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Insights > First industry-wide Pro Bono Day of Service helps vulnerable customers and communities
First industry-wide Pro Bono Day of Service helps vulnerable customers and communities
04/07/2023
Last November, EEI joined a group of member companies and the Pro Bono Institute in hosting EmPOWERing Pro Bono Day, a first-ever event for the electric power industry. Participants used the day of service to offer legal support to low-income, marginalized communities in electric companies’ service territories.
In-house legal teams from electric and natural gas companies across the country—including AVANGRID, Consolidated Edison, Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, El Paso Electric, Entergy, Exelon, and PPL Corporation—volunteered in the focused effort to provide support for underserved communities in their service territories.
As part of the marked day of service, more than 150 in-house volunteer attorneys and legal staff teamed up with outside counsel and nonprofits to help customers find legal solutions to problems affecting the stability and well-being of vulnerable community members. The volunteers served more than 315 clients as part of EmPOWERing Pro Bono Day.
“When we help our customers navigate complex legal issues, they become more resilient, which means they will be able to manage life’s challenges, whether it’s on a blue-sky day or following a disaster,” said Christy Kane, attorney and pro bono counsel at Entergy.
Entergy’s team, led by Kane, connected pro bono attorneys and resources with nearly 200 community members throughout Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Twenty-nine volunteers from Entergy’s legal department, including Executive Vice President and General Counsel Marcus Brown, worked on life-planning documents for seniors, veterans, and first responders; provided policy research on restoring a driver’s license; staffed in-person and online referral clinics for self-represented litigants; addressed issues related to the racial justice gap in property ownership; and represented domestic violence survivors.
This article was originally published in the March/April 2023 issue of EEI’s Electric Perspectives magazine.
