Keller Rohrback encourages attorneys and staff to give back to the communities where we live and work. Firm employees offer their time and professional expertise to assist with non-profit endeavors including homeless shelters, food banks and youth programs to name a few. Several times a year the firm joins together in community service focused events. Whether employees participate by serving on boards of directors, participating in charitable fun runs or donating goods, Keller Rohrback encourages and applauds their dedication to initiatives that improve and give back to the community.

We also encourage our attorneys to pursue pro bono work that complements their interest in the law and in our community Keller Rohrback attorneys believe that all persons or institutions deserve quality legal representation regardless of the financial situation. To help the legal community facilitate that goal, the firm pairs charitable case requests with firm attorneys who possess an interest and a skill in the particular area. Across the firm, attorneys and staff have assisted a variety of local non-profit organizations.

Charitable Contributions and Giving Programs

Food Frenzy
Keller Rohrback actively participates in Food Frenzy - a friendly, fun and creative fundraiser for Food Lifeline which is a Seattle non-profit food distributor. The purpose of the event is to raise funds to help feed hungry children in Western Washington during the summer months when subsidized school breakfast and lunch programs are not available. Through firm-sponsored ice cream socials and staff-donated auction items, funds are raised for this important program.

The Hickman House
For over 16 years, Keller Rohrback has supported the efforts of The Hickman House. Operated by the Salvation Army, the Hickman House is a safe place where battered women and their children can go for an interim stay while they build the necessary resources to live independently. Keller Rohrback helps by adopting a Hickman House family during the holidays and providing them with gifts of household items, clothing and toys from their wish lists.

Lifelong AIDS Alliance
Partner David Copley led a team of walkers at the September 26, 2004 Seattle AIDS Walk. Team KR raised over $2,000 for the Lifelong AIDS Alliance which is committed to preventing the spread of HIV, and to providing practical support serves and advocating for those whose lives are affected by HIV and AIDS.

Community Involvement

The Dove House
Since 1993, Keller Rohrback partner Rob Crichton has served as a pro bono attorney on behalf of Youth and Outreach Services, a Washington not-for-profit corporation offering transitional housing for homeless teenage girls in its facility known as The Dove House.

Northwest Harvest
Keller Rohrback partner David Copley serves on the Board of Northwest Harvest, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing hunger in Washington. Founded in 1967 as a community outreach program, Northwest Harvest now provides food to hungry people through approximately 300 hunger programs in the state. They rely on donations of food and funds from individuals, corporations, foundations and religious groups, using donated funding to purchase nutritional staples like rice, beans and meat protein in bulk quantities at very low prices.

Woodland Park Zoo
Partner Margie Wetherald serves as the Seattle City Council's appointee to the Board of Directors of the Woodland Park Zoo. The Zoo is an international leader in naturalistic exhibitry and plays a growing role as a center for conservation education. She is an active member of the Conservation and Education Subcommittee of the Board and assists with long term donor relations.

Pro Bono Commitment

Coordinated Client Access Program
Keller Rohrback was the first law firm in Seattle to volunteer for the revitalized Coordinated Client Access Program (C-CAP), which is managed by the King County Bar Association. The Bar Association's C-CAP program is designed to focus a firm's pro bono efforts on specific legal issues. Through this program, Keller Rohrback's attorneys have provided legal representation to many low-income clients who have been in danger of losing their homes through foreclosure and who are sometimes the victims of predatory lenders. Volunteer attorneys who have represented clients in this program include Rob Crichton, Ray Farrow, Mark Griffin, Amy Hanson, Ben Lantz, Erin Riley, David Russell, and Fred Schoepflin.

On March 11, 2002, Rob Crichton was honored by the Community Legal Services division of the King County Bar Association for his "generous gift of time, talent, and energy during 2001 as a volunteer with Volunteer Legal Services" for his work on two predatory lending cases.

King County Bar Association Foundation Honors Keller Rohrback.
In 2001, the King County Bar Association's Firm Pro Bono Service Award was presented to Keller Rohrback. The award is given to the firm that has made a leading contribution in meeting the legal needs of low-income residents of King County.

Housing Justice Project
The Housing Justice Project is one of the Volunteer Legal Service programs run by the King County Bar Association. Clients served by this project are low-income persons who are currently not represented in unlawful detainer actions. The purpose of the project is to effectively deal with the need for pro bono representation by this group of citizens. The extent of legal assistance provided to any given tenant varies. At a minimum, one morning a month, associates spend time at the King County court house providing legal consultation to low-income tenants on housing issues.

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
Associate Gretchen Freeman Cappio serves as a pro bono attorney in a partnership between the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and the Immigrant Families Advocacy Project at the University of Washington School of Law. In this capacity, Gretchen supervises law students in assisting immigrant survivors of domestic violence to self-petition under the 1994 Violence Against Women Act. The Act contains a range of protections that allow battered immigrants to obtain legal permanent residence without relying on abusive spouses or parents.

Lay Education
Lon Weatherly, a partner, frequently teaches firearms law to students. The curriculum covers federal, state and local law and includes an analysis of the legal requirements surrounding the purchase and sale of a firearm, the storage, transportation and carrying of a firearm, the disabling conditions which outlaw possession of a firearm and the use of a firearm including the legal requirements for self defense.