June 23, 2008
North Carolina

Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard received the 2008 Outstanding Pro Bono Service Award for Large Law Firms from the North Carolina Bar Association at the President’s Luncheon at their Annual Meeting on June 20.

The Bar commended Brooks Pierce for creating a firm-wide pro bono culture through its pro bono committee, pro bono policy and pro bono commitment to agencies and organizations needing legal assistance.

Most recently, Brooks Pierce provided significant leadership in founding NC Leap (North Carolina for Entrepreneurs Assistance Program). Through NC LEAP, business and transactional lawyers provide pro bono legal services to assist low-wealth entrepreneurs in starting or expanding their businesses. Services range from basic transactional legal needs as struggling entrepreneurs strive to establish their business and create jobs, to potential long term client-counselor relations as their businesses grow.

NC LEAP Director Milan Pham estimates that Brooks Pierce attorneys have spent over 1000 hours over the past two years to make NC LEAP successful – and that does not include time spent on NC LEAP assigned clients.

Brooks Pierce partner Patrick Johnson was a founder of NC LEAP and currently serves as Chair of the Steering Committee for the organization, and partner Mark Davidson served as Chair of the Business Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association when it founded NC LEAP.

In addition to NC LEAP, Brooks Pierce attorneys provide pro bono legal services to other agencies and organizations, including Legal Aid of North Carolina and the Women’s Resource Center of Greensboro.

Founded in 1897, Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLP is a business law firm providing strategic counsel and innovative solutions to clients coast-to-coast and around the world. The firm is comprised of 82 attorneys in offices in Greensboro and Raleigh, NC, and represents clients in complex litigation, corporate and securities, technology and intellectual property, environmental, transportation, labor and employment, white-collar crime, banking, construction, communications and media, state and federal governmental relations, special investigations, tax, wealth management, estate planning and real estate issues.