Pro Bono

Our pro bono program has long represented immigrants and asylum seekers, people often subject to gross human rights violations in their home countries. In response to recent global instability, we have continued to provide immediate support to those displaced and in danger of persecution in their home countries.

Representative Matters:

• Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area: Supporting political refugees
  Immediately following the 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, we helped evacuate Afghan individuals and families in danger and represented them through their years-long asylum proceedings in the US. We offered similarly comprehensive support to Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war with Russia. Through our sustained partnerships with organizations like Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, we are able to provide exceptional legal advocacy to our clients during global crises and long after they arrive in the United States.
• Her Justice: Securing immigration relief for domestic violence survivors 
  We work with Her Justice to provide trauma-informed support to pro bono clients. Our colleagues have long partnered with this organization and similar organizations nationwide to advocate for survivors seeking safety and security in the United States. Many of these cases span decades, but our support never waivers. Notably, we secured lawful permanent residency for a client who was the victim of domestic violence in Guatemala after a 10-year legal process. This matter ultimately contributed to Her Justice recognizing our professional staff colleague with its “2023 Commitment to Justice” award. 
• Kids in Need of Defense: Securing stability for unaccompanied children—special immigrant juvenile status work 
  We regularly assist unaccompanied minors navigating the US immigration system through our partnership with Kids in Need of Defense (KIND). KIND often refers clients who require high quality legal representation, almost all of whom have faced harrowing circumstances in their journey to the United States. One such client was a young woman from El Salvador fleeing gang violence in her home country and ongoing instability after her arrival in the United States. After years of juvenile court proceedings and USCIS immigration processes, we succeeded in obtaining her permanent residence card and are now helping her sister achieve the same immigration status.
• Human Rights Watch: Increasing transparency in US Immigration detention, enforcement, and adjudication practices 
  We frequently represent Human Rights Watch (HRW) to effectuate systemic change and increase transparency in US immigration adjudication and enforcement practices. In recent years, we’ve helped the organization file Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in two key cases. The first case involved documented abuse by US asylum officers toward migrants at the border. We successfully obtained the records underpinning HRW’s investigation, which ultimately led US Customs and Border Protection to triple its oversight resources. In the second case, we secured records from 48 separate state entities as part of an investigation into dangerous and deadly vehicle chases under Texas’ anti-migrant Operation Lone Star initiative. Our efforts in these cases bring human rights abuses to light and hold the institutions responsible to account. 

With one of the nation’s largest affordable housing practices, Nixon Peabody is committed to advancing the creation of safe, stable, affordable communities nationwide. We are recognized as among the foremost authorities on affordable and senior housing in the legal industry. Along with scaling the creation of affordable housing to reach a broader population, we stand up for residents already in these communities to ensure they can exercise their housing rights. 

Representative Matters

Citizens’ Housing & Planning Association: Clearing the path for more affordable housing
To ensure Massachusetts’ housing laws were recognized and enforced, we partnered with Citizen’s Housing & Planning Association (CHAPA) to submit amicus briefs in support of legislation safeguarding the production of low- and moderate-income homes statewide and removing unnecessary zoning barriers. Our partnership positively transformed the affordable housing policy landscape in Massachusetts and cleared the way for the creation of affordable housing projects that will enrich our communities.

DC Safe: Developing a safe space 
We partnered with DC SAFE to develop its new SAFE Space Crisis Shelter—a one-of-a-kind shelter in DC that partners with the DC Metropolitan Police to make 24/7/365 immediate placements for survivors of abuse and their families within an hour of a domestic violence incident. Through our resolution of a construction-related dispute and management of New Market Tax Credit compliances, DC SAFE has tripled their capacity to offer survivors secure housing, support, and other services they need. We’ve also provided furniture and food to help build out their new space and support the residents. In 2024, DC SAFE recognized the firm with its 2024 Corporate Partner of the Year award. 

Stony Brook Gardens: Advocating for co-op residents’ rights
The Stony Brook Gardens Cooperative in Boston thrived as a self-managed affordable housing community until their board of directors began violating the co-op’s bylaws, including refusing to hold required elections. With our guidance, the residents launched a court action to assert their rights and restore proper board governance. As a result, the co-op avoided bankruptcy, regained stability, and has legal guardrails in place to protect their homes for the future.

Family Promise: Preventing homelessness for families
Family Promise prevents and ends homelessness for families with children and helps them achieve sustainable independence through a community-based response. For years, the firm has supported the organization providing corporate governance, real estate, and operations support. 

We help low-income individuals and families in our communities to seek fair outcomes in everyday but high-stakes legal problems, such as shelter, safety, health, debt, and public benefits. 

