Corporate Pro Bono Day 2006

Philadelphia LawWorks' third annual Corporate Pro Bono Day (CPBD) was the biggest and best to date. On September 12, 2006, LawWorks, with the help of twenty volunteer corporate counsel from various Philadelphia-area businesses, was able to assist nineteen local small businesses with ongoing legal matters. Volunteers included counsel from PECO Energy, Comcast Cable Communications, Pep Boys, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, and many others.

Bill Donahue of PECO Energy meets with business owners Mark Abrams and Robin Brown.

CPBD was hosted by The Enterprise Center, a minority business development center located in the historic American Bandstand Building in West Philadelphia. Prior to the counseling sessions, attorneys from Blank Rome LLP provided a continuing legal education seminar on the essential legal needs of small businesses.

The Enterprise Center: A view of the original American Bandstand dance floor

Trainers from Blank Rome LLP Jane Storero, Eric Begun, Christine Bonavita, William Keffer, Cory Jacobs with Kathy Ochroch, Pro Bono Coordinator for Blank Rome LLP (second from left)

Small business owners received expert legal advice on the original dance floor of Philadelphia’s own American Bandstand. Volunteers counseled a variety of microentrepreneurs, including a clothing company, a wireless phone store, a clothing designer, a caterer, a photographer, and a handbag designer. Most of the micro-entrepreneurs attending the event are local minority and women business owners and operators.

Pep Boys Volunteers Ed Kiernan, Ellen Frank, Anita Holm, Janice Levin, and Brian Zuckerman with business owners.

CPBD 2006 Photos by Colleen Mulhern