Pro Bono

Many of our nation’s 18 million veterans experience significant day-to-day challenges related to their time in the military. Through our pro bono legal counsel and the firm’s community services, including a holiday gift drive for veterans, we assist many nonprofit and advocacy organizations working to improve veterans’ lives.

Mintz helped organize, and several firm attorneys made presentations at, webinars on business and legal issues co-hosted by the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program and the Central San Diego Black Chamber of Commerce, a pro bono project that arose from the firm’s San Diego Addressing Racial Inequality Group.

Read the story of a transgender woman who fled her village in Mexico, was then kidnapped, drugged, and forced into sex work in San Diego. Years later, a client helped her jump out a window to freedom and a better life. Partnering with Casa Cornelia, a public interest law center, Special Counsel Melissa Brayman provided pro bono legal services to help the woman secure a T1 visa — an immigration option for victims of human trafficking — and work authorization to get a job.

Member Matt Simpson has worked to end Sudan's brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against tribes in the country’s Darfur region by facilitating peace negotiations between the stakeholders and laying the foundation for an effective peace agreement. After working closely with Darfuris whose communities have experienced some of this century’s worst atrocities, Matt hopes the people of Sudan can achieve a lasting peace.

Mintz attorneys Adam Korn, Clare Prober, Jason Far-hadian, Meena Seralathan, Arameh O’Boyle, and Nada Shamonki provided pro bono legal services to help immigrants affected by the “return to Mexico” policy introduced by the Trump administration.

Associates Kianna Phillips and Sofia Nuño recently spoke with firm client Nikki Bell to talk about her experience with prostitution and trafficking and the legislation that Mintz drafted. 

Mintz initiated many pro bono projects to combat systemic racism after the murder of George Floyd, including organizing Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information sealing clinics with the Lawyers Clearinghouse and conducting research for a Boston-based nonprofit into how housing authorities around the country evaluate applicants with open criminal charges.

Mintz’s pro bono work for The Food Project, a nonprofit focused on youth development and reducing food insecurity, has included advising the organization on governance, real estate, employment, privacy, and litigation matters.

In a multistage pro bono engagement, Mintz represented a young man who fled gang violence in Ecuador in detention hearings after he entered the United States, then helped him obtain state court findings supporting a petition to USCIS for permission to remain in the country in the custody of an aunt.

Mintz attorneys represented advocacy groups that intervened in federal litigation to support a temporary selection process for Boston’s exam schools for the 2021–2022 school year. A federal district court judge held the plan to be race-neutral, and Special Counsel Andy Nathanson helped counter the plaintiff’s motion to stop the plan’s implementation during the appeal process. Following revelations of new evidence, the district court judge reaffirmed his ruling.

More than 80 Mintz attorneys and staff volunteered through firm-approved nonpartisan opportunities, and many others volunteered independently on partisan efforts. Mintz’s drive to protect and get out the vote served as a reminder that in a democracy, it is within our power to effectuate the change we want to see.

Christine Hughes speaks with Susan Finegan, Partner at Mintz on in-house counsel and pro bono work.