Representative Matters

• Public Counsel: Advocating for consumer rights in CA
  We achieved justice for an elderly South LA homeowner who was targeted by a predatory contractor. We successfully petitioned to release a mechanic’s lien recorded after the contractor performed roof work without her approval and despite her inability to pay. We also secured a release of any breach-of-contract claim for the repair costs. Public Counsel honored NP attorneys with its Pro Bono Award, presented by the Consumer Rights and Economic Justice Project.
• Alliance for Children’s Rights: Creating family stability 
  Through Alliance for Children’s Rights in LA, we represent parents adopting children from the foster care system. Our efforts create family stability for children who have often experienced abuse and neglect. 
• Legal Services of Long Island: Filing for guardianship
  With Legal Services of Long Island, we assist caregivers of adult children with disabilities file for 17A guardianship. Guardianship allows caregivers to continue to help their adult children make healthcare and other important care decisions.
• Legal Counsel for the Elderly: Assisting low-income seniors with life planning 
  Our attorneys regularly assist low-income elderly community members and individuals with disabilities in preparing wills and financial and health powers of attorney. By assisting clients with this work, we provide tangible peace to our clients. 
• Lawyers Clearinghouse: Extending protective order for domestic violence survivors
  Our client needed to extend her restraining order against her abusive ex-husband and required immediate legal assistance. Through our partnership with Lawyers Clearinghouse, we represented her in court and successfully convinced the judge to renew the restraining order for another year. 

We support nonprofit organizations so they can focus their resources on expanding their mission and extending their reach to meet the broad array of needs in our communities. We work to expand public infrastructure that forms the bedrock of strong communities—from local community centers to global sporting events, we enrich the vitality of the places we live and work through our counsel on innovative community and economic development projects. 

Representative Matters

• Bay Area Host Committee: Delivering global sporting events 
  Bay Area Host Committee (BAHC) is a nonprofit organization that uses the power of sports to drive economic vitality, community engagement, civic pride, and global recognition. We have served as sole outside counsel to BAHC as they delivered the NBA All-Star Game, Super Bowl 60, and the FIFA World Cup to the San Francisco Bay Area, providing guidance on navigating a complex public–private funding environment, building the legal framework for sponsorship and hospitality programs, and structuring agreements for dozens of venues, events, and operations across the Bay.
• Legal Food Hub: Providing immigration guidance for community farmers markets 
  We advised a community farmers markets association on preparing for potential ICE enforcement actions affecting vendors and shoppers. We led a webinar for 50+ market managers and vendors on ICE authority, police cooperation, and the rights of detained individuals and bystanders. 
• Sure We Can: Saving and supporting community economic development organization
  Sure We Can, a Brooklyn nonprofit community space and sustainability hub that serves independent recyclers, or “canners,” was facing eviction and needed legal support. Buying the property they operated on was likely the only solution that would keep them in place and ensure their continued operation. Our team gave them the guidance they needed to complete this purchase, and they were able to continue supporting community economic development for canners and the broader Brooklyn community.
• Free Our Vote: Reclaiming the right to vote 
  We provided intellectual property support to Free Our Vote, a nonprofit that builds tech tools to empower people with criminal records to reclaim their right to vote and improve second chances for communities impacted by the criminal legal system. Specifically, our team advised Free Our Vote on multiple trademark and copyright matters to protect their organization and their work. 

Many of our attorneys, which include former and current service members, tirelessly advocate for veterans nationwide. We secure benefits for veterans entitled to service-connected disability compensation from the Veterans Affairs (VA), host fundraisers focused on veterans’ mental health, address the unique challenges presented to US military families, and leverage community board memberships to holistically serve this population. 

Representative Matters

• Military Spouse JD Network Foundation: Addressing the needs of military families
  Our colleagues provide mentorship, guidance, and leadership to the Military Spouse JD Foundation, a nonprofit created to support the professional development of military spouse attorneys, teach them effective advocacy skills, and provide opportunities to use those skills to address the legal needs of the military and veteran community.
• National Veterans Legal Services Program: Securing Combat Related Special Compensation
  We frequently partner with the National Veterans Legal Services Program to secure Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) for pro bono clients. CRSC grants retirement benefits to veterans who are retired from active duty and who have sustained injuries in combat, hazardous service, or conditions simulating combat.
• JustCause: Guiding veterans on wills and powers of attorney 
  We partnered with JustCause, an organization that provides legal services to low-income people, to host an estate planning clinic for veterans that offered free legal assistance with wills, powers of attorney, and healthcare proxies. Our efforts ensured that those who served our country can plan for their futures with security and peace of mind. 
• Swim with a Mission: Supporting veterans services
  Since its founding, Swim with a Mission (SWAM) has donated over $13 million to service and support organizations that provide critical services to our veterans. Each year, SWAM holds open water swim races across Newfound Lake, NH, to raise money for veterans causes.

