Community Service and Pro Bono Commitment

Bradley Arant’s commitment to civic, charitable and community service is of vital importance to our firm and its attorneys and staff. We are the only Alabama based law firm that is a member of the Law Firm Pro Bono Project, sponsored by the American Bar Association and the Pro Bono Institute. Our membership in this organization includes a commitment that we will devote at least 3% of our billable working hours to pro bono service. In addition, our partner Jim Rotch conceived and authored The Birmingham Pledge, a statement to eliminate racial prejudice that has been signed by more than 125,000 people world-wide and has been endorsed by the United States Congress. Bradley Arant is actively engaged in the work of the Birmingham Pledge and the Civil Rights Institute. T

The Mississippi Bar Association recently recognized our partner Amanda K. Jones with the 2006 Distinguished Service Award for her outstanding leadership and accomplishments on behalf of the Young Lawyers Division Katrina Disaster Legal Assistance efforts. In 2006 the Mississippi Bar Association recognized our Jackson office with its Access to Justice Award. This was the first time the award was given to a law firm rather than an individual lawyer. The award recognizes a lawyer who has made significant contributions to securing access to the legal system for persons who need it,

Bradley Arant Pro Bono Service Commitment

Bradley Arant's pro bono service includes representation of indigent individuals and non-profit organizations, and involvement in matters of broad public concern. The firm's pro bono activities are overseen by our Pro Bono Committee that is charged with promoting participation in pro bono activities, coordinating those activities, and approving pro bono representations. Examples of the firm's current or recent pro bono matters include:

• Current representation of twelve death row inmates in their post-conviction death penalty proceedings in state and federal court.
• Appointments by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to represent inmates in federal habeas corpus or Section 1983 matters involving prison conditions.
• Civil representation of numerous indigent individuals referred through the Volunteer Lawyers Program of the Alabama State Bar, the Birmingham Bar Association, the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Network, and Catholic Charities.
• Representation of numerous start-up charitable non-profits, assisting them in organizing and beginning their missions.
• Providing various legal services to the Birmingham Habitat for Humanity, the YWCA, the Birmingham Museum of Art, John Croyle's Big Oak Ranch, and other similar institutions and charities.
• Representation of numerous indigent individuals referred to individual firm lawyers for matters where no other legal representation would be available.
• Assisting the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice in its mission of improving quality of life for the indigent.
• Represented inmate beaten by prison guards, Luther v. Cedric.
  
• Representation of advocacy group, Children’s Rights, Inc., for indigent children.
• Representation of a proposed class of abused or neglected children in Mississippi Department of Human Services (“DHS”) custody.

Bradley Arant Community Service Commitment

Bradley Arant, both as a firm and through our individual lawyers, has a long and distinguished history of involvement in, and strong commitment to, the communities where our lawyers live and practice. Our lawyers actively participate in numerous community, civic, and charitable endeavors. In addition to the Birmingham Pledge and numerous attorneys serving on various boards or other volunteer positions for charitable and civic organizations, Bradley Arant as a firm is committed to the following:

Since 1986, Bradley Arant has participated in the Birmingham Board of Education's Partners in Education program. This program is a partnership between Birmingham public schools and area businesses. The firm has had an adopted school since the beginning of this program. Many of our lawyers and staff volunteer to serve as tutors for individual students. Other areas of the firm's involvement with the schools include donating and purchasing materials and equipment, providing free copy service for teachers at the school, providing readers for Reading Day programs, providing speakers for Geography Day programs, participating in Awards Day programs, and assisting in the publication of the school newspaper.

For over ten years, lawyers at Bradley Arant have volunteered at the Old Firehouse Shelter. The Old Firehouse Shelter serves whatever needs the homeless may have. The firm participates in many of the shelter’s programs, including the lawyers’ twice a month personally providing and cooking evening meals for the homeless individuals served by the shelter.

The firm recently partnered with YouthServe, Inc. (formerly known as Birmingham Youth Service Corp or BYSC) to support its important community services.  YouthServe is a non-profit corporation that offers a broad range of community-building services including urban service camps (designed to bring together teenagers from different communities in the downtown Birmingham) and other periodic special events. The firm provides mentors, speakers, workers and organizational support.

Attorneys and staff volunteer in many roles with Stewpot Community Services, including serving lunch once a month and sponsoring an annual event, Trustmark's Red Beans & Rice Celebration, a red beans and rice cooking contest. Stewpot is a Jackson, Mississippi, charity that helps meet community needs by operating a community kitchen, a variety of shelters and personal care homes, a clothing closet and more.

Attorneys also volunteer in weekly after-school tutoring programs at the Boys and Girls Club of Jackson and the Neighborhood Christian Center and teach ACT prep workshops offered to college-bound high school students and adults through the Junior League of Jackson. 

The Children’s Hospital “Festival of Trees,” the United Way, Ronald McDonald House, and Jessie’s Place are among other numerous civic and charitable endeavors supported by the firm. Each year, our attorneys and staff participate in walks and runs in support of breast cancer and diabetes research, the American Heart Association’s “Jail Bail,” “Bowling for Kid’s Sakes” (sponsored by Big Brothers/Big Sisters), as mentors in Junior Achievement, and in numerous other civic and charitable endeavors.

Douglas Arant Public Interest Fellowship

Named for one of the firm's early partners who maintained a strong commitment to pro bono service throughout his life, the Douglas Arant Public Interest Fellowship offers a law student who works in the Bradley Arant summer program the opportunity to split their summer working with a public service organization in Alabama. The summer associate who applies for and is selected to receive the Fellowship, works a minimum of six weeks in one of the firm's offices, and a minimum of four weeks for a public service organization chosen by the summer associate and approved by the firm's Pro Bono Committee. The number of fellowships granted each year is limited and priority is given to second year law students. The summer associate is compensated by the firm while working for the public service organization just as if he or she is working in one of the firm's offices. Some of the worthy organizations that have been approved as partners in our Fellowship program include the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama (death penalty representation), and Legal Services of Metro Birmingham, Inc.