Global law firm White & Case LLP announced a new Global Pro Bono Practice to manage and grow the Firm’s pro bono work worldwide.  Leading the new practice is prominent European law litigator Ian Forrester, a Brussels-based partner in the Firm’s Global Antitrust Practice who represents multinationals, industry associations, sovereign states and other governmental authorities on antitrust and regulatory matters before European national courts, the European Court of First Instance and the Court of Justice of the European Union.

“Establishing a Global Pro Bono Practice allows us to better manage our global pro bono activity and improve the support we give to our lawyers engaged in pro bono activity,” said White & Case Chairman Hugh Verrier.  “It also builds on the Firm’s long tradition of active pro bono service.”

The Global Pro Bono Practice will focus on developing opportunities in three broad areas:

1. Providing access to justice and protection of human rights – handling a wide range of matters for individuals or groups unable to afford competent legal representation, particularly in cases where human rights are at stake. 

2. Promoting good governance and the rule of law – advising governmental bodies in emerging democracies on international standards and best practices and counseling on the development of emerging judicial systems. 

3. Supporting organizations with a social or environmental vocation – helping those who help others by supporting the work of charities and non-governmental organizations around the world on such topics as cross-border socially responsible investments, intellectual property and a range of other non-litigious matters. 

“Pro bono service is a core value of White & Case, a brand-defining asset,” said Ian Forrester.  “I look forward to working with my colleagues to help ensure our cross-border pro bono services and on-the-ground resources make a difference in the lives of individuals and in the broader global community.”

White & Case’s commitment to pro bono service is rooted in the Firm’s earliest years and exemplified by its founders and former Firm leaders.  J. DuPratt White provided pro bono legal advice and leadership for almost 40 years to the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, which was created in 1900 by the governors of New York and New Jersey to prevent the defacement of the famous Palisades along the Hudson River by a handful of large stone quarries then in operation.   During World War I, George Case served on the Red Cross War council and later helped transform a group of national Red Cross societies into a multilateral institution.  Beginning in the 1930s, Orison Marsden, who later served as chairman of the Firm’s Management Committee, devoted four decades to working with The Legal Aid Society of New York, including five years as board chairman, and also helped found the International Bar Association’s International Legal Aid Organization.  More recently, former White & Case Chairman James Hurlock helped shape the International Law Development Organization as board chairman from 2001 to 2004 and has served New York Presbyterian Hospital and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in leadership roles for many years.

In 2009, White & Case invested more than 80,000 hours in pro bono matters worldwide, the equivalent of US$40 million in work value.  The Firm also recently announced the recipients of its 10th Annual Pro Bono Awards honoring 12 individual White & Case lawyers and 12 client teams from nine offices in seven countries.  For more information about White & Case’s pro bono work and clients, please visit the Firm at http://www.whitecase.com/about/probono/.