Our Pro Bono Program

Armstrong Teasdale takes great pride its pro bono program — one of the most proactive nationally. The focus of Armstrong Teasdale’s pro bono is both to genuinely give back to the community and to provide our lawyers and paralegals with the opportunity to do so.

This pro bono commitment is an ingrained component of the firm’s culture. As one of the founding members of the Pro Bono Institute based in Washington, D.C., Armstrong Teasdale has set up and run several large programs beneficial to the indigent and poor, such as the Neighborhood Justice Center (described further below), volunteered immediately when asked to join Lex Mundi’s pro bono project, and has been at the forefront of numerous other pro bono initiatives.

Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation
In regards to the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation, the firm aids in providing legal assistance to “social entrepreneurs” on a pro bono basis. Social entrepreneurs generally need transactional type of legal assistance, such as regulatory assistance, intellectual property work, and tax work, among others. One of the Co-Chairs of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee has already taken initiative with several of these projects. Additionally, a partner within the  firm’s Litigation Department is currently serving as Regional Vice Chair for the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Committee—one of only 12 Chairs/Vice Chairs worldwide.

Numerous Litigation Activities

The firm builds on the strength of its diversity in interests and talents by encouraging lawyers and paralegals to seek out pro bono work that they find meaningful and fulfilling. In the last two years, for example, our litigation attorneys have devoted considerable time and assisted scores of disadvantaged litigants on a pro bono basis in:  criminal proceedings; eviction actions; Americans with Disabilities Act suits; Family Medical Leave Act claims; appeals from adverse social security disability determinations; and representation in a variety of civil rights lawsuits. Of course, because of the openness of our system and the creativity and interests of our lawyers, it is impossible to list all the types of pro bono work we perform.

Protection Of Children

Many of the firm’s lawyers also participate in pro bono activities to protect disadvantaged women and children. In this regard, Armstrong Teasdale lawyers provide pro bono services to parents in juvenile court proceedings.

Legal Advocates for Abused Women
The firm has provided pro bono legal services for many years to Legal Advocates for Abused Women (“LAAW”), a domestic violence organization that provides crisis intervention and support, legal information and advocacy, safety planning, and legal service referrals for primarily low income women and their children who have been battered, stalked or harassed. Armstrong Teasdale lawyers provide free legal advice to clients of LAAW and provide free legal representation at Order of Protection hearings for low income women and children who are victims of abuse.

In 2007 Armstrong Teasdale was selected by LAAW to receive the Legal Champion Award. The award was established in 2006 to recognize members of the legal profession that join LAAW in its efforts to promote social justice and equal access to services for all victims of abuse.

International Child Abduction Case
In a somewhat unique pro bono matter, two lawyers in the International Practice Group undertook the significant representation of a Nicaraguan refugee who lost her daughter in a disturbing international child abduction case. The father brought the child to the United States before the mother could immigrate, divorced the natural mother (our client), remarried, and then had his friends adopt the child – severing the natural mother’s parental rights. After several years and a number of desperate attempts to get to the United States, some of which resulted in jail time in Mexico, our client arrived in the United States and sought legal help to be reunited with her daughter. For numerous reasons many of the “traditional” legal aid organizations could not help the natural mother, so Armstrong Teasdale’s lawyers stepped in. In addition to the heightened legal burden in attempting to reverse an adoption, our client was faced with a mother's nightmare - removing her child from the only stable environment she knew. With our guidance and coaching, our client was able to reach an amicable visitation agreement which allowed her to gradually develop a relationship with her daughter while allowing her daughter to remain in a very nurturing, loving environment.

A Model of Business Services Pro Bono

Notably, Armstrong Teasdale’s Business Services Group (BSG) also has a long history of providing significant pro bono services. For years the BSG has provided pro bono assistance helping new nonprofit organizations become operational. This work involves a sundry of different legal services including the drafting and filing of organizational documents, preparing and filing applications for tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3), and other such services. In past couple of years the BSG has assisted more than twenty-five nonprofit organizations in this manner, including more than five in 2006 alone.

In connection with significant, ongoing pro bono matters, the BSG has been and is continuing to assist a nonprofit organization that is redeveloping a blighted area in the City of St. Louis. This project involves all aspects of redevelopment including the negotiation and review of real estate contracts, the drafting of contracts with service providers, and the preparation of easement documentation.

The firm’s BSG also provides any array of pro bono legal assistance to established nonprofits, including the review of retirement plan documentation for a nonprofit implementing a new retirement program, assisting a nonprofit in the termination of its defined benefit pension plan and investigating irregularities in the dissolution and distribution of assets of a nonprofit organization.

Recently the firm announced that it has partnered with City of St. Louis Circuit Attorney, Jennifer M. Joyce, to develop an innovative program designed to support the community and give young lawyers hands-on trial experience. The firm views this as an extraordinary opportunity for young associates to broaden their trial skills, while the firm strengthens its community involvement and existing pro bono initiatives.

Other examples of the BSG’s pro bono commitment include general corporate representation of a day care center focusing on children with special needs and of an organization providing job skills to disadvantaged women. But perhaps the best indicator of the BSG’s pro bono commitment is the fact that, while many law firms – especially large firms – find it difficult to energize their business lawyers to do pro bono work, Armstrong Teasdale BSG has contributed about half of the firm’s total pro bono hours for several years running.

No Limits on Pro Bono

Armstrong Teasdale also provides a range of pro bono legal services that cross the litigation/business services divide. For instance, recently an Armstrong Teasdale lawyer participated in the “Ask A Lawyer” program sponsored by the Clark County Bar Association. In addition, Armstrong Teasdale played a leading role in spearheading the creation of the Neighborhood Justice Center (“NJC”), located in the administrative office of a Catholic church in Kansas City, Missouri. For several years, the NJC has provided an array of pro bono legal services to hundreds of inner-city people who cannot be helped for any number of reasons. The NJC offers services to indigent, inner city clients including:  the drafting of living wills; preparing healthcare directives and powers of attorney; assisting in real estate transactions; handling of predatory lending matters; and resolving consumer fraud matters.

Armstrong Teasdale's lawyers have a genuine commitment in giving back to the community as a whole, are interested in all forms of pro bono – litigation and corporate – and the firm supports them 100 percent. We would welcome the opportunity to collaborate on new pro bono projects with clients to further promote and expand our current pro bono program.

For further information, feel free to contact either of the Co-Chairs of our Pro Bono Committee, Patrick J. Kenny (e-mail: pkenny@armstrongteasdale.com) and Scott Hunt (e-mail: shunt@armstrongteasdale.com), at Armstrong Teasdale LLP, One Metropolitan Square, Suite 2600, St. Louis, Missouri 63102, (314) 621-5070, (314) 621-5065 (facsimile).