We leverage our comprehensive capabilities in the healthcare space to enhance the quality, access, and delivery of these services to underrepresented communities. 

Representative Matters

• Choices For Independence: Protecting individuals with disabilities
  In partnership with AARP Foundation, New Hampshire Legal Assistance, and Disability Rights Center–New Hampshire, we represent New Hampshire residents who rely on Medicaid-funded long-term care services but face the risk of unnecessary institutionalization due to the state’s improper administration of those services.
• Organización Latino Americana of Eastern Long Island: Expanding mental health services 
  Organización Latino Americana (OLA) of Eastern Long Island is a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of immigrant and US-born Latinos, providing crisis counseling, housing support, and immigrant rights forums. We worked with OLA to prepare an in-depth waiver application to the New York State Education Department, which allowed OLA to expand its service offerings to provide bilingual and bicultural therapy services by licensed professionals to Latino and non-Latino adults and adolescents. 
• The Los Angeles Trust for Children’s Health: Promoting student healthcare
  The Los Angeles Trust for Children’s Health is an organization that works to provide accessible healthcare for disadvantaged students to promote healthy and successful learning in the classroom. We helped the organization create a stronger framework for collecting, disclosing, and sharing data they collected from health clinics located in public schools. This data fuels research that promotes the necessity of maintaining budgets for school health clinics. 
• South Central Family Health Center: Broadening access to healthcare
  During our annual Week of Service, Nixon Peabody colleagues come together to support community partners through donation drives, volunteer efforts, and impactful collaborations. One of our partners was South Central Family Health Center, an organization providing high-quality medical and behavioral healthcare to underserved communities, regardless of their ability to pay. Our team helped with patient and staff facing interactions, sorting and distributing food and other necessities, and administrative assistance with forms and documents.

We advocate for those in need and fight for a future free of discrimination and bias. We protect civil rights for aging adults, pave a more equitable path forward for our youth, and connect across borders to support marginalized groups everywhere. While the impacts of injustice are varied, the solutions are remarkably similar—to create durable systems that revolve not around social differences but our shared humanity.

Representative Matters

• Cyber Civil Rights Initiative: Protecting survivors of image-based abuse
  Through the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, we provide pro bono legal services to victims and survivors of image-based sexual abuse, also known as revenge porn. We represent these survivors to help them take down non-consensual, intimate images from websites and other digital platforms. 
• Federal Defender Panel: Representing criminal defendants who cannot afford legal counsel
  Through the Federal Defender Panel, we represent indigent criminal defendants assigned to us as part of the Criminal Justice Act Federal Defender Panel Attorney Program in the Northern District of Illinois. As part of our work as criminal panel attorneys, we achieved a significant victory for a 22-year-old client with severe intellectual disabilities facing criminal charges for child exploitation offenses. After a two-day competency hearing, the court found that our client was not competent to stand trial. The court granted our motion to dismiss the indictment against our client.
• Prisoner rights matters: Defending incarcerated individuals
  We regularly represent incarcerated people in Section 1983 jury trials in the Northern District of New York. The cases are assigned by District Court judges following motion practice and a few months before each case is to be tried. We are grateful for the opportunity to represent individuals that cannot afford representation and need assistance to present their case to a jury.
• New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence: Strengthening protections for sexual assault survivors’ health records
  For over 10 years, we have worked with New Hampshire organizations supporting domestic violence survivors, including the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, to represent domestic violence survivors who were facing violations of their rights under HIPAA when their mental health records threatened to be shared with the past abusers. In 2025, we won an appeal that finally strengthens protections for sexual assault victims’ confidential counseling and crisis center records. 

Through our pro bono program, we strive to root out injustice in all corners of society and lay the groundwork for a more equitable, inclusive path forward. We stand up for those who have been historically overlooked by the justice system, hold communities accountable in acting on the promise of equality, and foster equal opportunity for individuals across racial and gender lines. 

