Pro Bono Work

Former Associate Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor stated, "there has probably never been a wider gulf between the need for legal services and the availability of legal services."  It is for that reason, and a genuine commitment to the profession and the community, that Schwartz Cooper attorneys are at the forefront of efforts to provide pro bono legal services to organizations and individuals otherwise unable to afford representation.

Schwartz Cooper is committed to providing such services.  Our attorneys have worked in the areas of civil rights and civil liberties for decades and we have a long standing relationship with the United States Court of Appeals. Representation of charities and charitable causes has always been a hallmark of the firm.

Recent Representations:

• Working with Horizons homeless shelter in Palatine in corporate and real estate matters.
• Assisting organizations in the GLBT community in tax and corporate matters.
• Representing indigent parties in criminal and other matters including the following cases, United States v. Coney, 407 F.3d 871 (2005); United States v. Rankins, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 25124 (2004); United States v. Bonty, 383 F.3d 575 (2004);; United States v. Costello, 307 F.3d 553 (2003); Schmidling v Chicago, 1 F.3d 494 (1997).  To highlight a few of these representations, in Reese v. Ice Cream Specialist, 347 F.3d 1007 (2004), Schwartz Cooper lawyers successfully argued in favor of antidiscrimination laws to protect workers.  In Arlington Park Race Track v. Human Rights Commission, 199 Ill. App. 3d 698 (1990), Schwartz Cooper lawyers protected the rights of the children of backstretch workers to live with their parents and in Crue v. Akin, 204 F. Supp. 2d 1130 (2002), Schwartz Cooper lawyers worked with ACLU attorneys to defend the First Amendment free speech rights of professors and students against a university imposed gag order.
• Representing an Ethiopian refugee seeking asylum.  His parents were kidnapped by government troops for protesting oppression.  They were tortured and never seen again.  The Federal Government is trying to send this young man back to Ethiopia and Schwartz Cooper lawyers have come to his aid in an Immigration Court proceeding to stop the deportation.
• Assisting in corporate work with Chefs for Humanity, a grassroots coalition of culinary professionals who came together in response to the tsunami tragedy.
• Representing the Interfaith Housing Development Corporation, an organization  dedicated to assisting the underprivileged in meeting basic needs.
• Working with Thresholds, a nationally recognized mental health support and treatment organization.
• Serving on the board or advisory committees of many organizations including Thresholds, the Illinois Children’s Brain Research Foundation, Wild Ones Natural Landscape Preservation and The Chicago Donor’s Forum.

These efforts are at the core of what Schwartz Cooper is.  We stand firm in our professional and humanitarian commitment to provide pro bono services and have adopted a Statement of Principals and Policies to assure that this remains a core ethic of our firm.