Nieuws

10 Oct 2006

DLA Piper launches unprecedented pro bono project to improve educational outcomes of low-income children In New York City

Firm pledges 5,000 Hours, $2 million during first year of program; project reflects movement toward more collaborative, higher-impact pro bono campaigns being undertaken by major law firms

Persbericht

(New York) - DLA Piper US LLP today announced the launch of its New York Pro Bono Signature Project, named Access to Education, an ambitious undertaking to address the needs of low-income preschool- and school-age children in New York City.  In partnership with other leading New York City organizations that bring their respective knowledge and resources to bear, the Access to Education project is the first of its kind to address these issues through a multidisciplinary team approach.

The project consists of three primary components, each of which will address critical issues facing New York City children: 1.) transactional representation of New York City Head Start programs; 2.) direct representation of public school students in disciplinary and special education proceedings; and 3.) development of an education policy initiative.

"This is a significant commitment by our firm and attorneys to provide the community with a dedicated, multidisciplinary program designed to prevent educational interruptions for low-income students throughout the city," said Peter S. Pantaleo, managing partner of DLA Piper's New York Office.  "Beyond children already enrolled in public schools, we are also working to protect and improve the infrastructure of Head Start programs and the preschool children they serve."

Addressing a Growing Need

Through DLA Piper's previous pro bono efforts in the education arena, the firm learned that more than 15,000 children in the New York City public school system face the possibility of long-term suspensions each year.  More importantly, many low-income students are not adequately represented, if represented at all, during disciplinary proceedings that seek to remove them from classrooms.  

Similarly, the firm discovered that Head Start programs, administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, often struggle to meet stringent federal performance standards while balancing their day-to-day business operations with the needs of their children.  Each year these demands result in closures and funding deficiencies for Head Start programs, limiting the availability of its school-readiness curriculum for preschool-age children. 

In partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) and attorneys from the Lawyers Alliance for New York (LANY), Advocates for Children (Advocates), and Legal Services for New York City (LSNY), the DLA Piper project will work to address these challenges and improve educational outcomes for New York children using a three-pronged approach:

• Representation of Head Start Programs - DLA Piper attorneys, teamed with PwC executives, will advise individual Head Start programs on key transactional, compliance and real estate matters and serve in a general counsel-like capacity. 

Playing a lead role in this project, PwC will assist DLA Piper attorneys in providing key compliance and governance training for selected Head Start directors, board members and administrators.  Specifically, PwC will leverage its accounting expertise to provide training regarding financial statement, audit and fraud protection recommendations.  Vendor relations strategies, particularly in the food and beverage and hospitality industries, will also be a focus of PwC's support to Head Start programs.

LANY will assist with screening and identifying those Head Start programs that are in need of legal and compliance assistance.   

• Representation of New York City Public School Students - DLA Piper attorneys will represent public school children in disciplinary and special education proceedings presented before school and Department of Education officials.     

LSNY and DLA Piper attorneys will work together to identify individual children in need of representation.

• Policy Initiative - In collaboration with Advocates for Children, DLA Piper attorneys will identify and develop a policy initiative that specifically draws upon the firm's experience representing Head Start programs and public school students. The specific policy initiative will be identified as the program progresses and after the team has an opportunity to assess the policy needs of public school students.  

"We have carefully structured a pro bono platform that will immediately bring broad representation to underserved low-income children and help return them to classrooms so they can resume their education," said Elizabeth Dewey, US pro bono partner for DLA Piper.  "Too often in the past, low-income children have been derailed by a lack of resources beginning as early as preschool, and this project gives us the opportunity to begin reversing that trend."

"Getting involved and making a difference in the communities in which we live and work is very important to PricewaterhouseCoopers, so supporting this program with DLA Piper is a natural fit for us," said Ted Martens, partner and leader of PwC's project team. "For example, more than 13,000 PwC partners and staff nationwide, including hundreds from the New York metro area, contributed more than 65,000 hours to community service projects as part of a firmwide Community Service month last June."
   
