps lead McGuireWoods’ medical-legal partnership with VCU Health and Dominion Energy. Hospitals see more patients every day with legal needs that impact their healthcare or their ability to receive or pay for medical care. The MLP was created to assist VCU Health patients with these legal needs. Emilie, who volunteered to steer the effort, manages a team of McGuireWoods lawyers handling educational issues, family law, immigration, housing and life planning documents such as wills, medical directives and guardianships. “I’m honored to have served as the McGuireWoods leader of the MLP and to have been given the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of children in Richmond,” Emilie said. “The success of the MLP would not have been possible without the fabulous work of our dozens of dedicated attorney and paralegal volunteers — I share this award with each of them.” McGuireWoods 2021 Pro Bono Report4Named to the prestigious 2021 Pro Bono Hot List by The National Law Journal Named finalist for Chambers’ Outstanding Firm for Pro Bono D&I award Won Chambers’ Veterans Program of the Year D&I award for innovative initiatives to support military veterans Named Law Firm of the Year by Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network for outstanding, compassionate assistance to pro bono clients seeking asylum in U.S. Charlotte partner Mark Kinghorn named finalist for Chambers’ Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year D&I award Norfolk partner Katie Dougherty received Robyn J. Spalter Outstanding Achievement Award from Federal Bar Association Richmond counsel Alexandria Cuff named Benjamin R. Lacy IV Volunteer of the Year by Greater Richmond Bar Foundation Atlanta associate Amy Dehnel named GAIN Volunteer Attorney of the Year for assistance to pro bono clients seeking asylum in U.S. Richmond partner Bob Redmond received Social Justice Pro Bono Award from International Association of Defense Counsel New York counsel Philip Goldstein named to Volunteers of Legal Services’ Dean’s List: VOLS Pro Bono Stars Pro Bono Accolades 52021 Pro Bono Partnerships More than a decade ago, McGuireWoods began cultivating pro bono partnerships with clients across the country. The result? Today, there are more than a dozen pro bono collaborations firmwide. Working together to serve under-resourced people strengthens client relationships and McGuireWoods is committed to such pro bono partnerships. Partnered with Bank of America in Charlotte, Dallas, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles on numerous projects Partnered with Dominion Energy in Richmond for medical-legal partnership with VCU Health Partnered with NorthShore University Health Systems to provide legal services to victims of gender-based violence in Chicago Partnered with Exelon in Baltimore on estate planning clinic Partnered with Wells Fargo in Charlotte and San Francisco on veterans and immigration matters Partnered with PNC in Pittsburgh on nonprofit clinic and immigration matters Partnered with Panasonic in New York on veterans clinic Partnered with TD Bank in New York for an estate planning clinic Partnered with Duke Energy in Charlotte in groundbreaking Charlotte Triage program, Council for Children’s Rights cases and LGBTQ+ clinic Partnered with Capital One in Richmond on domestic violence cases and veterans wills clinics Partnered with US Bank in Charlotte for a driver’s license restoration clinic Partnered with Ally Financial in Charlotte for a driver’s license restoration clinic Partnered with Truist in Richmond and Charlotte on wills clinics and the groundbreaking Charlotte Triage program Partnered with multiple clients, including Capital One, on Richmond Triage program Partnered with multiple clients — including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Duke Energy, Ally and Truist — on Charlotte Triage program McGuireWoods 2021 Pro Bono Report6High-Profile Cases/Projects Victory for Unhoused People Lawyers from McGuireWoods partnered with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Schonbrun Seplow Harris Hoffman & Zeldes, Kirkland & Ellis and the Human Rights Litigation Clinic at UCLA School of Law to win an appellate victory on behalf of unhoused people and community organization Ktown for All. On Sept. 2, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit affirmed a district court order that enjoined Los Angeles from enforcing a municipal ordinance that allowed the city to seize and destroy unhoused people’s belongings, based solely on the size of the item. The appellate court agreed that the ordinance likely violated the Fourth Amendment by allowing the city to seize and destroy unhoused people’s belongings without a warrant or any notice. The enjoined ordinance also allowed individuals who resisted to be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor, which carries a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail. Thanks to the team’s efforts, the plaintiffs’ rights were upheld. Los Angeles partner Tanya Greene was named to