Metropolitan Corporate Counsel: Kramer Levin: Building on a Pro Bono Tradition

The August 2003 issue of Metropolitan Corporate Counsel features an in depth interview with Litigation partner and Pro Bono and Community Service Chair Jeffrey S. Trachtman regarding Kramer Levin's pro bono program. Trachtman describes the Firm's historical commitment to pro bono service based both on the obligation to help make the legal system work for all and the more pragmatic benefits of allowing junior attorneys to gain valuable hands-on experience and helping the firm to recruit top candidates.

Trachtman explains that the Firm handles a broad range of pro bono cases determined by attorney interests. He highlights the Firm's class action suit on behalf of homeless children in the New York City system shelter system suffering from asthma, which was recently settled on terms providing significant benefits for many of the City's poor children. The case, spearheaded by partner David S. Frankel and to which the Firm dedicated over 3,000 attorney hours over three years, was in large part the reason why the Firm was awarded the Legal Aid Society's Exceptional Pro Bono Publico and Public Service Award in 2000.

Trachtman points out that pro bono work also benefits paying clients. He explains that attorneys involved in projects that they find engaging and exciting are more enthusiastic advocates for all their clients. Moreover, he notes that firms strongly identified with community service develop a reputation that helps them in every sphere, including in their work on behalf of paying clients.

Read the full text of the interview in PDF format