An ethic of public service is deeply rooted in Pierce Atwood’s history and culture. The firm also has a long and proud history of supporting a wide range of nonprofit and charitable organizations in the various communities in which we live and work. We are proud that so many of our attorneys and staff devote their time to important causes and organizations.

It is our goal that each of our attorneys will dedicate at least 50 hours each year to pro bono and community service, and many of our attorneys meet and exceed that goal by supporting a wide range of organizations across the U.S. and internationally. In 2014, we launched the Janet D. Eustis Memorial Staff Volunteer Time-Off Program, to empower our staff to get even more involved in their communities. Staff members are given one paid day off each year to volunteer for a nonprofit organization of their choice. As a firm, we hold an annual Day of Community Service. Since 2004, our attorneys and staff leave the office together to work on a service project for a deserving charitable organization.

As we have grown, and to better manage and coordinate the various fundraising efforts, we have established a Charitable Giving Committee. The committee’s mission is to identify a special charity or nonprofit to be the beneficiary of the firm’s yearlong, firmwide fundraising programs. We are pleased to also support nonprofit and charitable organizations in our local communities, and will direct a portion of our fundraising efforts there as well.

And in an effort to recognize outstanding pro bono and community service contributions, and encourage all employees to become involved in their communities, we created an annual Pro Bono and Community Service Awards program. Our 2022 “Pro Bono Attorney of the Year,” tax attorney Olga Goldberg, provided 147 hours of pro bono service to assist Peace Ridge Sanctuary, an 800-acre nonprofit animal rescue in Maine, in a case where the town refused to grant the property tax exemption to which they were entitled. Following a five-day trial, the Maine Superior Court ruled that most of the property should have received the tax exemption going back to 2016. The large tax refund will make a huge difference in the Sanctuary’s ability to care for Maine’s abused and neglected animals.

Pierce Atwood's Commitment to the Community

 

Pierce Atwood Pro Bono Leadership Team

Emily L. Cooke: Pro Bono partner & Portland office pro bono leader
207.791.1396
ecooke@pierceatwood.com

Nicholas Brown: Boston office pro bono leader
617.488.8145
nbrown@pierceatwood.com

Michele Kenney: Portsmouth office pro bono leader
603.373.2043
mkenney@pierceatwood.com

Brooks Magratten: Providence office pro bono leader
401.588.5113
bmagratten@pierceatwood.com

Randall Rich: Washington, DC office pro bono leader
202.530.6424
rrich@pierceatwood.com 

Pierce Atwood Pro Bono Team Members

Robert Abrahamsen Lisa Gilbreath Kathleen McCormack
Newell Augur Natalie Huddleston Michelle Pottle
Bonnie Ball Wahrer Ryan Kelley Nolan Reichl
Nick Brown Michele Kenney Randall Rich
Emily Cooke Kellie MacDonald Cynthia Shove
Jared des Rosiers Brooks Magratten  

Pierce Atwood is pleased to represent numerous individuals and organizations ona pro bono basis, and has formed a particularly close relationship with these organizations. Click here to read more about our pro bono partners.

Each year, Pierce Atwood identifies an organization or a cause for its charitable activities. These activities include jeans days, pizza lunches, lunchtime trivia competitions, and other firmwide fundraising events.

For 2020 & 2021, we focused our fundraising efforts on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Association, the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer’s care, support and research. Founded in 1980 by a group of family caregivers and individuals who recognized the need for an organization that would unite caregivers, provide support to those facing Alzheimer’s and advance research into the disease, today the association reaches millions of people affected by Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

In 2019, we supported the Doug Flutie Jr Foundation for Autism, established in 1998 by former quarterback Doug Flutie and his wife Laurie, in honor of their son Doug, Jr. who was diagnosed with autism at the age of three. The mission of the foundation is to help people and families affected by autism live life to the fullest.

In 2018, we supported the Make-A-Wish Foundation, whose mission is to grant the wish of every child diagnosed with a critical illness.

In 2017, Pierce Atwood focused our fundraising efforts on safe havens to support women and children in at-risk situations. Each office selected an organization in its community as the beneficiary of the funds raised. All money raised throughout the year was split among the following organizations:

Boston – Casa Myrna
Washington, DC – My Sister's Place
Augusta/Portland - Family Crisis Services
Portsmouth – HAVEN
Providence - Sojourner House

In 2016, Pierce Atwood’s Charitable Giving Committee selected the Travis Roy Foundation as the beneficiary of our yearlong fundraising efforts. Travis Roy, a native of Yarmouth, Maine, was on the BU hockey team in his freshman year. At just 11 seconds into his first collegiate hockey game, he crashed into the boards the wrong way and was left paralyzed from the neck down.

Following his injury, Travis created a foundation focused on empowering spinal cord injury survivors through adaptive equipment grants and providing funding for spinal cord injury research. Travis was a popular motivational speaker and made frequent appearances around New England and across the country. Travis passed away in 2020.

In 2015, under the leadership of firm energy attorney Julia Weller and paralegal Sandy Stenquist, Pierce Atwood raised nearly $3000 to assist victims of the Nepal earthquake. These funds are being donated to the Gorkhaly Foundation, which is working to rebuild the micro-hydro plant in Barpak, the quake’s epicenter, and the American Nepal Medical Foundation, one of the first organizations to respond when the earthquake hit, and that is still on the ground in Nepal.

In addition to supporting the efforts of attorneys to provide pro bono legal services, Pierce Atwood also recognizes the many meaningful volunteer contributions made by our staff. In 2014, the firm announced the Janet D. Eustis Memorial Volunteer Time Off Program. Through the VTO program, staff members receive one paid day off each year to volunteer their time to organizations that positively impact the lives of others. Janet Eustis was a Pierce Atwood legal assistant for 15 years whose commitment to her community inspired everyone who knew her, and whose selflessness reflected the best of our firm’s tradition of service.