Legal Services to the Community
Our core values embrace and encourage our people to make meaningful contributions to our community. Many of our attorneys and paralegals have chosen to do so through the provision of pro bono legal services to persons in need and to charitable organizations. To support and encourage these efforts, Morgan Miller Blair has established a Pro Bono Committee dedicated towards fostering pro bono work within the firm. Morgan Miller Blair recognizes all approved pro bono work as billable hours, and the firm has reserved substantial time from our annual billable hours towards pro bono work. As described below, the firm has also established the Morgan Miller Blair Fellowship to support pro bono legal work within our community.
PRO BONO LEGAL SERVICES
Our attorneys have been actively involved in organizations which promote and fund pro bono services and include the current and past chairs of the Contra Costa Bar Association Pro Bono Section.
In addition to the provision of pro bono legal services for individuals, our pro bono activities include the provisions of free legal assistance to many community organizations, including the following:
Bay Area Legal Aid
California Symphony
Castle Rock Field Restoration
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano Counties
Contra Costa Humane Society
Diablo Ballet
Diablo Regional Arts Association
East Bay Leadership Foundation
The Global Fund for Women
Home Aid America
Lawyer’s in the Library Oakland Public
Making Waves Education Foundation
Mt. Diablo Habitat for Humanity
Napa Valley Symphony
Stern Grove Renovation
Wardrobe for Opportunity
Volunteers in Probation
MORGAN MILLER BLAIR FELLOWSHIP
In honor of its 20th anniversary, Morgan Miller Blair established a fellowship, in partnership with Equal Justice Works – to provide legal services to those in need in our Contra Costa community. Morgan Miller Blair is the first law firm in the San Francisco's East Bay to participate in the Equal Justice Works fellowship program and the only firm of our size in the country to do so. We are proud of our ground breaking strides in this area, and hope to inspire other firms to follow our lead.
The aim of the program is to provide fellows with the freedom to pursue public interest work and to provide them with pivotal public interest experience. It is our hope and desire that the fellows will make a meaningful difference in their chosen areas and will continue to work in the public interest after the fellowship is over, taking on significant leadership roles their future careers.
The two year fellowship offers salary and loan repayment assistance, a national training and leadership development program and administration support. Morgan Miller Blair commits $60,000 towards the two year $104,000 fellowship. EJW provides additional funds through matching grants.
The Equal Justice Works Fellowships Program (www.equaljusticeworks.org) – formerly NAPIL – was launched in 1992 to address the shortage of attorneys working on behalf of under-served populations and causes nationally. Recognizing that many obstacles prevents committed attorneys from practicing public interest law, including a shortage of entry level jobs and daunting educational debts, the program provides financial and technical support for lawyers who are passionately committed to much needed legal projects. The fellow designs the project before applying in conjunction with a non-profit host organization with whom she or he would be working. The non-profit commits to provide training, supervision, and other support for the Morgan Miller Blair fellow.
Applications. Interested candidates can find information and applications at: http://www.equaljusticeworks.org/fellowsapply.php