PNC Bank and Dinsmore & Shohl LLP are partnering to participate in the American Bar Association’s Pro Bono Week.

“In this especially difficult time, the unserved and vulnerable members of our communities are desperately in need of free legal services,” said Renee Garcia, managing senior counsel and pro bono chair at PNC. “If we have learned anything this year, it's that anyone can fall on hard times at any moment, resulting in devastation for an individual or family. We also recognize the need to provide legal assistance in a country where the history of discrimination creates many gaps – in housing, education, health care, and justice – and further threatens the fundamental right of each citizen to cast a ballot.”

Volunteer attorneys from PNC and Dinsmore will provide telephone advice and legal consultation to clients of Prairie State Legal Services in a 36-county area that covers northern and central Illinois, where legal assistance for low-income clients is scarce or non-existent. Prairie State’s mission is to ensure equal access to justice to people who typically can’t afford the services of an attorney.

In Ohio, PNC and Dinsmore attorneys will provide assistance to the Ohio Justice and Policy Center for its Beyond Guilt program, which seeks to identify inmates who are good candidates for early release based on criteria showing they are prepared to become productive members of society. OJPC receives a significant volume of applications from inmates in Ohio, and PNC and Dinsmore attorneys will help screen those applications.

“PNC and Dinsmore attorneys are deeply committed to serving the communities in which we live and work,” said Dinsmore Chicago partner Tim Binetti. “Our partnership again this year for Pro Bono Week offers us an opportunity to help those who need us most. Prairie State and OJPC have worked so hard to fashion programs that enable volunteer lawyers to serve our neighbors, and we are honored to play a small part in supporting their efforts.”