Washington, DC (October 21, 2021) – The Venable Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Venable LLP, is pleased to announce that it has been recognized as a platinum-level participant in D.C. Access to Justice's 2020 Raising the Bar Campaign. The platinum level is the campaign's top tier and honors firms that have administered financial support amounting to .11% of DC office revenue to local legal services providers.
Michael W. Bigley, director of the Venable Foundation, said, “The Venable Foundation’s support of legal aid organizations has become increasingly critical in light of the many hardships wrought by the pandemic on lower-income members of our communities. We are immensely proud to be recognized by the Access to Justice Commission for our efforts and will continue looking for opportunities to provide this much-needed assistance.”
To meet the urgent need for increased funding for legal services, the D.C. Access to Justice Commission formally launched the Raising the Bar in D.C. Campaign in December 2010. The campaign's goal is to substantially increase financial support to the District's legal services community by establishing benchmarks for law firm giving and annually recognizing those firms that have donated at benchmark levels. Because the benchmarks are based on revenue, the recognition levels are accessible to firms of all sizes.
The D.C. Access to Justice Commission was created by the D.C. Court of Appeals in 2005 to improve low- and moderate-income residents' ability to access the civil justice system and raise awareness of the need for equal access to justice. The Commission has 24 commissioners, including D.C. Court of Appeals and Superior Court judges, past presidents of the D.C. Bar, executive directors of leading legal services providers, corporate counsel, and other community leaders.
The Venable Foundation was established in 1983 to support a wide variety of charitable, civic, and cultural endeavors, and serve public interest law needs in our communities. In the past 12 years, the Venable Foundation has granted more than $32 million to worthy organizations that provide critical support to those in need. These include children's services and funding for disadvantaged families and individuals; homeless shelters and food programs; community organizations, hospitals, hospices, and local chapters of national health organizations; and educational, artistic, and cultural events and organizations. In 2020 alone, the Foundation awarded more than $4.1 million in grants to 353 nonprofit organizations in Washington, DC, Baltimore, New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The Foundation is funded by the partners of Venable LLP.
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Venable LLP is an American Lawyer Global 100 law firm headquartered in Washington, DC that serves as primary counsel to a worldwide clientele of large and mid-sized organizations, nonprofits, high-net-worth entrepreneurs, and other individuals. With more than 850 professionals across the country, including in California, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Virginia, and Washington, DC, the firm strategically advances its clients' objectives in the United States and around the globe. Venable advises clients on a broad range of business and regulatory law, legislative affairs, complex litigation, and the full range of intellectual property disciplines. For more information, please visit https://www.venable.com/.