An Ambitious Signature Project Platform

The New York office of DLA Piper will donate a base of 5,000 attorney hours to Access to Education in its first year.  More importantly, the development of this Signature Project has attracted significant interest and enthusiasm from the office's attorneys.

"We fully expect that between 120 and 150 attorneys will donate hours to the project in addition to a broad range of staff members who have expressed an interest in participating," said Joshua Sohn, partner and pro bono coordinator for DLA Piper in New York.  "Beyond DLA Piper, the collective and coordinated expertise of our project partners should make this ambitious initiative successful."

As a key component of Access to Education, DLA Piper also established two part-time fellowships for individuals working on both the student representation and policy initiative components.  Tara Foster, an attorney at LSNY, and Leigh Sansone, a staff attorney at Advocates, will serve as DLA Piper Fellows, providing dedicated support to coordinate and expedite efforts between the firm and its partners.  Foster will work closely with DLA Piper attorneys representing children and Sansone will work alongside DLA Piper attorneys to identify and develop its policy initiative.   

Following successful Signature Projects in Chicago and Washington, D.C., the New York office also chose to advance the rights of children.  In Washington, D.C., the firm provided more than 5,000 attorney hours to expedite the flow of adoption cases in the District's court system, handling 75 cases over a two-year period.  The Chicago Signature Project, currently in its third year, focuses on juvenile justice issues and has handled 78 cases for Chicagoland youths ensnared in the Cook County Juvenile Court system.   

Overall, the firm's total 2006 pro bono commitment in the U.S. will exceed $30 million and include over 100,000 attorney hours.

About DLA Piper's Access to Education Partners:

• PricewaterhouseCoopers provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to build public trust and enhance value for its clients and their stakeholders. More than 130,000 people in 148 countries across its network share its thinking, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice.
  
• Lawyers Alliance for New York is the leading provider of business legal services to nonprofits in New York City.  Since it was founded in 1969, Lawyers Alliance has provided more than $100 million worth of non-litigation legal services to 10,000 nonprofit organizations.
  
• Legal Services for New York City, a coordinated network of programs throughout New York City, is the largest provider of free civil legal services to low-income persons in the United States.  LSNY provides help on cases involving education, housing, family, domestic violence, public benefits, income tax, employment, consumer rights and economic development.  Each year, LSNY's programs serve over 25,000 low-income clients throughout New York City in the full range of their civil legal needs, keeping over 10,000 families in their homes, producing tangible money benefits for over 70,000 people, and saving New York taxpayers more than $70 million dollars.
  
• Advocates for Children has worked in partnership with New York City's most impoverished and vulnerable families for 35 years to secure quality and equal public education services. AFC works on behalf of children from infancy to age 21 who are at greatest risk for school-based discrimination and/or academic failure. These include children with disabilities, ethnic minorities, immigrants, homeless children, foster care children, limited English proficient children and those living in poverty. AFC provides a full range of services: free individual case advocacy, technical assistance, and training for parents, students, and professionals about children's educational entitlements and due process rights in New York City.

About DLA Piper
DLA Piper has 3,200 lawyers and 62 offices in 24 countries throughout the U.S., U.K., Continental Europe, Middle East and Asia. It has leading practices in commercial, corporate and finance, human resources, litigation, real estate, regulatory and legislative, and technology, media and communications.

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CONTACTS:
Joshua Sohn, Partner and Pro Bono Coordinator, New York, DLA Piper, 212.335.4892
Elizabeth Dewey, Partner, US Pro Bono, Washington, DC, DLA Piper, 202.861.6218
Rob Shapiro, Media Relations, GreenTarget Global Group, 646.460.7850
Brian Kiefer, Media Relations, GreenTarget Global Group, 312.252.4113
John Corey, Media Relations, GreenTarget Global Group, 312.252.4102