Press & News
Allegra Rich Profiled in Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
01/16/2007
Allegra's new position as firm-wide Pro Bono Partner and Director of Philanthropy was highlighted in the article "Seyfarth takes charity to 'next level' " in the January 15, 2007 issue of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin which includes quotes from Allegra and Steve Poor:
"As a lawyer and litigator with Seyfarth, Shaw LLP for 10 years, Allegra R. Rich found intellectual challenge and stimulation and made close friends. Plus she was a success. She made partner. Then she quit. That turned out to be a new beginning. Rich is back at Seyfarth and a partner again with an entirely different focus: Last week, she was appointed ''full-time, firm-wide Pro Bono Partner and Director of Philanthropy'' at Seyfarth. Rich believes her newly created job ''is unique among large law firms and really demonstrates our firm's dedication to playing an active and positive role in the communities in which we work and live.''
Perhaps only 25 or 30 law firms in America have a full-time pro bono partner with no paying clients, according to Esther F. Lardent, president of the Washington-based Pro Bono Institute. Combining that partner role with directing philanthropy at the firm makes the position even more unusual. ''In Chicago, the only pro bono partner I'm aware of is [Terrance A. Norton] at Sonnenschein,'' Lardent said.
For Rich, ''It has been such a joy to return in my new role'' after 15 months away, ''because I am back among friends.'' Rich, 36, started as Seyfarth as a summer associate in 1994. In 1995, she earned her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and became a full-time associate with Seyfarth in September of that year. Law runs in her family. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Rich said her mother is a lawyer, and ''I had always considered a career in the law.'' After her first summer at Seyfarth, ''I knew this was where I wanted to practice.''
Her work in Seyfarth's Chicago office focused on employment discrimination and litigation involving the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, especially ERISA class actions. Yet by 2005, ''I came to realize that the adversarial nature of litigation was not a good match with my personality.'' ''The decision to leave Seyfarth was gut-wrenching,'' she said. ''I loved the people I worked with, so it was extremely difficult to say goodbye. ''At that time, I chose to resign rather than take a leave of absence, because I did not know whether I would be back.'' ''During my 15 months off, I traveled the world, spent time with family and friends all over the country, took various classes and volunteered as an adult literacy tutor, which I still do today.''
Rich also is a member of the Women's Board of the University of Chicago, where she received her bachelor's degree. ''In 2006, I served on the Projects Committee, which evaluates grant proposals and decides what projects to fund. ''That experience sparked my interest in philanthropy, and I began to consider working for a charitable foundation,'' she said. ''I took classes in nonprofit management because I was thinking about pursuing a career in philanthropy.''
When J. Stephen Poor, Seyfarth's managing partner learned of Rich's interest in philanthropy, ''he proposed that I return to Seyfarth and help with its charitable foundation, community outreach and pro bono efforts,'' Rich said. ''It is a career change, definitely a different direction.'' For the firm, too, it's ''an evolution,'' Poor commented. In recent years, ''people in our organization have been spending a lot of time and energy giving back to our communities'' through pro bono legal work, through The Seyfarth Shaw Charitable Foundation, founded in 2004, and through volunteer community work, he said. ''To move that to the next level of corporate citizenship, we wanted someone to help us coordinate, raise our visibility and support what our people are already doing.''
''We really don't think other firms do it this way,'' Rich said, combining the oversight of pro bono work, philanthropy and community work in one person. Lardent said that to her knowledge only Stephen F. Hanlon, a partner at Holland & Knight in the Washington office combines full-time pro bono responsibility with oversight of charitable giving.
In 2006, The Seyfarth Shaw Charitable Foundation donated more than $750,000 to various organizations in which the firm's attorneys and staff are involved. With Rich's appointment, the firm expects to increase that amount and expand the involvement by attorneys and staff.
There is a trend toward centralization of pro bono activities at law firms, according to Joel F. Henning, a law firm consultant with Hildebrandt International. ''Many firms have pro bono committees or partners looking after pro bono activities,'' Henning said, although those attorneys may also have paying clients. ''Partners are loathe to pay equity partner compensation to too many partners not producing revenue, and the issue is especially acute where the partner is dealing only with pro bono services,'' Henning added. ''The question is whether there is enough work to keep a fully employed partner fully engaged.''
At Seyfarth, Rich's work is intended to be truly full-time. ''We have a robust pro bono program,'' she said. ''The efforts of attorneys here to get people involved have really stepped up. What we're lacking is this coordinated approach. Each office sort of does its own thing. That's going to change as this evolves.''
Seyfarth's list of pro bono services includes work in fair housing, political asylum, immigration, and advocacy for children, the disabled and the elderly; also work in adoption rights, domestic abuse, guardianship and prisoner rights; plus corporate services for nonprofit groups and volunteer work as mediators and pro tempore judges. The list of organizations to which Seyfarth lawyers have donated time, money and resources is even longer, and includes just in Chicago, The Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities, the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center, Lawyers for the Creative Arts, AIDS Foundation of Chicago, the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, the Chicago Children's Museum, the Morton Arboretum, the YMCA and the YWCA.
Rich said she is proud to be part of this. ''My purpose is to use my analytical and organizational skills to benefit an organization I care about deeply.''