Pro Bono Net, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing
access to justice through the innovative use of technology, today
announced that Manatt, Phelps & Phillips has become the fourth customer
for Pro Bono ManagerTM, its pro bono management
solution for law firms. Manatt joins Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Orrick,
Herrington & Sutcliffe and Debevoise & Plimpton in purchasing
Pro Bono Manager.
Pro Bono Manager is a web-based application that enables law firms to
more efficiently manage and promote their pro bono work. With law firms
of all sizes increasingly emphasizing pro bono work, Pro Bono Manager
helps firms meet the challenge of managing a robust pro bono program,
allowing them to maximize their public service impact on the community.
“We view pro bono as an integral part of our
practice,” said Cristin Zeisler, Director of
Pro Bono Activities at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, who manages the pro
bono activities of the firm’s 450 attorneys
across eight offices. “We give pro bono
matters the same attention, staffing, resources as our commercial
matters, which was a major consideration in our decision to use Pro Bono
Manager to help manage our pro bono program.”
Pro Bono Manager’s customized, web-based tools
enable pro bono coordinators to more efficiently handle the firm’s
pro bono caseload, raise the internal profile of the firm’s
pro bono program, increase volunteer participation among attorneys and
the quality of support and oversight provided to them and automate the
creation of reports. The service integrates data from time and billing
and personnel systems with content for a firm’s
attorneys. One of its benefits is that it leverages Pro Bono Net’s
nationwide network of public interest legal groups to provide an
unmatched source of practice materials, volunteer opportunities,
training events and news.
The service is built on Microsoft’s
SharePoint 2007 and SQL Reporting Services, and was developed in
partnership with XMLaw, the leading provider of SharePoint intranet,
extranet and search products enabling law firms to effectively use all
their internal and external knowledge sources.
“Pro Bono Manager gives pro bono counsel the
tools to more effectively build a high-quality program,”
said Mark O’Brien, Executive Director of Pro
Bono Net.
Pro Bono Manager was developed by Pro Bono Net, a national nonprofit
dedicated to increasing access to justice through innovative uses of
technology and increased volunteer lawyer participation. Development of
the product was funded in large part by a grant from the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, which declared Pro Bono Net “a
model for other nonprofits that are looking to create innovative,
technology-based delivery systems that are sustainable over the long
term.”
About Pro Bono Net
Pro Bono Net is a national nonprofit that works in close partnership
with nonprofit legal organizations across the country to increase access
to justice for poor and moderate-income people and other vulnerable
populations. It does so through (i) supporting the innovative and
effective use of technology by the nonprofit legal sector, (ii)
increasing participation by volunteers, and (iii) facilitating
collaborations among nonprofit legal organizations and advocates working
on similar issues or in the same region. Founded in 1998 with support
from the Open Society Institute, Pro Bono Net has created a broad and
powerful network of nonprofit legal organizations, courts and bar
associations across the United States. This network uses two innovative
web-based platforms—www.probono.net
and www.lawhelp.org—to
recruit and manage volunteers and provide direct information and tools
for low-income communities and the organizations that serve them. For
more information, please visit www.probono.net.
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