Each year, Jones Day publishes a Pro Bono Report. Please click the link to read our 2007 edition.

Jones Day has one of the most diverse pro bono practices in the country. While the nature of the work may vary from city to city, our commitment to providing legal services for those in need is unwavering. We at Jones Day are proud of our many pro bono accomplishments and look forward to continuing our century-long commitment to public service through our Firm’s pro bono program.

In recent years, Jones Day lawyers have represented pro bono clients in numerous cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, the federal and state appellate courts, and a wide range of state and federal trial courts. Other Jones Day lawyers represent individuals who are seeking political asylum before United States' Citizenship and Immigration Services. Still others provide a variety of services for the indigent and homeless of our communities. Finally, corporate and transactional attorneys routinely assist charitable organizations with articles of incorporation, real estate purchases, contract negotiations, and employment disputes.

The Firm has formed working partnerships with a variety of community groups and actively encourages all our lawyers to explore and develop relationships with organizations that can benefit from our legal experience. Among the groups with which we have a long-standing pro bono relationship are the Cleveland Foodbank, founded by a Jones Day partner; Public Counsel, the nation’s largest pro bono public interest law firm; Habitat for Humanity; Project Teen Aid Family Services; Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children, a program that protects abused and neglected children; the Appleseed Foundation; and the D.C. Bar, which runs several clinics in which Jones Day participates.

Jones Day has been recognized on numerous occasions for our outstanding pro bono work. Here are some recent examples.

For the pro bono representation of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, eleven Jones Day lawyers were among the recipients of the Frederick Douglass Human Rights Award, presented by the Southern Center for Human Rights at its annual award dinner in Washington, D.C. in November 2007. For this same effort on behalf of detainess at Guantánamo Bay, Jones Day was granted the "Beacon of Justice Award" in June 2007 by the National Legal Aid & Defender Association. Since 2004, Jones Day has filed seven amicus briefs in support of the Guantánamo detainees and other domestic enemy-combatant detainees. The briefs, which urged recognition of the detainees’ rights to due process under U.S. and international law, represented clients that included former American prisoners of war; former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno; Human Rights First; and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Jones Day received the "2007 Merit Award for Community Empowerment" from the Comunidades Unidas Salvadoreñas for providing substantial assistance and counsel to the organization as it registered as a nonprofit organization, which will allow it to increase its funding base and provide humanitarian aid to El Salvador and Salvadorans in the D.C. area.

Similarly, Jones Day was recently recognized by the Alaska Legal Services Corporation for the pro bono representation of the Native Village of Curyung and other Alaskan tribes in a case involving the State of Alaska’s treatment of Native American children in its foster-care system. On behalf of our clients, Jones Day argued that Alaska’s Office of Children’s Services violates federal laws relating to foster care, including the Indian Child Welfare Act and the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act. The state filed two separate motions to dismiss the case, but in December 2006 the Alaska Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the case could proceed to trial.

In September 2006, Jones Day was named "Pro Bono Champion of the Year" by Appleseed, one of the nation's largest pro bono networks, for our longtime commitment to pro bono service. Attorneys in many Jones Day offices have worked with Appleseed on numerous initiatives, including the completion of a comprehensive study of the services provided to victims of Hurricane Katrina by the City of Houston; a collaborative project in which a team of attorneys evaluated more than 35 teacher and principal collective bargaining agreements nationwide; and a project that examined the use of public-private partnerships as a method of renovating existing public school facilities and constructing new ones.

Several Jones Day offices have been recognized for pro bono service in their communities. For example, the Atlanta Office of Jones Day was awarded the William B. Spann, Jr. Award for creation of the Jones Day Special Education Advocacy Project, an organization that handles special-education cases on behalf of low-income families with disabled children. The award is given annually to a "local bar association or community organization in Georgia which has developed a pro bono program that has satisfied previously unmet needs or extended services to the underserved segments of the population." As part of the project, attorneys from all of the Firm’s practice areas represent underserved families to ensure that their children receive the "free and appropriate public education" to which each child is entitled under federal law. The Washington Office of Jones Day was recognized by the Thurgood Marshall Academy for its annual "Jones Day of Service," when summer associates, lawyers, and staff painted handrails and ledges, cleaned the loading-dock area, organized storage closets, changed student locker combinations, and planted flowers. Finally, the Los Angeles Office of Jones Day has received numerous awards for its pro bono activities, including the Law Firm Associates Award, given to Jones Day by the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles in recognition of the Firm’s efforts to close down sham legal clinics in the Los Angeles area, and "Firm of the Year" honors from the Constitutional Rights Foundation for participation in various volunteer activities.