Pro Bono Program

Miller & Chevalier has a strong tradition of pro bono representation, and has always recognized that each of its attorneys has a professional obligation to provide pro bono legal work.   We were one of the first law firms to sign on to the ABA’s Pro Bono Challenge, and for the last three years, we have met our goal of devoting 3% of our billable hours to pro bono work. 

Each year, we open several dozen new pro bono matters in a diverse array of areas.   The lawyers who take on these matters bring the same degree of professionalism to their pro bono work as they bring to their other cases.  Equally importantly, the firm provides the same degree of overhead support, in terms of staff time and resources, to pro bono cases as is provided to commercial cases. 

The work that we have performed has been exceptional, and the Firm and its attorneys have received numerous awards.   In recent years: 

• One of our lawyers was recently honored as the D.C. Bar’s Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year.
• Two of our lawyers were honored by the Employment Justice Center for their work in challenging the constitutionality of D.C.’s disability compensation program.
  The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs honored the firm with an Outstanding Achievement Award for its work on an employment discrimination case.   At trial, a jury found race discrimination, retaliation and a hostile work environment, and awarded $2.4 million in backpay, compensatory and punitive damages – one of the largest awards ever in a case of this kind.
• The American Bar Association recently awarded Homer Moyer its highest pro bono award for his long-standing work with CEELI, the Central and East European Law Institute.

The types of pro bono projects in which our lawyers have participated range from appellate amicus briefs in U.S. Supreme Court cases to counseling landlord-tenant disputes.  Some of the types of pro bono representation we have recently provided are:

• Our attorneys represent newcomers to our nation in seeking to secure political asylum; 
• Our lawyers work on several family law matters in D.C. and Virginia, assisting in difficult child custody determinations;
• We provide critically needed tax advice to a large circle of nonprofit corporations, which enables them to better do the good works for which they were formed;
• We recently obtained a favorable settlement for a client who was fired from her security guard position at the U.S. Library of Congress for complaining about the gender-based discrimination she faced there;
• Our attorneys serve as court-appointed guardians for children who are adjudicated to be neglected or abused with the D.C. Superior Court’s system; and
  Our lawyers receive appointments from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to serve as amicus curie on matters in which a pro se appellant appears to have a meritorious claim on appeal.

We are also proud that the majority of our lawyers personally take part in the provision of pro bono legal representation.   Almost all of our associates participate in pro bono work in the course of a year, and over half of our members.  Rather than hire a few lawyers to devote themselves full-time to pro bono work, and thereby meet the ABA Challenge’s goal for the firm, we have made the decision to encourage all of our lawyers to engage in pro bono work regularly and to incorporate these matters into their professional development.

Our pro bono work reflects, in a significant sense, how we interact with the larger community, especially those members of the community who lack ready access to our system of justice.  Along with our commitment to providing free legal representation, we encourage all of our employees, lawyers as well as staff, to support our community by forming a team to build low-income housing for Habitat for Humanity, to play softball in a benefit tournament for local legal services providers, and to participate enthusiastically in several charitable endeavors throughout the year.