Entrepreneurial and community-based efforts to advance sustainability are surging within the United States, but these efforts are often slowed by limited access to top-flight legal services. Even obtaining legal help on first-order matters associated with formation and incorporation can present hurdles for entrepreneurs. Lawyers for a Sustainable Economy provides an easier way for entrepreneurs and environmental nonprofits working on sustainability projects to find firms that are offering pro bono help on these types of important matters. The Lawyers for a Sustainable Economy Initiative was incubated to facilitate this match.

The LSE initiative was announced at the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco and dedicated to the memory of Nancy McFadden, former Chief of Staff to Governor Jerry Brown. Karen Skelton, David J. Hayes and Ali Zaidi worked with Governor Brown, Attorney General Xavier Becerra, and Stanford Law School and Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy to launch the Lawyers for a Sustainable Economy initiative.  Stanford Law School will continue to provide periodic updates on the matters member firms are taking on as part of their commitment under the initiative.

The types of legal services that firms participating in Lawyers for a Sustainable Economy may be able to provide include: support with incorporation, corporate governance (e.g., bylaws, policies), contracts, real estate, IP protection, website-related issues (e.g., privacy policies, terms of use), structuring advice for financing and investment, tax advice, and litigation.

Law Firms

The firms have pledged the amounts below in free legal services for on-going and new sustainability matters in 2026:

• Akin Gump  ($250,000)
• Arnold & Porter* ($2 million)
• Beveridge & Diamond ($250,000)
• Cooley* ($1 million)
• Debevoise & Plimpton ($1 million)
• Fenwick ($250,000)
• Foley Hoag ($1.5 million) (new to the initiative in 2024!)
• Foley & Lardner ($250,000)
• Hogan Lovells* ($250,000)
• Holland & Knight* ($1 million)
• Latham & Watkins* ($1 million)
• Michelman & Robinson ($250,000)
• Morgan Lewis ($250,000)
• Morrison & Foerster* ($9 million)
• Nixon Peabody ($1 million)
• Orrick ($2 million)
• Perkins Coie ($250,000) (new to the initiative in 2024!)
• Ropes & Gray ($1 million)
• Seyfarth Shaw ($350,000)
• Willkie Farr & Gallagher ($250,000) (new to the initiative in 2023!)
• Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati* ($4 million)

*Lead founder of the LSE Initiative

Corporate Partners

The initiative is truly a collaborative one, with the private sector, NGOs like Grist, and accelerators like Venture for ClimateTech working to support connections between law firms and pro bono recipients. For example, Amazon Web Services is helping to connect startups in their Clean Energy Accelerator to the initiative; the Clean Energy Accelerator supports collaborations between startups and scale-ups developing breakthrough technologies with larger companies to help achieve net zero goals and sustainability objectives.  Microsoft also previously helped to connect grantees from its AI for Earth program – a five-year, $50 million initiative that supports and partners with environmental groups, academic researchers, and start-ups – with the initiative for legal support.  And pro bono lawyers from additional companies, including Goldman Sachs, have also volunteered to assist LSE firms.

Companies participating in the Lawyers for a Sustainable Economy are making a commitment to assist the initiative in a number of ways, including by: (1) enabling company in-house lawyers to provide pro bono assistance to clients directly, or in coordination with outside LSE-member law firms, on company time; (2) encouraging outside law firms and other companies to participate in the LSE initiative; and (3) using their community outreach activities to identify potential clients who may qualify for, and benefit from, pro bono services provided through the LSE network.

View Advisory Council