Since Heller Ehrman's founding in 1890, the firm has been committed to providing legal services to the disadvantaged and to the communities in which we practice. The leaders of the firm have always stressed that lawyers owe to the community an active "giving back" of their skills in causes of their own choosing. Heller Ehrman expects every attorney to contribute to his community in some material way, whether through community service, through pro bono work or through work with bar associations or other professional organizations. An essential part of this commitment is the firm's long-standing emphasis on pro bono legal services.

Heller Ehrman is a Charter Signatory to the American Bar Association's (ABA) Pro Bono Challenge, which calls on leaders of the nation's top 500 law firms to adopt goals for pro bono hours equivalent to five percent of the firm's total billable hours. In 2007, our attorneys, summer associates, legal assistants and staff collectively devoted approximately 78,000 hours to pro bono clients and engagements. In 2006, the firm was ranked No.11 in the nation for pro bono legal services by The American Lawyer.

In 1989, Heller Ehrman established the Richard E. Guggenhime Pro Bono Award to honor the memory of the firm's senior partner from 1959 to 1973. Dick Guggenhime's career exemplified the firm's commitment to excellence in the practice of law and community service. Each year the firm makes a donation to a law-related cause designated by each of the Guggenhime Award winners. These special grants have included gifts to the NAACP, ACLU, MALDEF, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, East Palo Alto Community Law Project, Bet Tzedek, the San Francisco Legal Aid Society and the Volunteer Lawyer Program of San Diego.

For further information about our pro bono and community service work, please contact Kit Pierson, Community Service Committee Chair.