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Chicago Bar Foundation
Report
The CBA again is one of the organizations par-
ticipating in the Campaign, andwe enourage all
CBA members to contribute at chicagobarfoun-
dation.org/campaign.M
arch brings to mind several
annual traditions—March
Madness, St. Patrick’s Day,
spring breaks. But for those in the Chicago
legal community, March has also come to
mean something particularly important
to the legal profession: the annual CBF
Investing in Justice Campaign.
This month marks the 11th year
of the Campaign, a community-wide
effort through which thousands of indi-
vidual attorneys and legal professionals
at more than 150 participating law firms,
corporations, the CBA and other law-
related organizations in the Chicago area
come together around our profession’s
common cause: ensuring that everyone
has access to necessary legal help, not just
those who can afford it.
When the Investing in Justice Cam-
paign launched in 2007, it raised more
than $600,000 from about 1,600 individu-
als at 35 participating law firms and com-
panies. The Campaign has come a long way
since that promising beginning. Last year,
more than 5,000 individuals donated $1.5
million, bringing the total raised over the
first ten years to nearly $14 million. Each
year, one hundred percent of those dollars
goes to dozens of Chicago-area pro bono
and legal aid organizations through CBF
grants, which in turn has leveraged millions
more in legal aid funding from the CBF’s
foundation and government partners.
In past years, the Campaign has been
led by some of the most prominent mem-
bers of our legal community, including
Susan Levy, Brett Hart, Patrick Fitzger-
ald, Dan Reidy, Emily Nicklin, Bill Von
Hoene, Jr., Chuck Douglas, Jeff Stone,
Dan Webb and Tony Valukas. Following
in this tradition, the 2017 Campaign is
chaired by Jesse Ruiz, a Partner at Drinker
Biddle & Reath LLP.
Today, we can proudly declare the
Campaign is the largest and most impactful
initiative of its kind anywhere in the coun-
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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017
The 2017 Investing in Justice Campaign
Justice People Deserve, Not Just What They Can
Afford
By Meredith Mazzuca, CBF Director of Marketing and Communications