Free Legal Clinic to help small businesses provided by volunteer corporate counsel

Philadelphia VIP sponsored the eighth annual Corporate Pro Bono Day (CPBD) at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP on October 25, 2011. With support from sponsors, the CPBD provided microentrepreneurs the opportunity to discuss immediate and ongoing legal matters with corporate counsel from various Philadelphia-area businesses at no cost. Volunteers included counsel from Exelon, Lincoln Financial, Independence Blue Cross and TE Connectivity. Additional sponsors for the event included the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, Women’s Business Development Center and Corporate Pro Bono.

Host Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP provided a free continuing legal education seminar on the essential legal needs of small businesses for volunteer counsel during the first half of CPBD. Attorneys at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP served as co-counsel in conjunction with volunteer in-house attorneys during the clinic.

Women’s Business Development Center, a premier small business incubator, provided clients for this event from their FastTrac® program, a comprehensive how-to education program for starting and successfully managing a small business.

Philadelphia VIP provided counsel to over 20 different microenterprises including retail stores, restaurants, and services for accounting, staffing, and childcare. In assisting small business owners, VIP is helping to strengthen neighborhoods, stimulate commerce and bring business services directly to neighborhood residents in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia VIP would like to thank the following corporations for their participation:

• TE Connectivity;
• DuPont Legal;
• AmerisourceBergen Corporation;
• Lincoln Financial Group;
• Triumph Group Inc.;
• Exelon Corporation;
• Johnson Matthey Inc.;
• S. Freedman and Company Inc.;
• Independence Blue Cross;
• Aetna;
• CIGNA;
• RightAction Inc.;
• FMC Corporation; and
• Bank of New York Mellon

Special thanks to Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP for their participation as both volunteers and hosts.

Philadelphia VIP, the hub of pro bono in Philadelphia, was founded in 1981 by the Philadelphia Bar Association and Community Legal Services to meet the legal needs of low-income Philadelphians by recruiting and training attorneys to provide pro bono legal services for individuals, families, small businesses and non-profit organizations. Today, VIP’s diverse volunteers serve more than 2,500 clients annually with legal issues that affect basic human needs.