PROBONO Bulletin - Summer 2008 - (Page 12)

nATIonAL nEWS Craigslist Foundation: Founded as an independent nonprofit in 2000, Craigslist Foundation is a publicly supported, non-endowed 501(c)(3) operating foundation that facilitates “people helping people” through online connections. The Foundation provides free and low-cost education opportunities to emerging nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs. DLA Piper lawyers, under the leadership of Dennis Sullivan (East Palo Alto), provide general counsel support to the Foundation and its CEO and give business, contract and tax advice supporting the Foundation’s “Boot Camps,” where the leaders of hundreds of nonprofit organizations obtain intensive training and networking opportunities. northern California Urban Development Corporation (nCUDC): Henry Lesser (East Palo Alto), who champions a holistic model of nonprofit representation, has served for several years as the relationship partner and lead lawyer for the Northern California Urban Development Corporation (NCUDC), a nonprofit community development organization dedicated to the economic self-improvement of lower-income communities. Among the communities it serves are the City of East Palo Alto, where the offices of both NCUDC and DLA Piper are situated. Our lawyers provide real estate, employment, contract, corporate governance and insurance advice to NCUDC in support of its community development activities. For several years, NCUDC’s principal focus was on bringing a credit union to East Palo Alto — a community of 40,000 residents which had historically never had a full-service banking facility. Thanks to the work of DLA Piper lawyers, and particularly Henry’s sophisticated and practical advice, the Community Trust Credit Union of East Palo Alto opened in December 2007, fulfilling the deep need for a financial resource that would serve individuals, families and businesses operating in the city. House of Ruth: Eric Beane (Los Angeles) and lawyers working with him have been providing practical and outside counsel advice to the House of Ruth, founded in 1978, which provides temporary and transitional shelter, emergency food, referral and supportive services for up to 500 women and children a year. Eric has undertaken several projects as House of Ruth’s outside labor and employment counsel. He and his team have reviewed and revised employee handbooks, consulted with the organization on performance issues, provided strategic and drafting support to alternative work schedules, address employee performance problems and represented House of Ruth in a dispute with a former employee over intellectual property posted on a third-party website. Mexican Heritage Corporation (MHC): Since 2006, DLA Piper has served as outside general counsel for the Mexican Heritage Corporation (MHC), which operates the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose, the secondlargest Latino visual and performing arts center in the nation. As relationship lawyer for the corporation, Mary Lavigne-Butler (East Palo Alto) has led firm lawyers from our East Palo Alto and San Francisco offices to provide employment, real estate, intellectual property and dispute resolution counsel to MHC. Projects have included securing protection for the corporation’s logo and costume designs, drafting leases and waivers for MHC’s annual Mariachi Festival and negotiating the restructuring of existing lease and development agreements with the City of San Jose and its redevelopment agency. The firm is also providing strategic guidance and advice to MHC in support of its efforts to secure financial and other support from legislators in California and Washington, DC. 12 | PRO BONO BULLETIN

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of PROBONO Bulletin - Summer 2008

PROBONO Bulletin - Summer 2008 Contents A Firm Response to a Natural Disaster Protecting Our Electorate National News An Interview with Sandy Gohn Mapping Impact FourThought Signature Project Update New Perimeter Launches Addis Ababa Law School Project Awards and Recognition What Our Clients Say About Us

PROBONO Bulletin - Summer 2008

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