Pro Bono is central to who we are. With emphasis on work that impacts systemic issues, we undertake pro bono matters that strengthen families, empower communities, and protect civil rights. The firm pursues legal work for individuals and organizations in support of our commitment to pursue systemic change to eradicate the root causes of legal, social, and economic inequalities. Hear more from Pro Bono Member David Esquivel about our pro bono contributions.
Strengthen Families
The firm’s pro bono work recognizes the positive impact that legal representation can make for individuals and families. Examples of our work to strengthen families include:
- Partnering with the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center to secure federal benefits for disabled adults.
- A Conservatorship Project to help families provide education, healthcare and housing for severely disabled adult children.
- Working with Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors and Latino Memphis to represent individuals in immigration claims, and petitions for U.S. citizenship.
- Supporting claims for veterans denied medical and retirement benefits who are referred through the National Veterans Legal Services Program.
- Representing refugees in asylum cases. Hear from Phil Berg about his experience working on these types of cases. The video below further illustrates how our pro bono asylum work changed the life of a woman resettled in Tennessee in 2022 after fleeing violence in Afghanistan.
Empower Communities
Our pro bono support for local, national and international organizations enables them to focus on their missions and do what they do best. The work spans a broad spectrum of legal matters including business formation, applying for nonprofit status, real estate transactions, tax guidance, labor and employment issues. Illustrations of the impact of this work include:
- Expanding shelter for the unhoused with Room In The Inn and services for men coming out of prison through Men of Valor.
- Providing housing for families through Habitat for Humanity and for veterans through the Gary Sinise Foundation.
- Supporting expanded education opportunities for children through the work of Play Like A Girl and Su Casa Family Ministries.
- Educating entrepreneurs from Corner to Corner as they develop businesses to support their families and community. Bass, Berry & Sims attorneys present classes on business formation and provide pro bono counsel. Garrah Carter-Mason shared how this work impacts economic justice.
- Partnering with Harvest Hands, a nonprofit working to further education, healthy living, spiritual formation, and economic development in South Nashville. Watch the video below to learn more about how this pro bono work is helping to empower the community and its members.
Protect Civil Rights
Our work to protect civil rights continues a decades long tradition of pro bono work for reform of the criminal legal system. The firm’s work in this area includes:
- Collaborating with Tennessee Innocence Project (TIP) to secure freedom for those wrongfully accused since its founding in 2019, supporting work on six cases, with three clients released from incarceration in 2023. Hear from Ashleigh Karnell who, through our Pro Bono Fellow Program, supported TIP and discusses the importance of our ongoing partnership and work in this area.
- Challenging the constitutionality of the process and procedures of capital punishment include representing a client in opposing the use of lethal injection in Tennessee and successfully obtaining a judicial order nullifying a client’s death sentence. Watch this video from Jeremy Gunn talking about his and the firm’s efforts to challenge the lethal injection protocol in Tennessee.
- Litigating issues relating to money bail in Davidson County, Tennessee. Through this work, Angie Bergman helped the Nashville Community Bail Fund (NCBF) win a federal suit that will allow them to continue operating.
Click below to read more about how our attorneys are impacting our communities.
