Attorney Panel on Transactional Pro Bono Work: Engaging in Pro Bono Legal Work for Businesses, Artists, Arts Organizations, and Nonprofit Agencies

Join us to hear a panel of attorneys discuss their careers and opportunities to get involved in transactional pro bono work as a law student and in your legal careers. Food and Beverages provided. Co-Sponsored by the Boston Bar Association Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Section Pro Bono Committee Panelists: Dan Crocker is the Associate Director of Legal Services at Arts and Business Council. In his role, he represents and consults with artists and arts organizations on their legal needs, such as drafting and reviewing contracts and licensing agreements, filing copyright and trademark registrations, incorporating nonprofits, administering estates, resolving tax matters, and forming business entities. Dan is a licensed attorney in Massachusetts and Louisiana, and his first two years of practicing law were spent as a litigation attorney in Baton Rouge. He received a J.D. and a B.S. in General Business from Louisiana State University in 2006 and 2003, respectively. Jessica Sommer is the Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Belin Economic Justice Project. The mission of the Belin Economic Justice Project is to contribute to the economic growth of low-income and minority communities throughout Massachusetts by providing small businesses with pro bono legal assistance and education. Jess received her B.A. from Wesleyan University in 2000 and graduated from the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law in 2005. At Pitt Law, Jess served on Law Review, graduated cum laude and received numerous academic awards including the Robert DeBroff Prize, awarded to the graduate with the highest achievement in Corporate Law. Prior to joining the Lawyers' Committee, Jess worked at Ropes & Gray LLP as a corporate associate and joined the Barack Obama Presidential Campaign as a Finance Staff volunteer. Jessica is a member of the Massachusetts Bar. Machiko Sano-Hewitt joined the Lawyers Clearinghouse as the Legal Referral Director in 2004. She is responsible for the Community Legal Referral Program, which matches pro bono attorneys with nonprofit housing, homelessness and economic development agencies in need of legal services. Machiko also administers the Boston Bar Association Business Law Pro Bono Project. In addition, she runs the Clearinghouse's educational program, offering numerous legal seminars for nonprofits statewide with various partners in Boston, Lawrence, Lowell, Leominster and Gardner. Prior to joining the Clearinghouse, Machiko worked at the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts as a staff attorney and coordinator of its legal referral program. She was the Japanese program coordinator and a lecturer at Tufts University and then supervised production of economic models for pharmaceutical companies at an international pharmacoeconomics company as their contract manager. Machiko is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law and Hokkaido University School of Law in Sapporo, Japan.

NIS