CCLF provides flexible and affordable financing for real estate transactions that benefit low- to moderate-income households throughout metropolitan Chicago. CCLF is able to keep interest rates low for borrowers because of its many social impact investors but also because of pro-bono attorneys.
In 2022, pro-bono attorneys provided CCLF with $783,628 worth of free legal services. Nearly every loan made in 2022 was closed using pro-bono attorneys through a program provided by Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights (CLCCR). CLCCR operates Pro Bono Works, one of the largest pro bono programs in Chicago, to connect attorneys to individual clients, small businesses, nonprofit organizations and community-based groups. CLCCR provides more than $7.5 million worth of counsel annually.
In the last five years, CCLF saved $4.2 million using donated services with of bulk of that saving coming from pro bono attorneys managing the closings for the vast majority of CCLF loans. CCLF is extremely grateful to have benefited from the Pro Bono Works programs for many years. David Shapiro, Executive Director of CLCCR, stated, “We work across various civil rights areas, among them community development and housing, education equity, and voting rights. Racial equity and community-driven advocacy animate every aspect of our work. I think that’s one of the reasons private attorneys want to partner with us—we listen with open minds and open hearts to the community organizations we work with, allowing their priorities to drive our work. We don’t come into a room thinking we’re the smartest people or have all the answers just because we’re lawyers. That approach allows for a more authentic relationship between lawyers and their clients, and I think it’s one of the reasons attorney volunteers love working with us.”
Mark O’Meara, Partner at Chapman and Cutler LLP, is a long-time partner of CLCCR. He concentrates on banking and financial services and is a member of Chapman’s Commercial Lending Group. His first volunteer experience with CCLF was in 2002, working on a $409,000 predevelopment loan to Five Points Economic Development Corporation for the development of Grant Place Retail Center in North Chicago. The project caught his attention because he was familiar with the area and provided a new experience for O’Meara. “Volunteering offers good opportunities to develop as an attorney, as young associates get to carry the laboring oar,” said O’Meara. “The volunteer work benefits both the attorney and our clients.”
Volunteering is something that attorneys have to be interested in doing. For O’Meara it was never a question. “I didn’t give it much thought but have always been volunteering since I was in catholic school. It was part of the culture going to senior centers to sing carols at Christmas and was part of my Cub Scouts activities.”
Chapman distributes an internal email describing volunteer opportunities, and anyone interested can respond. O’Meara provides supervision on the more complex transactions.
Kimberly Enders, Senior Counsel in Chapman’s Commercial Lending Group, has had a rewarding legal career and finds it easy to volunteer her time to CCLF and other organizations. “I probably volunteer almost 150 hours a year since I started working at Chapman four and half years ago. It is the first firm I have worked at that really embraces pro bono work. At other firms, if you wanted to volunteer, you had to find a volunteer opportunity on your own. Chapman sources the volunteer opportunity for you,” said Enders.
Enders works with associates of the firm who usually do not have opportunities to drive the work and be the primary attorney on a transaction. Closing transactions at CCLF allows them to run the deal and experience the satisfaction of providing affordable housing, community facility, commercial retail or social enterprise loans where they are needed most.
CCLF is extremely grateful for the many attorneys that conduct its loan closings. They use their expertise in real estate transactions to help ensure community development projects are completed across metro Chicago. This means seniors can access groceries in their neighborhoods and families can find affordable housing. It also means jobs and community services are being created or preserved. It means access to capital for those that have been denied for far too long.
Shapiro summarized, “Working with CCLF is a dream. CCLF does such great work to promote racial and economic equity in Chicago, and we share a set of common values. Chicago Lawyers’ Committee is so proud of the work we do to help CCLF in its work to support thriving communities and narrow the racial wealth gap in Chicago.”
To learn more about CLCCR’s Pro Bono Works program, visit https://www.clccrul.org/.