Social Impact & Volunteering

BNY Mellon Recognized as Outstanding Legal Department by New York Law Journal for Pro Bono Work

Feb 12, 2014 9:30 AM ET
Campaign: BNY Mellon: Invested in Our World

NEW YORK, February 12, 2014 /3BL Media/ — BNY Mellon’s Legal Department is one of seven to receive an Outstanding Legal Department Award from the New York Law Journal. The recognition is for setting a pro bono standard in the State of New York and nationally with its comprehensive, employee-led pro bono program providing exceptionally high-quality legal work for many of the state’s most vulnerable citizens. The New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI) nominated BNY Mellon for the honor, to be awarded on March 10.

“Since the inception of their program in 2012, BNY Mellon is setting the pro bono standard in New York and nationally with its comprehensive employee-led pro bono program and exceptionally high-quality legal work for many of the state’s most vulnerable citizens. Its pro bono leadership is unmatched,” NYLPI stated in its nominating letter. “The pro bono efforts of the company’s legal department have made a significant positive impact on New York’s underserved.”

Over the last year, BNY Mellon has worked on a wide variety of direct service projects that include:

  • Helping seniors establish supplemental needs trusts that allow them access to income;
  • Assisting service members and veterans affected by the repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law;
  • Ending discrimination against transgender people by providing legal assistance to those seeking to change their legal names; and
  • Aiding low-income women with services in the areas of matrimonial, family and immigration law.

The NYLPI also stressed that under the leadership of Jane Sherburne, senior executive vice president and general counsel, the Pro Bono Committee chaired by Deborah Kaye worked tirelessly to establish this program. “BNY Mellon’s attorneys have consistently exhibited extraordinary commitment and compassion for their pro bono clients,” they wrote. “They have expanded access to justice to New York City’s most isolated and underserved residents, making an immeasurable difference in their lives.”

“Our imperative has been to provide the leadership and the tools to enable our in-house lawyers to give back. Our lawyers want to do pro bono work, and they do it eagerly, and our Committee has developed a wide variety of projects for pro bono work in each of our geographic locations across the globe,” Sherburne said. “Our most successful projects in New York are those that have involved excellent partnerships with law firms and non-profit organizations, allowing us to do amazing things together.”

BNY Mellon, a global leader in investment management and investment services, has a longstanding heritage of philanthropy and community partnership dating back to the founding of the company in 1784. BNY Mellon encourages team and individual volunteering and fundraising year-round in the 35 countries in which it operates, and has contributed $200 million globally to strengthen and improve its communities over the past six years.

BNY Mellon is a global investments company dedicated to helping its clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment lifecycle. Whether providing financial services for institutions, corporations or individual investors, BNY Mellon delivers informed investment management and investment services in 35 countries and more than 100 markets. As of Dec. 31, 2013, BNY Mellon had $27.6 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $1.6 trillion in assets under management. BNY Mellon can act as a single point of contact for clients looking to create, trade, hold, manage, service, distribute or restructure investments. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Learn more at www.bnymellon.com, or follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon.

 

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