We have a long standing commitment to providing pro bono legal services to individuals, public service groups, and charitable organizations that are unable to pay for the legal representation they need. Our Firm encourages our attorneys to provide pro bono legal services, engage in activities that improve access to justice for all, and provide financial support for organizations that provide legal services to persons of limited means. We are a Signatory Member of the Pro Bono Institute's Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge, a national organization that encourages pro bono work in law firms across the country.

Our attorneys provide pro bono legal services to individuals and groups referred to us from various agencies including The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Habitat for Humanity Law Committee, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, Legal Aid of East Tennessee, Legal Services of Southern Missouri, Legal Services of Western Missouri, Prairie State Legal Services, The United Way, Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts, and many more. Our Firm's attorneys also volunteer their services via area bar associations, such as The Missouri Bar and The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis.

Our attorneys receive full billable hour credit for time spent on pro bono matters. Our commitment to pro bono representation is reinforced by the efforts of Jennifer L. Schwendemann who coordinates and promotes pro bono opportunities among our attorneys.

We support our associates with specialized training in the areas of law the volunteer attorneys routinely handle. Continuing Legal Education classes are held throughout the year on various topics.

Long-Term Pro Bono Initiatives

Neighborhood Stabilization Program

In this joint effort among Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council, Blue Hills Community Services, Neighborhood Housing Services, Westside Housing Organization, Habitat for Humanity Kansas City, the Legal Services of Western Missouri, the Economic Development Corporation and the City of Kansas City, Missouri, our attorneys are helping gain commitments from developers to acquire and rehabilitate residential properties in areas of Kansas City with high foreclosure rates and sell the properties to owner-occupants. A deadline of September 18, 2010, exists to book $7.3 million in commitments with developers; proceeds from the sales of the renovated properties flow into a revolving fund that will be used to renovate more properties. Any funds that are not committed by September 18, 2010, must be returned to the federal government. Along with attorneys from four other local law firms, our attorneys handle the complex legal issues involved with acquiring the properties and rehabilitating them in the short timeframe.

Legal Services Corporation Entities

We make a significant commitment to Legal Services Corporations (LSC). Several attorneys in Chattanooga, Peoria, Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield are involved in LSC's Volunteer Lawyers Program, a program designed to provide legal services for those without the financial ability to acquire needed legal advice. We primarily handle landlord/tenant and family law cases through the Volunteer Lawyers Program.

Children with Disabilities

A new program, designed by Jim Monafo (St. Louis office), and in cooperation with The Children's Legal Alliance and St. Louis University School of Law's Legal Clinic, assists families with children who are diagnosed with disorders on the autism spectrum. The volunteer attorneys work with families in disputes over educational services, medical reimbursements, landlord/tenant matters, and other legal issues. Our estate planning attorneys also draw up special trusts and wills for these families.

Operation Excel YouthBuild

In November 2005, we began a partnership with Saint Louis University School of Law Clinic to provide pro bono legal services to low income students enrolled in Operation Excel YouthBuild. YouthBuild USA is a national nonprofit whose mission is to encourage low-income young people between the ages of 18-24 years old to rebuild their communities and their lives. Like many of their peers, YouthBuild students often face legal problems that for most would be minor inconveniences, but for under-educated and unemployed young people, create serious obstacles to employment and other aspects of daily life. Through the efforts of Jane Fedder (St. Louis office), our attorneys, SLU law students and Clinic Director Professor John Ammann provide representation to YouthBuild students, assisting them to resolve outstanding misdemeanor warrants and secure arrangements to pay fines or perform community service.

Prairie State Legal Services Pro Bono Drive

Attorneys in our Peoria office participate in the Prairie State Legal Services Pro Bono Drive each year. With a legal staff of only two paid attorneys, the agency cannot assist the hundreds of individuals in need of legal services but who are unable to pay an attorney. Our attorneys primarily accept family law cases through this volunteer lawyer program

Rose Brooks Center

Rose Brooks Center is a comprehensive domestic violence agency that provides a full continuum of care including prevention programming, crisis intervention and other supportive services to thousands of women and children each year. When Katie Gonzalez, an associate in the Kansas City office, recognized the severity of the unmet legal needs of victims of domestic violence and she helped to design a program to train associates to represent victims of domestic violence in obtaining orders of protection against their abusers. The attorneys' long-term goal is to increase pro bono opportunities for all of our attorneys in Kansas City who are interested in assisting families with custody, divorce and paternity cases. Katie and other Husch Blackwell Sanders associates will take referrals for this new program through the Rose Brooks Center and Legal Aid of Western Missouri.

St. Louis Chapter of Habitat for Humanity

Our St. Louis Attorneys are some of the more then 4,000 active volunteers in the St. Louis Chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Their services for Habitat included advice on personnel policies and procedures and bankruptcy issues. Their assistance was part of the community-wide effort that helped change the lives of 231 St. Louis-area families since 1986.

Center for Women in Transition

Elise Voges DeGroot assisted the St. Louis-area Center for Women in Transition when they needed to negotiate a new lease for their offices. Her work allowed the Center for Women in Transition to quickly and cost-effectively renew their lease keep their doors open to assist women in jail and prison for non-violent crimes. The Center for Women in Transition helps women during incarceration and after release to assist them in making a transition back into their families and into society.