On March 19, 2012, over 40 attorneys and paralegals from Alston & Bird, UPS and the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Georgia Chapter participated in the Nonprofit Legal Check-Up. This half-day program presented by Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta provided an opportunity for 10 nonprofit organizations to meet individually with a team of attorneys to identify the issues that may put the legal health of an organization at risk.
The Nonprofit Legal Check-Up provides a unique, short-term pro bono opportunity for attorneys and paralegals and fosters collaboration between in-house and law firm attorneys. The Check-Up also provides CLE training for attorneys before dividing them up into teams to meet with nonprofit clients. The training, which covers corporate governance, tax, employment and intellectual property legal issues for nonprofits, prepares attorneys to deliver the “legal check-up” to participating nonprofits. After going through a list of questions to identify the legal needs of each nonprofit, each team generates a list of pro bono legal matters for the organization. Participating attorneys may take the pro bono matters themselves or turn them over to Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta to be matched with another volunteer attorney.
Merrilee Gober, Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies of Georgia’s board president, was deeply grateful for the service: “As a small nonprofit, we could never afford the talents (of the attorney volunteers) if we had to pay for them! Their contribution is invaluable to us and will help us continue to serve Georgia’s moms and babies with all of our ducks in a row.”