Community Involvement
Irell & Manella is committed to supporting many community organizations throughout Southern California and nationwide. The firm's attorneys and staff engage in a wide variety of public service activities, including funding research institutions and scholarship programs, sponsoring nonprofit events, nonprofit board leadership positions and participating in volunteer work.
City of Hope's Irell & Manella School of Biological Sciences
Irell's relationship with City of Hope, one of America's preeminent research and treatment centers, began in 1998 when the firm started representing City of Hope in a landmark intellectual property lawsuit. Before long, the firm's passion for City of Hope's case evolved into a passion for its cause. In 2002, Irell began expanding the relationship with City of Hope by making gifts in support of the graduate school's endowment and also establishing a symposium and a lecture fund. Individual lawyers also made gifts for the school's endowment and the firm's staff took on the cause, making quilts on their own time for City of Hope patients undergoing painful treatment. Then the firm began considering doing something bigger and more unusual. The idea emerged to make a major grant to the graduate school. This ultimately took the form of a $5 million donation, which was matched by a $5 million anonymous gift. An additional gift of $2 million created the Irell & Manella Visiting Professorship. The firm also donated $3 million to establish the Irell & Manella Cancer Director's Distinguished Chair. On May 15, 2009, City of Hope named its graduate school the Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences. For more information on this unique relationship, please click here.
Public Counsel's Irell & Manella Chair in Public Interest Law
In 2012, Irell established the first-ever endowed chair for Public Counsel, the nation’s largest pro bono law firm. Judy London, directing attorney of Public Counsel's Immigrants' Rights Project, currently serves as the Irell & Manella Chair in Public Interest Law. Public Counsel's activities are far-ranging and impact the lives of people living at or below the poverty level, support the growth of nonprofits and small businesses, and affect public policy through litigation and advocacy. Public Counsel’s attorneys are active in, among others, veterans’ advocacy, homelessness prevention law, children’s rights, immigrants’ rights, appellate law and federal pro se. For more, please see Public Counsel's website.
Irell is a committed provider of pro bono legal services and has a long record of support for the activities of Public Counsel. Partner Morgan Chu is the longest-serving board member at Public Counsel. Irell associates and partners are currently handling numerous pro bono matters through Public Counsel for various clients in need, including mortgage fraud victims and veterans.
Additional Charitable Giving
Irell & Manella established the Irell & Manella Foundation through which the firm donates to a variety of causes and endows a number of educational institutions.
In addition to the foundation, the firm's Outreach Committee organizes a number of giving and fundraising events throughout the year, including bake sales, raffles, food and school supplies drives.
Irell staff members and attorneys also volunteer with a number of local charity organizations, including Food from the Bar, Adopt-A-Family and Habitat for Humanity.
Community Leadership
Attorneys in the firm have for many years held senior leadership positions in many local and regional non-profit, public-interest and legal organizations, as well as educational, cultural and art institutions, including:
Bet Tzedek Legal Services: a non-profit organization that provides free, expert legal advice and representation to low-income residents of Los Angeles. Amy Proctor currently serves on the board.
Public Counsel: the largest pro bono law office in the nation. Morgan Chu currently serves on the board of directors and its executive committee.
Stanford Board of Visitors: plays an important role in helping the dean of the law school respond to particular challenges facing legal education. Kyle Kawakami currently serves on the board.
Los Angeles Innocence Project provides pro bono investigatory services and legal representation to indigent individuals in Central and Southern California who were convicted of crimes they did not commit. Amy Proctor serves on the board. Thomas Barr serves as a consulting forensic scientist.
University of California, Irvine School of Law (UCI Law) named its pro bono program in recognition of partner emeritus Michael G. Ermer. The Michael G. Ermer Pro Bono Program pays tribute to Mike’s dedication to public service and his significant contributions and long support of UCI Law's public service law program.
“Public Counsel relies on the talents and dedication of major law firms and top attorneys to fulfill our mission of ensuring access to justice for under-served communities. We are grateful to our friends at Irell & Manella for establishing Public Counsel’s first-ever endowed chair and for empowering attorneys to dedicate their talents to address the areas in our community where justice is in greatest doubt.” – Hernán Vera, former president and CEO of Public Counsel