Crowell & Moring Honored as Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year in Orange County

Irvine, CA - July 19, 2006: The California office of Crowell & Moring LLP has been named Law Firm of the Year 2006 by the Public Law Center (PLC) and will be honored for its pro bono program at a July 20, 2006 dinner at the Irvine Hyatt Regency. The PLC is celebrating its 25th anniversary of service to the Orange County community and more than 700 attorneys, judges, business and civic leaders are expected to attend the Volunteers for Justice dinner.

As part of the firm's pro bono program, Crowell & Moring lawyers assisted in preventing the closure of a Catholic Worker House because of a zoning issue; litigated on behalf of elderly and indigent Leisure World residents to obtain documents being withheld by management; represented a grandmother in obtaining custody of her grandchildren when the parents were incarcerated; and defended a single father suffering with cancer from the malicious actions of his neighbor. Deborah Arbabi, Randall Erickson, Kirsten Heikaus Weaver, Queena Hu, Theresa Lopez, Van Nguyen, Tricia Rizer, and other attorneys and staff at Crowell & Moring’s Irvine office contributed hundreds of pro bono hours in 2005. In 2002, firm partner Steven P. Rice was honored as the Public Law Center Attorney of the Year.

In a survey of the nation’s 200 highest-grossing firms, Crowell & Moring LLP ranked 13th in American Lawyer's "Pro Bono Report," which was based on the most recent “AmLaw 200” survey of that magazine. The firm boasted an average of 80.4 pro bono hours per lawyer with 62.2 percent of lawyers providing more than 20 hours of pro bono work.

Crowell & Moring has committed itself - as a firm and as a community of professionals - to assure that all citizens have access to the legal system. Crowell & Moring's promotion of broad participation in pro bono work by the firm's lawyers and staff has enabled the firm to serve a range of urgent community needs.

The firm has been recognized by many legal service organizations for its pro bono contributions and has the distinction of receiving the District of Columbia Bar's pro bono "Law Firm of the Year Award" for two of the past 15 years (1991 and 1994). In April 2006, for the second consecutive year, Crowell & Moring was one of 14 Washington, D.C. law firms honored by the Chief Judges of the local Federal Courts for its commitment to pro bono work and meeting the benchmark of having 40 percent of its lawyers personally provide 50 or more hours of pro bono service.

Crowell & Moring LLP is a full-service law firm with approximately 300 lawyers practicing in litigation, antitrust, government contracts, corporate, intellectual property and more than 40 other practice areas. More than two-thirds of the firm's lawyers regularly litigate disputes on behalf of international corporations, start-up businesses, and individuals. Crowell & Moring's extensive client work ranges from advising on one of the world's largest telecommunications mergers to founding the nation's leading victims of terrorism practice. Based in Washington, D.C., the firm has offices in Brussels, California and London.