PBI Honors Sidley Austin for Exceptional Pro Bono Service

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pro Bono Institute (PBI) announced today that it will present Sidley Austin LLP with its 2015 John H. Pickering Award at its Annual Dinner on November 5 in New York. The Pickering Award is presented annually to a law firm that has demonstrated outstanding commitment to pro bono service.

Sidley's longstanding commitment to pro bono and public service is underscored by its robust and innovative pro bono program. A Signatory to PBI's Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge^® and a Founding Member of PBI's Law Firm Pro Bono Project, Sidley continually demonstrates its core values by working on behalf of pro bono clients around the world to enhance their clients' quality of life and improve their communities.

"Sidley's dedication to making this world a better place by committing to challenging, creative projects advances pro bono and access to justice in notable ways," PBI Board of Directors Chair James W. Jones said. "The firm's attorneys and staff work tirelessly to create lasting change in the lives of their clients, and for that, they are to be commended."

Sidley's attorneys have worked on a wide variety of issues, ranging from Supreme Court work on behalf of indigent defendants to helping families avoid eviction in local landlord/tenant courts.  Recognizing the opportunity for its lawyers to maximize their impact by combining years of expertise and experience, Sidley administers four firm-wide projects: the Capital Litigation Project; the Political Asylum and Immigrants' Rights Project; the Veterans Benefits Project; and the Africa & Asia Agricultural Enterprise Program.  In 2014, Sidley lawyers and staff dedicated more than 100,000 hours to pro bono projects.

"Pro bono at Sidley starts with our senior leadership," Sidley Pro Bono Counsel Rebecca Troth said. "It is deeply imbedded in the firm's traditions and values, and our management team ensures that we treat our pro bono cases with the same level of dedication as all of our cases. We are truly honored to receive this award from PBI."

Presented annually by PBI and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr (now WilmerHale) and the Pickering family, the award honors the memory of John H. Pickering, a founding partner and distinguished appellate lawyer known for his extraordinary commitment to pro bono and public interest law.

For more information about this and our other awardees, please visit the 2015 PBI Annual Dinner webpage.

About Sidley
With 1,900 lawyers in 18 offices worldwide, Sidley has built a reputation as a premier legal adviser for global businesses and financial institutions. For the fifth consecutive year in 2015, and every year since the survey's inception, Sidley received the most first-tier national rankings in the U.S. News – Best Lawyers^® "Best Law Firms" survey. On Law360's list of Global 20 Firms, Sidley was ranked among the top law firms "with the greatest global reach and expertise." To stay up-to-date with the latest Sidley news, please follow us on Twitter at @SidleyNewsroom or download the Sidley Mobile App. 

About Pro Bono Institute
Established in 1996, PBI is a nonprofit organization with a mandate to explore and identify new approaches to the poor and disadvantaged unable to secure legal assistance to address critical problems. In doing so, PBI identifies and develops innovative programs and undertakes rigorous evaluations to ensure that these new approaches are workable and effective.  PBI administers a number of projects designed to enhance access to justice, including the Law Firm Pro Bono Project^®, Corporate Pro Bono^®, Second Acts^®, Global Pro Bono Project, and Public Interest Pro Bono. Visit www.probonoinst.org for more information.

About the Law Firm Pro Bono Project
The Law Firm Pro Bono Project is the only global effort designed to support and enhance the pro bono culture and performance of major law firms in the United States and around the world. The Law Firm Project's goal is to fully integrate pro bono into the practice, philosophy, and culture of firms so that large law firms provide the institutional support, infrastructure, and encouragement essential to fostering a climate supportive of pro bono service and promoting partner and associate participation.

SOURCE Pro Bono Institute

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