b'ADDITIONAL PRO BONO HIGHLIGHTS (continued)At a free clinic held every Wednesday, trained volunteer attorneysZAHN INNOVATION are available for on-the-spot consultations with qualifying litigants,PLATFORM (ZIP) whose cases involve a broad range of civil matters. During theseLAUNCHPAD AT SAN DIEGO consultations, the attorneys answer questions and offer guidanceSTATE UNIVERSITY The enthusiasm on next steps. They may help litigants decide whether it makes sense to appeal a decision, provide guidance on appellate issuesTheZahnInnovationPlatformthe attorneys and procedures, and review appellate briefs or other filings. In(ZIP)LaunchpadatSanDiegoStatebring to their addition,volunteerattorneysinameritsreviewpanelassessUniversity offers students, faculty, and whether the clinic cases should be referred to participating lawstaff free resources to help start newinteractions, firms for individual appellate representation.ventures.Receivingcriticalservicesand the The program has steadily built momentum, and many of the topfor free reduces participants financialknowledge they law firms in Boston, along with legal services organizations fromrisk, including the cost of the learning across the state, have stepped forward to provide support. Sincecurve.Forentrepreneurswhoseshare, is very its inception in May 2015, the civil appeals pro bono programventuresprovidesocialbenefitsbutempowering. has provided 18 litigants with full representation and served 638little or no profitand are thereforeFor students, individuals with the help of 28 different law firms and in-houselessattractivetoinvestorsreducing legal departments. In collaboration with the Volunteer Lawyersstart-upcostscanmakeallthethe experience Projectandattorneysfromotherfirms,MintzattorneyBriandifference.ThefocusofMintzsprois life-changing Dunphy and Pro Bono Committee Chair Sue Finegan administerbono efforts is on these nonprofit or the program along with project analysts Mattie Haag and Sanjaysocial venture organizations. in terms of how Dureseti,aswellasformerprojectanalystMorganSandhu.Throughaprobonoeffortledbytheyll interact NumerousMintzattorneysandsummerassociateshavealsoattorneyAndrewSkale,volunteerwith legal contributed as volunteer attorneys. Mintzattorneysprovidelegaladvice tosomeoftheprogramssocialprofessionals in VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROJECT: CHAPTER 7entrepreneurs.TheMintzteamhasthe future.INITIATIVE includedattorneysMoniqueMacek, PaulBrockland,andJustinLeisey.CATHY PUCHER TheVolunteerLawyersProjectoftheBostonBarAssociationOnce a month, the Mintz team holdsExecutive DirectorprovideslegalrepresentationincivilmatterstounderservedofficehoursatZIPLaunchpadandZIP LaunchpadBostonresidentsthroughtheprobonoservicesofprivatemeets with participants in scheduled, attorneys and paralegals. half-hourtimeslots,consultingwithstudentsonconcerns The Chapter 7 Initiative is a program that provides direct legalincludingentityformation,financing,intellectualproperty, representationtolow-incomeindividualsseekingdebtreliefand other organizational challenges. For example, Andrew and byfilingforbankruptcy.Throughtheyears,Mintzattorneys,otherMintzattorneyshelpedastudentformulateastrongIP summer associates, and paralegals have represented dozens ofstrategytoprotecthisnewbrandandpatentapplication.The such clients, and this year was no exception.students new company, Truely Inc., makes innovative, EDC-free biopolymer plastic replacement products out of bio-based plant Attorney Adrienne Walker manages the Chapter 7 Initiative teammaterial to help save the environment by reducing reliance on at Mintz. Other team members who participated in 2018 includetraditional plastics.attorneysCharlesAzano,WilliamKannel,TimothyMcKeon, Kati Pajak, Kevin Walsh, and Aaron Williams, along with legal specialist Jacquelyn Cannata.44 2019'