Pro Bono

Chapman’s Kimberly Bischoff, Shannon Burke, Carson Ludwig, Cary Nadelman, and Marilynn Tham, in collaboration with volunteer attorneys from one of our financial institution clients and a team from the Center for Disability & Elder Law (CDEL), provided seniors with free estate planning services.

Chapman Pro Bono Counsel Sara Ghadiri spoke at an event hosted by the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC): “Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) Extension in Illinois: A Celebration and Pro Bono Training.”

Chapman attorneys partnered with volunteer attorneys from one of the firm’s financial institution clients to draft renewal paperwork for individuals whose Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is up for renewal.

Chapman has been named the 2021 Illinois State Bar Association’s John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Award recipient, after being nominated by one of the firm’s pro bono partner organizations, the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI).

Chapman Pro Bono Counsel Sara Ghadiri spoke at the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) Leadership Summit. 

Chapman was named to the 2021 Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) Pro Bono Recognition Roster, recognizing law firms and corporate legal departments for inspiring and life-changing pro bono work performed by attorneys and legal professionals in Illinois.

Chapman Pro Bono Counsel Sara Ghadiri was recognized as the 2021 National Immigrant Justice Center Human Rights Award honoree.

R. Amani Smathers, a senior analyst on Chapman's Practice Innovations team, was recognized by Legal Aid Chicago as the “Volunteer of the Year” from Legal Aid Chicago’s Criminal Records Relief Project.

Chapman Pro Bono Counsel Sara Ghadiri has been named the 2021 National Immigrant Justice Center Human Rights Award honoree.

A recent Chicago Daily Law Bulletin article, "CDEL Honors Its Innovative Volunteers," profiled Chapman's collaboration with the Center for Disability & Elder Law (CDEL) to expand access to estate planning services.

Chapman is proud to be honored as “Corporate Partner of the Year” by the Center for Disability & Elder Law (CDEL) at its virtual 2021 Light Up the Loop Awards Benefit.

For the third consecutive year, Chapman is proud to be recognized as an American Bar Association (ABA) Free Legal Answers Pro Bono Leader for the work of our attorneys in 2020 on behalf of the ABA Free Legal Answers program in Illinois.

Chapman is proud to support the Pro Bono Institute and Corporate Pro Bono's Financial Institution Pro Bono Day with Chapman clients and Legal Aid Chicago.

Chapman has been proud to serve as pro bono counsel to Children’s Rights in its efforts to advocate for and protect vulnerable immigrant children as amicus to the plaintiffs-appellees in Flores v. Rosen, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 19-56326.

Chapman sponsored a Legal Aid Chicago Holiday Virtual Event.

Chapman’s innovations team creates app to help Legal Aid Chicago expand access to criminal record expungement services.

Chapman attorneys partnered with volunteer attorneys from one of the firm’s financial institution clients to draft renewal paperwork for individuals whose Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is up for renewal.

Chapman congratulates Associate and Pro Bono Counsel Sara Ghadiri, who received Illinois Wesleyan University’s 2020 Robert M. Montgomery Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

Chapman’s innovations team automates the generation of essential estate planning documents to help CDEL expand access to estate planning services for underserved people in Illinois.

Chapman sponsored Legal Aid Chicago's 2020 Relay for Justice, a virtual walk, run, and bike event.

Chapman’s Pro Bono Counsel Sara Ghadiri is a passionate advocate for people who cannot use their voice in the American legal system.

We are proud to announce that Chapman has joined the new Law Firm Antiracism Alliance (LFAA) formed to work on pro bono projects and regulatory advocacy initiatives that seek to correct injustices in our legal system and to promote racial equality in the law and government institutions.

Chapman was named to the 2020 Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) Pro Bono Recognition Roster, recognizing law firms and corporate legal departments for inspiring and life-changing pro bono work performed by attorneys and legal professionals in Illinois.

