In 2006, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe's Pro Bono Coordinator, Rene Kathawala, contacted the Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project (NELP) at the City Bar Justice Center. Mr. Kathawala was interested in a legal project that would encourage the firm's transactional attorneys to do more pro bono work. Through NELP, attorneys from Orrick's New York and California offices have been busy working with microentrepreneurs and providing pro bono counsel on intellectual property issues. Since NELP's partnership with Orrick began, about 20 cases have been placed with attorneys, and Orrick has organized and participated in two community-based presentations to microentrepreneurs.

In May 2006, Veronica Mullally a partner in Orrick's Intellectual Property Division gave a presentation on intellectual property issues at the offices of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and Brooklyn Business Solutions Center. The presentation was a great success with the room filled to capacity with budding business owners who learned about their intellectual property rights and how to protect them.

Through NELP, Orrick has also teamed up with the Assistant General Counsel of Time Warner, Erin Hennessy, and Bradley Silver also of Time Warner's legal department to give a similar presentation at the New York City Bar. These presentations led to a greater need for pro bono legal assistance in the area of intellectual property issues and Orrick stepped up to provide those services.

Akira Arroyo, Director of the Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project, said, "Orrick asked what type of legal assistance our business clients needed and then stepped up to provide it. Our relationship with Orrick has provided our clients with a wonderful resource for their intellectual property needs. The firm is always responsive and seeking new pro bono opportunities. Orrick and Rene, in particular have been a real pleasure to work with."

As Mr. Kathawala states, "The Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project offers our transactional attorneys, including intellectual property and corporate lawyers, fantastic opportunities to utilize the expertise they have developed to help low-income business owners making an impact in the City. The clients referred by NELP are well-screened, are ready to be helped by our attorneys, and have great business ideas which make them easy pro bono clients for me to place here at Orrick. NELP is an extremely impressive program and fills a big void for many of our lawyers who otherwise would not have any readily identifiable pro bono projects in their practice area. This is just one example of the many great pro bono programs offered by the City Bar Justice Center."