Venable has long recognized the importance of providing first-rate legal representation to those unable to afford a lawyer. We are proud to be among the signatories to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge.
The firm expects its attorneys to devote their time and diverse talents, on a pro bono basis, to improving their communities and the lives of others. Venable attorneys collectively log upwards of 30,000 hours per year firmwide representing a wide range of pro bono clients, including:
Low-income tenants seeking to maintain their housing and to correct substandard living conditions
Victims of domestic violence seeking restraining orders against their abusers
Women, children, and other immigrants fleeing violence and persecution and seeking legal status in the United States
Veterans and persons with disabilities wrongly denied benefits
Incarcerated individuals with claims of actual innocence or facing the death penalty
Victims of police misconduct, including racial profiling and the use of excessive force
Nonprofit entities with organizational, transactional, tax, and operational needs
Low-income seniors with estate planning needs
Public school children with special education needs
Low-income children who are the subject of custody disputes between caregivers
Individuals and organizations seeking to protect intellectual property rights
Clinic Support
We regularly staff walk-in clinics for low-income individuals with pressing legal needs, including the DC Bar Pro Bono Program's Advice and Referral Clinic, the DC Bar Pro Bono Program's Consumer Law and Landlord-Tenant Resource Clinics, and various clinics in DC and Baltimore to assist low-income individuals with income tax preparation.
Gerry Treanor Pro Bono Fellowship
In 2015, we launched the Gerry Treanor Pro Bono Fellowship, named after our partner who headed the pro bono program for many years. Each fellow is placed with either Bread for the City in Washington or Maryland Legal Aid in Baltimore and works full-time for six months representing low-income clients.
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“Human beings, who are in terrible trouble, turn to this firm for relief, for some friendship, some support.”
Recent Noteworthy Cases
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Winning freedom and securing a court declaration of innocence for a District of Columbia man wrongfully imprisoned for nearly 25 years for a murder he did not commit
Winning freedom and securing dismissal of all charges against a District of Columbia man wrongfully imprisoned for over 19 years for a murder he did not commit
Litigating a class action to end the Department of Homeland Security's "bait and switch" practice of having Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrest undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens when they appear at Customs and Immigration Services facilities for the interviews they are required to undergo to secure their green cards
Representing a dozen federal prisoners seeking compassionate release under the First Step Act
Authored numerous amicus briefs in federal courts, including the Supreme Court, on behalf of nearly four dozen civil rights organizations in successful challenges to the Trump administration's attempt to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program
Securing, over the past five years, legal status for over 50 individual immigrants fleeing violence and persecution in their countries of origin
Advocating and litigating to end the practice of jailing people too poor to pay court-imposed fines and fees in several Arkansas counties and engaging in similar advocacy to repeal a District of Columbia law prohibiting the renewal of driver's licenses for individuals too poor to pay debts of more than $100 owed to the DC government
Forming and counseling Warrior Canine Connection, which uses service dogs to rehabilitate service members returning from combat
Representing all Florida death row inmates in a challenge to their automatic placement in permanent solitary confinement
Spearheading litigation and monitoring a consent decree for more than three decades to reform the foster care system in Baltimore
Representing a federal death row prisoner in post-conviction proceedings
Obtaining the reversal of a conviction and death sentence, and securing a sentence of life with the possibility of parole, for an Alabama man
Securing recognition of the right to counsel at initial bail hearings for criminal defendants throughout Maryland
Pro Bono Partners
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American Bar Association Death Penalty Representation Project
American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland
Archdiocesan Legal Network of Catholic Charities
Bread for the City
Children's Law Center
Coalition of Asylum & Immigration Rights
Community Law Center
DC Bar Pro Bono Program
Disability Rights Maryland
DV LEAP
Equal Justice Initiative
Federal Public Defender – Eastern District of Virginia
Kids in Need of Defense
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights
Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia
Legal Aid Society of New York
Legal Counsel for the Elderly
Maryland Legal Aid
Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service
Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project
Neighborhood Legal Services
New York City Bar Justice Center
New York Legal Assistance Group
Northern Virginia Pro Bono Law Center
Public Interest Intellectual Property Advocates
Pro Bono Institute
Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland, Inc.
Southern Center for Human Rights
Tahirih Justice Center
Tzedek DC
Veterans Consortium
Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts
Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless
Whitman-Walker Legal Services Program
Recognition
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2020
City Bar Justice Center's City Bar Justice Award
Disability Rights Maryland's Legal Advocacy Award
Kids in Need of Defense (New York) – Pro Bono Spotlight
2019
Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts' G. Hamilton Loeb Award for Pro Bono Excellence
DV LEAP's "Super Hero of the Month" for November 2020
2018
Public Justice Center's Outstanding Partner Award
City Bar Justice Center's Jeremy G. Epstein Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service
The Veterans Consortium – Volunteer Inspiring Pro Bono (VIP)
Washington Post Features Venable’s Successful Pro Bono Effort to Free Troy Burner from Prison After Nearly 25 Years and Clear Him of 1994 Murder Conviction
