Armstrong Teasdale Ranks on American Lawyer’s Pro Bono Scorecard

As one of the founding members of the Washington D.C.-based Pro Bono Institute, Armstrong Teasdale has demonstrated a long-term commitment to help those in need. The firm recently ranked among the among the nation’s largest law firms in The American Lawyer’s 2019 Pro Bono Scorecard. The magazine released the scorecard (subscription required) in June and calculated the rankings on the average number of pro bono hours per lawyer in 2018 and the percentage of lawyers who performed more than 20 hours of pro bono work. Armstrong Teasdale ranked 114.

The American Lawyer defines pro bono work as legal services donated to organizations or individuals and excludes work done by paralegals or summer associates, time spent on bar association work, and nonlegal work for charities or nonprofits.

Some of the firm’s largest pro bono matters in 2018 included the following:

• Attorneys Patrick Kenny and Lauren Navarro are representing a prisoner who had been denied surgery for a broken jaw for a period of years. The prisoner was eventually released with a still-unhealed jaw. The prison defendants justified their delay in treating the broken jaw on the grounds of the prisoner’s otherwise poor health, noting that for long periods of time, he could not get medical clearance for the type of anesthesia required for the jaw surgery. However, there were at least two occasions on which he was cleared for surgery and, on one of those occasions, received other surgical treatment – but the prison did not address his broken jaw. Armstrong Teasdale has represented the prisoner over four years, involving five different attorneys, in an effort to establish deliberate indifference to the prisoner’s serious medical needs.
• Attorneys Daniel Wofsey and David Loseman counsel Non-Profit Real Estate Advisors (NPREA), a group that provides pro-bono real estate consulting services to small and medium size nonprofits. It has counseled nonprofits for leasing, selling and constructing property in the St. Louis metropolitan area. During 2018, NPREA provided services to a variety of nonprofits including Youthbridge Foundation, Developmental Disability Resources, Doorways, Emmaus Homes and Annie’s Hope.
• Attorneys including Intellectual Property Partner Courtney Jackson handle legal work for Ten by Three, formerly known as the Blessing Basket Project. The nonprofit focuses on reducing poverty in Third World countries by helping artisans become entrepreneurs, earn sufficient income through the making of artisan goods, and build their businesses to sustainability. Upon “graduation,” the artisans exit the program having ended the cycle of poverty for themselves and their families. Armstrong Teasdale’s work for the organization includes managing the nonprofit’s entire trademark portfolio and filing new applications and/or maintenance documents on its behalf.