Outreach Through Pro Bono and Public Service

Hahn Loeser attorneys continually work to enhance the quality of life within their communities by providing legal assistance to persons in need and to community organizations, and by participating regularly in local not-for-profit organizations. Hahn Loeser has a longstanding commitment to improving the public welfare, and encourages such participation by our attorneys.

Our attorneys strive to contribute no less than 50 hours to pro bono or public service activities each year. The firm supports attorneys pursuing their own passions and interests, but also organizes opportunities for them to make valuable contributions in their communities to further help them meet their goals. This practice often particularly benefits young associates in their first few years of practice by allowing them to gain professional experience in situations that they would not normally have so early in their careers.

Nearly every attorney in the firm is involved in board memberships or various other forms of leadership in community organizations. In addition, in recent years, the firm has redoubled its efforts to provide direct legal service to those in need, and has organized programs to aid attorneys in providing these services. Some of the most recent programs include:

• Legal assistance to low-income tenants
  A number of specially-trained Hahn Loeser attorneys are currently representing low-income tenants, referred by Legal Aid, who are in disputes with their landlords. Some of these pro bono clients have faced retaliatory eviction, lock-outs, and wrongful lease terminations.
• Estate planning for first responders
  Hahn Loeser attorneys across the firm have taken a lead role in forming the Ohio Wills for Heroes program, which provides free estate planning documents to first responders such as police officers, firefighters, and Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs). Our attorneys have helped coordinate the program statewide, reviewed intellectual property issues, participated in estate planning work, and automated document preparation.
• Community drop-in clinics
  Hahn Loeser attorneys regularly participate in community-based drop-in clinics through organizations like Akron Community Legal Aid (ACLA). In 2009, Hahn Loeser was named “Law Firm of the Year” by ACLA for making pro bono part of our culture and taking on extended commitments to ACLA’s programs. In these clinics, clients have the opportunity to ask a variety of questions to a lawyer at no charge.
• Immigration
  Hahn Loeser has successfully represented individuals seeking asylum, including a Rwandan immigrant of mixed Hutu-Tutsi ethnicity who was imprisoned and tortured because of his purported affiliation with an oppositional political party.
• Aid to the courts
  Hahn Loeser attorneys volunteer their time to mediate on behalf of the courts for small civil disputes. This not only provides valuable legal services within the court system, but also gives young associates on-their-feet court experience early in their careers.
• Guardian ad litem
  Hahn Loeser attorneys have served as guardians ad litem in many cases. One such case included acting in the best interests of a foreign child abducted by an American parent who was seeking to keep the child in the United States. Another matter involved acting in the best interests of a child who was removed from his home by the Department of Children and Family Services following a series of family problems.
• Not-for-profit volunteer legal services
  Hahn Loeser attorneys have provided corporate legal advice in order to help form budding organizations. They have also supported struggling not-for-profit organizations whose goals have been as diverse as: revitalizing the Cleveland economy, promoting the arts, providing clothes to those in need, and aiding the people of Haiti, among others.