Press Release
Contact: Tomás Dardet
Telephone: 787-782-8800
e-mail: tdardet@prlinksco.com

An Innovative Legal Assistance Program to Help Grow the Third Sector

August 23, 2006, San Juan, Puerto Rico - McConnell Valdés, the largest law firm in Puerto Rico marks this year the 60th anniversary of its founding. To commemorate this anniversary and demonstrate its continued commitment to Puerto Rico’s community development, McConnell Valdés has created a unique and pioneering pro bono program to provide legal assistance to non-profit organizations.

For decades, the firm has maintained a leadership role in corporate social responsibility programs guiding the valuable and necessary work of many charitable and social service organizations, such as United Way of Puerto Rico (Fondos Unidos), the Puerto Rico Community Foundation (Fundación Comunitaria de Puerto Rico), SER de Puerto Rico, March of Dimes, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society’s Comité de Niños que Quieren Sonreir and the local Red Cross chapter, among others. Many of the firm’s partners have served in the governing boards of many of these organizations.  In addition, McConnell Valdés is the only law firm in Puerto Rico affiliated with Lex Mundi, the world’s leading association of independent law firms. As a member of Lex Mundi, McConnell Valdés is an active supporter of Lex Mundi´s international pro bono initiatives. 

The McConnell Valdés Pro Bono Program will be the first formal program of its kind sponsored by a law firm in Puerto Rico. To insure maximum participation by not-for-profit organizations, the firm will work with the Puerto Rico Community Foundation, the only community foundation in Puerto Rico, and United Way of Puerto Rico, the largest not-for-profit umbrella organization in Puerto Rico, to identify those not-for-profit organizations in need of legal assistance.

Initially, the McConnell Valdés Pro Bono Program will focus on transactional matters related to the corporate structure, governance and operations of local not-for-profit organizations.  At this stage, any organization interested in obtaining legal advice from this program will work through the local offices of United Way and the Puerto Rico Community Foundation, which in turn will coordinate all requests with the McConnell Valdés Pro Bono Committee.

For the past year, McConnell Valdés  has been assessing the legal needs of not-for-profit organizations, evaluating best practices for the delivery of pro bono legal services, and designing the program. Recently, attorneys Antonio Escudero Viera and Helen A. Salichs, a member of the McConnell Valdés Pro Bono Committee and who will coordinate and implement the strategies of the firm´s pro bono activities, attended the renowned Pro Bono Institute’s Annual Seminar.  The Pro Bono Institute at Georgetown University Law Center explores and identifies new approaches and resources for the provision of legal services to the poor, disadvantaged individuals and groups unable to secure legal assistance to address critical problems.

 “Through our research, we have learned that this is an area that leading community and private foundations and corporations in Puerto Rico and in the continental United States, have identified as critical for the expansion of social and educational programs and the continued development of the Third Sector on the Island,” said Antonio Escudero Viera, a partner of McConnell Valdés, Chair of the McConnell Valdés Pro Bono Committee and past President of the Board of Directors of the Puerto Rico Community Foundation.

According to the “Report on Not for Profit Organizations in Puerto Rico, 2002” commissioned by United Way of Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Community Foundation and other prominent foundations, the not-for-profit organizations in Puerto Rico contributed approximately $2 billion dollars or (5.2%) to Puerto Rico’s gross product in the year 2000.

“McConnell Valdés has demonstrated over the course of its 60-year history a strong commitment to the community. Through its Pro Bono Program, the firm seeks to expand its commitment and to support this growing and much-needed sector of our local economy by making available to its organizations the legal services necessary to strengthen their growth and to allow them to expand the availability of social and educational programs to communities and individuals in need,” commented Arturo J. García Solá, McConnell Valdés Managing Partner and member of the Board of Directors of United Way of Puerto Rico (Fondos Unidos).

McConnell Valdés was founded in Puerto Rico by attorneys Herbert McConnell and Adolfo “Wally” Valdés in 1946. Today, the law firm is one of the largest Hispanic-owned firms in the world, with more than 110 attorneys, and a support staff of about 150. Clients range from start-up businesses to large local or multinational corporations, including Fortune 500 companies. For more information on McConnell Valdés access www.mcvpr.com.

For additional information on the following organizations please access their respective web sites:

United Way of Puerto Rico- www.fondosunidos.com
The Puerto Rico Community Foundation- www.fcpr.org
Lex Mundi- www.lexmundi.com