Representative Matters

• National Immigration Law Center and ACLU of Idaho: Preserving healthcare for immigrants
  With the National Immigration Law Center and ACLU of Idaho, we represent patients and a doctor who treats patients living with HIV in challenging House Bill 135, an Idaho law that prevents non-citizens from accessing federally funded medical and support services for people living with HIV.
• LatinoJustice PRLDEF: Promoting equality and pursuing justice
  We partnered with LatinoJustice PRLDEF, a national civil rights organization working to protect and expand the rights of the Puerto Rican and Latino community, to represent a woman who was wrongfully arrested by the Frederick County, Maryland, Sheriff. After 10 years of contentious litigation, including a precedential Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals landmark immigrants’ rights decision, the case was settled with injunctive relief requiring the sheriff to adopt new training and arrest policies, and payment of damages.
• ACLU: Fighting for transgender rights
  In both Montana and Iowa, we were proud to team up with the ACLU to oppose the states’ discriminatory laws against transgender people. During our six-year litigation effort in Iowa, we secured coverage for our clients’ gender-affirming surgeries and obtained precedential rulings that will help preserve equal rights for transgender people for years to come. And in Montana, the court recently ruled in our clients’ favor, blocking the state’s ban on birth-certificate name changes for transgender people. Our team remains committed to defending the rights of LGBTQIA2S+ people across the country.
• Black Women’s Blueprint: Providing equitable services to marginalized populations.
  As part of our efforts to advance racial justice, we worked with the Black Women’s Blueprint (BWB), a small nonprofit organization supporting survivors of sexual violence, to secure approvals for the construction of its Restore Forward Retreat Center. Located in Ava, New York, BWB initially faced pushback from the town to build the center. We represented BWB in its zoning hearings and helped the organization secure permit approvals and navigate land-use challenges for the center’s development. 

We champion access to education for children nationwide. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds or underrepresented groups continue to face uphill battles in realizing equal rights, and we strive to close this gap by advocating for young people in need.

Representative Matters

• School Justice Project: DC incarcerated students with disabilities
  With School Justice Project, we’re representing two DC students and a class of similarly situated DC students with disabilities who have been unfairly denied access to special education services while being incarcerated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. After two years of work, we prevailed on a class certification motion, and continue to fight to change the way the District delivers services to incarcerated DC students with disabilities. 
• Legal Outreach and Christo Rey internship: Meaningful internships for underserved students 
  Through the Cristo Rey Corporate Work Study Program and Legal Outreach, we offer teenagers from underserved communities the chance to gain first-hand experience of working in a law firm. This intensive legal and educational program connects students with our attorneys and provides life-changing mentorship and educational opportunities for their professional development. 
• Divisive Concepts Law: Fighting for quality education for LGBTQIA2S+ students 
  We’re fighting an unconstitutional “divisive concepts” law in New Hampshire that threatens the safety and quality of education for students. The proposed law would especially impact LGBTQIA2S+ students because it restricts how educators can discuss topics such as race, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
• School of Leadership Afghanistan: Supporting Afghanistan’s first boarding school for girls
  Through our longtime partnership with the School of Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA), we provide nonprofit governance and operational support to Afghanistan’s first boarding school for girls. Over the years, we’ve helped SOLA navigate challenges ranging from the school’s relocation to Rwanda following the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan to, most recently, launching an app that expands SOLA’s reach to allow distance learning for more Afghan girls.

We embed sustainability in all our pro bono and social impact initiatives. From supporting energy-efficient affordable housing developments to representing green entrepreneurs, we advance projects that preserve the integrity and long-term viability of our environment. 

Representative Matters

• Lawyers for a Sustainable Economy: Driving economic transformation
  We are part of a coalition of 17 Big Law and corporate legal partners, providing more than $55 million in pro bono legal services to advance sustainability in energy, transportation, and land use. Our colleagues are widely regarded as thought leaders on sustainability topics, sharing the firm’s experience and partnering with stakeholders to develop innovative solutions to social and environmental challenges.
• Sustainable Ocean Alliance: Supporting ocean solution-focused startup
  We led the effort to obtain a 501(c)(3) certification for the Sustainable Ocean Alliance, a San Francisco-based nonprofit focused on empowering young people and leaders worldwide to develop innovative solutions to protect and restore the health of our ocean.
• The Nature Conservancy: Protecting our environment 
  Since 2019, we have provided legal assistance to The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental nonprofit working to create a world where people and nature can thrive. Our attorneys advise this organization on a wide variety of matters, including corporate governance, labor and employment, contract review issues, conservation easements, and floodplain restoration projects.
• NP Solar: Financing solar rooftop installations
  Since its founding, we have worked with New Partners Solar to facilitate and finance solar rooftop installations that generate clean energy and utility bill credits for low-income families. Through our partnership, we continue to advance economic equity and renewable energy use in Washington, DC, and the surrounding areas.