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Gates Foundation Awards Pro Bono Net $1 Million Grant
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded Pro Bono Net a grant of $1 million over three years to help fund two business initiatives designed to provide support for the innovative access-to-justice programs that Pro Bono Net operates in collaboration with a national network of legal aid providers. These new ventures, which include a web-based pro bono management service for large law firms and a corporate sponsorship program targeting legal technology vendors, will be integrated with and support the core nonprofit mission of Pro Bono Net.
“The revenue generated from these initiatives will allow Pro Bono Net to provide critical services to a broad and powerful network of nonprofit legal organizations, courts and bar associations across the country,” said Mark O’Brien, the Executive Director and co-founder of Pro Bono Net.
The Gates Foundation grant, combined with an earlier grant from the Booth Ferris Foundation, will provide start-up capital over the next three years to develop a new set of customized web services that large law firms can use to manage their internal pro bono programs, and make it even easier for their lawyers to do pro bono work.
The grant will also support a new corporate sponsorship program, launched earlier this year, aimed at legal technology vendors. The first group of founding corporate sponsors includes CaseCentral, Inc. and nMatrix, Inc., two of the market leaders in litigation management solutions; Ibis Consulting, Inc., a leading electronic discovery firm; Interwoven, a leading provider of enterprise content management solutions for businesses; and ALM, a leading integrated media company serving legal, real estate, financial and business professionals. “By joining Pro Bono Net’s sponsorship program, these companies have demonstrated that they understand the importance of the pro bono work undertaken by private law firms, and are committed to support access to justice for all Americans,” observed O’Brien.
“We are thrilled that the Gates Foundation has recognized the value and importance of the vital services that Pro Bono Net provides,” added Michael Mills, the Vice Chair of Pro Bono Net and the Chief Information Officer of Davis Polk & Wardwell. “In the coming years, our programs have the potential to dramatically increase the levels of pro bono work performed on behalf of poor people in need, and to transform the way that public interest law is organized and practiced.”
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