Pro bono is intrinsic
to who we are.
Our commitment to social justice, human rights and representing the most vulnerable and marginalized members of our communities.
From our founders Bill Zabel and Paul Roth’s extraordinary dedication to civil rights and racial justice in the 1960s to the hundreds of thousands of pro bono hours recorded by Schulte over the last 50 years, we continue to be a leader in pro bono legal work with a firmwide legacy of contributing to the greater good.
We directly represent and empower individual clients.
We bring impact litigation to effect societal change.
We support social entrepreneurs to form the next generation of mission-driven organizations.
We are one of the only law firms to leverage our expertise from all of our practice areas to play the role of “outside general counsel” to non-profit organizations. This allows our pro bono clients to make an even greater impact, focusing on their missions and clients with Schulte’s holistic support.
By extending our services to the marginalized and vulnerable, we not only address critical needs but also foster a sense of empowerment and hope within the communities we serve.
Learn more about our pro bono clients and some of our engagements in Schulte’s pro bono magazine, Impact.
The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
The Worst Act of Domestic Terrorism in America’s History
How and Why Schulte Roth & Zabel Joined the Historic Tulsa Race Massacre Lawsuit.
Other ongoing impact litigations:
Schulte and The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law are co-counsel in a federal class action lawsuit against the District of Columbia for systematically denying critical community-based mental health services to Medicaid-eligible children.
Schulte filed a case alongside the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the ACLU of Georgia, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, and the League of Women’s Voters of the United States to protect the voting rights of people of color in Cobb County, Georgia, in their local School Board elections. The case is an important part of those civil rights groups’ strategy to focus on racial gerrymandering claims under the Equal Protection Clause after the Supreme Court declared Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional in Shelby County and all but neutered Section 2 of the VRA in Brnovich.
As co-counsel with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, ACLU, and ACLU of Oklahoma, we represent a multiracial group of students and educators challenging an Oklahoma classroom censorship bill, HB 1775, which severely restricts public school teachers and students from learning and talking about race and gender in the classroom. This is the first federal lawsuit facially challenging one of these statewide bans that censor certain discussions in public classrooms.
Outside General Counsel
Schulte utilizes the skills and experiences across our practice groups to play the role of “outside general counsel” to dozens of nonprofit organizations. Our transactional lawyers are given the opportunity to build sustaining client relationships as they become the first point of contact for a variety of corporate legal matters, from helping with contracts, corporate governance issues, restructures, complex tax or real estate matters and so much more.
For more than 10 years, Schulte has played this role with a wide-range of global, national and local community-based organizations, including Partners in Health, Sanctuary for Families, 100 Women in Hedge Funds, Help for Children, PEN America, Asian American Legal Defense Fund (AALDF), Urban Justice Center, CASES, Community Resource Exchange, Common Justice, Youth Represent and Figure Skating in Harlem.
We have been honored to nurture the next generation of social entrepreneurs. Each year, our tax and corporate lawyers help set up new nonprofit organizations, guiding them through creating their legal entity and corporate governance documents and applying for their IRS 501(c)3 tax-exempt status.
Often, our associates establish rich and ongoing relationships with the young nonprofit and will continue to advise them as they grow and thrive. We proudly set up many impactful organizations, such as Girls Who Code and Foundation Rwanda, and have acted as their “outside general counsel” ever since.
Message from our Special Counsel for Pro Bono Initiatives
"I am so proud of every member of the Schulte community – from senior leadership, to lawyers, to business professionals – we are so passionately committed to our pro bono work and we are honored to play just a small part in helping our pro bono clients make a critical impact in the most underserved communities."
– Sara Solfanelli, Special Counsel for Pro Bono Initiatives
Collaborations
Schulte’s commitment to social justice, human rights, and supporting the most vulnerable and marginalized has never wavered. We frequently collaborate with our pro bono clients on important initiatives to confront their most pressing issues and to seek justice through advocacy, education and raising awareness.
Lawyers and business staff from across the firm have collaborated with our pro bono clients on a variety of exciting projects, including recently partnering with:
- Pregnancy Justice, in the wake of the Dobbs decision, to research and draft the timely multidisciplinary guide, “Confronting Pregnancy Criminalization,” which provides necessary tools and strategies to confront the criminalization of all pregnancy outcomes;
- SAGE, a national advocacy and services organization for LGBTQ+ elders, to draft a federal bill that, among many things, bars discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in long-term care settings, and to assess the impact of Florida’s Stop WOKE Act on SAGECare’s work in Florida;
- Southern Poverty Law Center to draft a 100+ page Report, “Selma, Shelby County, & Beyond: Alabama’s Unyielding Record of Racial Discrimination in Voting, the Unwavering Alabamians Who Fight Back, & the Critical Need to Restore the Voting Rights Act” to support The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R.4) that would restore Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act;
- Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to host a call center for its national, non-partisan Election Protection hotline to ensure all voters have an equal opportunity to vote and have that vote count;
- NYC Asylum Assistance Center to help thousands of our newest New Yorker’s, migrants seeking security and a promising future, apply for work permits and asylum; and
- Sanctuary for Families to support survivors of domestic violence by staffing clinics to help survivors obtain orders of protection and draft other legal documents.
