Community Service
Our firm recognizes the importance of providing non-legal community service to those in need. This includes charitable donations, membership on boards of not-for-profit organizations, volunteer service and creating career opportunities for qualified students from under-resourced communities.

Dewey & LeBoeuf understands that charitable contributions play an important role in sustaining organizations that advocate for those in need. In addition to the pro bono legal services we provide to not-for-profit organizations, many of our attorneys provide non-legal assistance to an impressive list of such organizations.

Every year, our lawyers and non-legal staff participate in an array of clothing, food and toy drives. Many of our attorneys and staff help raise funds for various causes by participating in marathons and other relief efforts. We also encourage our attorneys and staff to participate in blood drives to help address the concerns of our current blood shortage.

We also believe that a firm committed to community service should do its part to create career opportunities for students from under-resourced areas. For that reason, we are proud of our relationship with Legal Outreach and Development School for Youth.

Legal Outreach

During the summer, Dewey & LeBoeuf organizes a mock negotiation exercise for the Legal Outreach Summer Institute Program. Legal Outreach is an organization that prepares urban youth from underserved communities in New York City to compete at high academic levels by using intense legal and educational programs as tools for fostering vision, developing skills, enhancing confidence, and facilitating the pursuit of higher education.  Specifically, through its Summer Institute Program, Legal Outreach provides approximately 30-35 students with the opportunity to shadow lawyers for a day and participate in hands-on mock exercises. Our lawyers work closely with the High School for Law, Advocacy and Community Justice, formerly the Martin Luther King, Jr. High School, to prepare students for major moot trial and mock trial competitions.

This past summer, a large group of associates and attorneys facilitated a mock negotiation of a recording and distribution agreement. The purpose of the exercise was to expose the students to transactional work while teaching them key techniques of contract negotiation.

Development School for Youth

The Development School for Youth (DSY) provides approximately 500 high school students with the opportunity to intern at more than 60 businesses and legal institutions in New York City and Newark, New Jersey. This past summer, Dewey & LeBoeuf placed six interns in various departments at the firm. Throughout the summer, students learn about the inner workings of law firms while gaining professional and leadership skills. Additionally, the firm has decided to hire some of the interns on a part-time basis during the year while they are attending school.

High School for Law, Advocacy and Community Justice Program

Every year since 1986, Dewey & LeBoeuf has proudly served as the "mentor firm" for the High School for Law, Advocacy and Community Justice. The firm acts as a mentor firm in coaching and preparing the school's students for annual moot court and mock trial competitions sponsored by Fordham Law School and the New York State Bar Association, respectively. Students meet with attorneys at the firm several times each week to practice for the tournaments. In 2007, the mock trial team advanced to the fourth round of the tournament.

Some of our firm's attorneys have also formed mentor relationships with students. They have taken students to observe New York court proceedings on several occasions in order to further familiarize them with the legal system, and served as individual mentors to students, providing support and insight on the path towards a legal career. 

Additional community service projects include:

The JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge
The Jan Hus Homeless Outreach and Advocacy Program
Hale House Holiday Giving Program
Annual Dress for Success Women's Suit Drive
Annual Feed the Kids Drive (Summer Meal Program)
Grooming Items for Various Homeless Shelters
New York Cares Coat Drive
Children's Aid Society Holiday Drive
The Food Bank for New York City