HSPRD Honors Pro Bono Week

This week was Pro Bono Week, sponsored by the Chicago Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Foundation. Pro Bono Week honors lawyers’ pro bono efforts and seeks to educate the public and the legal community about how lawyers are improving the lives of the less fortunate.HSPRD is proud to be a part of Chicago’s pro bono community. Our attorneys dedicate their pro bono time in a variety of areas, from asylum and refugee cases, to human rights and criminal justice matters, to representing local and national advocacy organizations in advocacy projects and amicus filings. Last year, the firm’s attorneys provided over 2,200 pro bono hours in furtherance of its commitment to public service, a notable figure for a firm of our size. Recent pro bono projects include:

• Working with the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and the Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless in representing Chicago homeless residents who had their personal property taken and destroyed by the City during street cleanings, and negotiating a settlement on their behalf;
• Representing an individual in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals who faces a high likelihood of torture if removed to his native country based on his sexual orientation, and filing an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of another individual facing torture on the same grounds;
• Petitioning the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights to halt expedited deportation procedures for children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras fleeing gang recruitment and extreme violence in their home countries.

We look forward to continuing our commitment to pro bono work, this week and beyond.