For Immediate Release
Contacts: Adam Licht, Director of Product Management, Pro Bono Net
Phone: (212) 760-2554 x486 E-mail: alicht@probono.net
LINKLATERS CHOOSES PRO BONO MANAGERTM
Premier global law firm to purchase Pro Bono Net's customized pro bono management application
NEW YORK (July 31, 2008) – Pro Bono Net, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing access to justice through the innovative use of technology, today announced that Linklaters has become the sixth customer for Pro Bono ManagerTM, its pro bono management solution for law firms. Linklaters, which will use Pro Bono Manager in its U.S. office, joins Manatt, Phelps & Phillips; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; Ropes & Gray; and Debevoise & Plimpton in purchasing this innovative product.
Pro Bono Manager is a customized, hosted web application that increases law firms’ pro bono program management capacity. 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.
"The purchase of Pro Bono Manager to assist us in managing our pro bono program is representative of our ongoing commitment to pro bono,” said Lance Croffoot-Suede, a Community Investment Partner at Linklaters. “As our office grows, the demand for greater efficiency in operating the program continues to grow.”
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 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 organization dedicated to increasing access to justice through innovative uses of technology and increased volunteer lawyer participation. Founded in 1998 with support from the Open Society Institute, Pro Bono Net has created a broad and powerful network of nonprofit legal aid providers, courts and bar associations across the United States and Canada. 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/probonomanager.