Around the water cooler — Jenner & Block pro bono work

Each week we profile an interesting legal happening or interesting lawyer in the legal community.

A Jenner & Block pro bono team was recently honored with a proclamation by Downers Grove Mayor Ronald L. Sandack for its efforts in helping preserve the Blodgett House in Downers Grove, which was an active stopover point on the Underground Railroad and helped a number of slaves find their way to freedom.

According to the proclamation, “the years leading up to the American Civil War, the Blodgett House was the home of local pioneer family Israel and Avis Blodgett and a well-documented station on the Underground Railroad — the route leading from slavery to freedom.”

Partners Barbara M. Flom, Ronald B. Grais, and Michelle M. McAtee, associate Kris Tina Carlston, and former associate Jose R. Rivera provided pro bono legal advice to the Downers Grove Heritage Preservation Corporation, a non-profit formed to preserve the Blodgett House, which was built in 1846 and remains one of the oldest houses in the village.

The house is being moved on a site within a public park, and the organization plans to convert the space into a cultural, educational, and historic museum focusing on the home’s role in the Underground Railroad. The legal team helped form and tax-qualify the organization, secured the donation of the house, and arranged for its transfer to public land.

“It’s really very much like setting up a small business,” Flom said. “There is a lot of very basic pro bono transactional work to be found. But oftentimes it’s narrower than it could be and less interesting than it could be. Unless you have solid support from your firm, it is very easy for the individual lawyer to say, ‘I can’t make the investment because I don’t have the luxury to spend a few hundred hours’ … There are interesting projects, but sometimes you have to be open to taking on more than just a narrowly defined role.”

In this situation, Flom said, the people involved in this project contacted her. She worked with them in the past, and has built a strong history with them.

“As you become more involved, you become aware of other issue, other aspects of the project where you can provide some benefit,” she said.