the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2022 Leaders of Influence: Minority Attorneys list in part for her pro bono work on this case. Alabama Death Row Appeal One of McGuireWoods’ most important pro bono cases is the firm’s ongoing work on behalf of a death row inmate in Alabama who was convicted of three counts of capital murder at age 20, despite numerous mitigating factors and overwhelming evidence creating reasonable doubt of his guilt. The client was born with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and fetal cocaine syndrome and was placed in foster care within days of being born with cocaine in his system due to his mother’s addictions. A team of 20 timekeepers, several of whom logged more than 100 hours, dedicated almost 1,000 hours to challenge the constitutionality of this wrongful death-row conviction on grounds of insufficient evidence and ineffective assistance of counsel. McGuireWoods is partnering with the Equal Justice Initiative on this matter. McGuireWoods 2021 Pro Bono Report7Charlotte Triage Anniversary The Charlotte Triage pro bono partnership — a collaboration led by McGuireWoods, Bank of America, Duke Energy, Wells Fargo, and Moore & Van Allen to expand pro bono services for low-income Charlotte residents — marked its third anniversary Oct. 21, 2021, with virtual CLE training sessions attended by 185 legal and other professionals. Charlotte Triage supports Legal Aid of North Carolina-Charlotte and the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy by enabling the legal aid organizations to outsource work to private practice lawyers and in- house counsel for matters related to human trafficking, criminal record expunctions, healthcare enrollment, housing eviction defense, driver’s license restorations and access to Social Security benefits. LGBTQ+ Legal Clinic McGuireWoods, the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center, Bank of America, Duke Energy and Brighthouse Financial co-hosted a pro bono legal clinic in June 2021 to benefit low-income LGBTQ+ community members and their supporters. More than 20 volunteers helped eight clients referred by Charlotte nonprofit Dudley’s Place to prepare healthcare powers of attorney and living wills, and they continued to handle more work on a rolling basis. Volunteers met with their clients virtually over several days in mid-June and prepared the documents; some also participated in a June 23 in-person event to execute the documents. Wills for Veterans Clinic Sixty-five volunteers from the Richmond and Washington, D.C., offices of McGuireWoods and Capital One worked with the Greater Richmond Bar Foundation and Virginia Department of Veterans Services from May 20-27, 2021, to assist veterans with estate planning, simple wills, powers of attorney and living wills. The clinic helped 55 Virginia veterans prepare more than 160 life-planning documents. Alliance for Asian American Justice McGuireWoods joined a group of Fortune 1,000 general counsel and more than 70 law firms in the Alliance for Asian American Justice, a national pro bono initiative committed to standing up for victims and preventing future acts of anti-Asian hate. The alliance coordinates and directs pro bono resources to assist victims and support them in pursuing legal remedies. These efforts include providing victims with counsel to bring lawsuits seeking compensatory and other civil damages or working with law enforcement to ensure perpetrators are held accountable. The alliance also identifies additional resources to help victims, including specialized legal services, social services and other community support. McGuireWoods 2021 Pro Bono Report8Financial Institution Pro Bono Day In partnership with clients and pro bono organizations, McGuireWoods participated remotely in four pro bono efforts from Jan. 13-15 as part of the Pro Bono Institute’s 2021 Financial Institution Pro Bono Day. The firm held: • an estate planning CLE and legal clinic with Bank of America on preparation and execution of life-planning documents for low- income clients in New York; • a CLE with Capital One on representing domestic violence survivors obtaining protective orders; • a CLE and virtual intake clinic with Wells Fargo assisting veterans; and • a driver’s license restoration clinic with US Bank in partnership with the NC Pro Bono Resource Center to assist low-income clients who can’t afford to pay traffic fines and fees. Name Change Project Led by counsel Stefan Dann, the firm has worked with the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund’s Name Change Project to help more than 80 transgender and gender nonconforming people secure name changes in Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania — including 40 name change petitions in 2021 alone. “To make the most powerful impact on our communities, we collaborate with clients and legal aid organizations to better serve those in need and transform pro bono legal services.” — CHICAGO PRO BONO PARTNER SARAH ZIELINSKI McGuireWoods 2021 Pro Bono Report9Next >