Chapman has joined the Chicago Bar Association’s Wills for Heroes: COVID-19 Essential Healthcare Workers program to provide estate planning services to individuals serving on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

Representing a detained client during a pandemic is extraordinarily challenging, but Chapman attorneys Sara Ghadiri, Melanie Haywood, and Eric Silvestri with assistance from Finance Law Development Analyst Rachel Waddey and support from the detained team at National Immigrant Justice Center helped a survivor of severe domestic violence from Egypt obtain asylum.

Chapman Associate and Pro Bono Counsel Sara Ghadiri discussed her work with the Illinois Free Legal Answers program and assisting pro se litigants during the COVID-19 pandemic in an interview with the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. 

For the second consecutive year, Chapman is proud to be recognized as an American Bar Association Free Legal Answers Pro Bono Leader for the work of our attorneys in 2019 on behalf of the ABA Free Legal Answers program. Associate and Pro Bono Counsel Sara Ghadiri was individually recognized for her work on behalf of the program. 

Chapman attorneys Sara Ghadiri and Eric Straughn assisted at the Public Interest Law Initiative's Legal Prep Community Law Clinic in Chicago’s Garfield Park neighborhood, interviewing four individuals to answer their immediate legal questions and putting them on the path toward getting free representation.

Chapman served as pro bono counsel to Children’s Rights to advocate for and protect vulnerable children in its recent amicus brief in support of plaintiff-appellees.

Chapman pro bono efforts have resulted in Immigration and Customs Enforcement granting parole to two women, both victims of torture for their involvement in the Anglophone separatist movement in Cameroon.

Attorneys and legal professionals from BMO Financial Group and Chapman are partnering with the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers to study the extent to which tenant eviction proceedings are being conducted across the US without a record and comparing the differences between those unrecorded proceedings and recorded proceedings.

Chapman is serving as pro bono counsel to Children’s Rights to advocate for and protect vulnerable children in a recent amicus brief. On September 27, a district court issued a favorable ruling, and Judge Dolly Gee tracked arguments made in Children’s Rights’ brief.

Chapman is serving as pro bono counsel to Children’s Rights to advocate for and protect vulnerable children in its most recent amicus brief.

For the sixth time, Chapman was named to the 2019 PILI Pro Bono Roster, recognizing law firms and corporate legal departments for inspiring and life-changing pro bono work performed by attorneys and legal professionals in Illinois.

Chapman attorneys David Batty, Kimberly Bischoff, Will Petraglia, Sara Ghadiri, and Eric Manor volunteered at the Charlotte Fire Department Headquarters for a Wills for Heroes clinic.

Chapman was honored by the Chicago Legal Clinic with the 2019 Pro Bono Service Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the clinic’s mission to provide community-based quality legal services and education to the underserved and disadvantaged.

Attorneys from Chapman's San Francisco office participated in the Legal First Responders kick off event. Legal First Responders is a program of Legal Access Alameda.

Chapman Associate and Pro Bono Counsel Sara Ghadiri was named to the 2019 class of The Outstanding Young Persons of Illinois by the Illinois Jaycees — Sara was the only honoree this year in the category of political, legal, and/or government affairs.

Chapman attorneys recently partnered with attorneys and legal professionals from BMO Financial Group (through their Pro Bono program) to draft renewal paperwork for individuals whose Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is up for renewal.

Chapman is proud to be recognized as an American Bar Association (ABA) Free Legal Answers 2018 Pro Bono Leader for our attorneys work on behalf of the ABA Free Legal Answers program in Illinois.

For the past two years, Chapman attorneys have collaborated with Illinois Legal Aid Online’s (ILAO) Free Legal Answers Program. This month we reached a milestone, answering more than 500 legal questions and helping Illinois residents faced with major life challenges.

On November 16, attorneys at Chapman partnered with attorneys and legal professionals from BMO Financial Group (through their Pro Bono program) to draft renewal paperwork for individuals whose Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals was up for renewal.