We’ve developed several initiatives to embed pro bono into the DNA of the firm.
First New York law firm to introduce Summer Associate Pro Bono Week, when every summer associate spends one week fully embedded and working for a pro bono client.
Every year, an associate is seconded for six months to work at a pro bono client as the Brooks Burdette Fellow, continuing to receive full pay and benefits at no cost to the client.
Each month, Schulte lawyers and business staff work on an average of 150 pro bono matters.
Schulte strongly encourages every lawyer to do at least 30 hours of pro bono each year.
As we witness humanitarian crises unfold around the world — from the enduring impact of COVID-19 to Afghanistan’s return to Taliban control to the war in Ukraine and to migrants fleeing violence, climate disasters, and political unrest — Schulte stands at the ready to use our legal skills and resources to help. Dozens of lawyers regularly volunteer to assist migrants with asylum and work permits applications, and to support the organizations on the front line helping the most vulnerable.
For more than 15 years Schulte has worked closely with Sanctuary for Families, supporting the organization as outside general counsel and partnering with Sanctuary to represent survivors of gender-based violence to obtain orders of protection, divorces, and other court orders to empower them to live a life of freedom. We also work with the Domestic Violence Project representing survivors in applications for visas under VAWA.
In 2018, SRZ provided pro bono services to support the formation of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the accompanying Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.
For more than 10 years, SRZ was co-counsel with the New York Civil Liberties Union in a lawsuit against the state of New York, which resulted in more competent and accessible defense counsel for indigent defendants.
In 2006, SRZ prevailed in a lawsuit against FEMA, keeping more than 150,000 families in hotel shelters after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their homes.
Early in his career, Schulte’s co-managing partner Marc Elovitz was a staff attorney for the ACLU.
Schulte founding partner Bill Zabel drafted the ACLU’s brief in the 1967 landmark case, Loving v. Virginia, which struck down state laws prohibiting interracial marriage.
The Howard Godnick Public Service Award is presented annually at the Schulte Pro Bono Awards. This prestigious award recognizes an associate or special counsel who has demonstrated outstanding leadership and dedication to their pro bono work. It serves as a tribute to the memory of Howard Godnick, a highly respected litigation partner who was with the firm from 1996 to 2018.
For more than two decades, we have far exceeded our annual goal of donating at least 3% of our lawyers’ target hours to our pro bono clients and initiatives.
Every year, the firm, an individual lawyer or business professional are recognized and honored for their pro bono dedication and passion by one of our pro bono partners.
First New York law firm to introduce Summer Associate Pro Bono Week, when every summer associate spends one week fully embedded and working for a pro bono client.
Every year, an associate is seconded for six months to work at a pro bono client as the Brooks Burdette Fellow, continuing to receive full pay and benefits at no cost to the client.
Each month, Schulte lawyers and business staff work on an average of 150 pro bono matters.
Schulte strongly encourages every lawyer to do at least 30 hours of pro bono each year.
As we witness humanitarian crises unfold around the world — from the enduring impact of COVID-19 to Afghanistan’s return to Taliban control to the war in Ukraine and to migrants fleeing violence, climate disasters, and political unrest — Schulte stands at the ready to use our legal skills and resources to help. Dozens of lawyers regularly volunteer to assist migrants with asylum and work permits applications, and to support the organizations on the front line helping the most vulnerable.
For more than 15 years Schulte has worked closely with Sanctuary for Families, supporting the organization as outside general counsel and partnering with Sanctuary to represent survivors of gender-based violence to obtain orders of protection, divorces, and other court orders to empower them to live a life of freedom. We also work with the Domestic Violence Project representing survivors in applications for visas under VAWA.
In 2018, SRZ provided pro bono services to support the formation of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the accompanying Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.
For more than 10 years, SRZ was co-counsel with the New York Civil Liberties Union in a lawsuit against the state of New York, which resulted in more competent and accessible defense counsel for indigent defendants.
In 2006, SRZ prevailed in a lawsuit against FEMA, keeping more than 150,000 families in hotel shelters after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their homes.
Early in his career, Schulte’s co-managing partner Marc Elovitz was a staff attorney for the ACLU.
Schulte founding partner Bill Zabel drafted the ACLU’s brief in the 1967 landmark case, Loving v. Virginia, which struck down state laws prohibiting interracial marriage.
The Howard Godnick Public Service Award is presented annually at the Schulte Pro Bono Awards. This prestigious award recognizes an associate or special counsel who has demonstrated outstanding leadership and dedication to their pro bono work. It serves as a tribute to the memory of Howard Godnick, a highly respected litigation partner who was with the firm from 1996 to 2018.
For more than two decades, we have far exceeded our annual goal of donating at least 3% of our lawyers’ target hours to our pro bono clients and initiatives.
Every year, the firm, an individual lawyer or business professional are recognized and honored for their pro bono dedication and passion by one of our pro bono partners.
For more information, please contact Sara Solfanelli at sara.solfanelli@srz.com or any member of our Pro Bono Committee below.
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