Photograph by Jeff Sciortino
On the House
Firmly Committed
By Deborah Feldman
Ben Weinberg ’90 harnesses the power of collective pro bono to create systemic change
Every other Friday, Ben Weinberg sits in his office in Chicago and tries to figure out how to help end systemic racism. He does that on other days, too, but Fridays are when he hosts an hourlong Zoom for lawyers at law firms across the country to strategize about the power of collective pro bono to create change. “I believe very strongly that this country’s history is shameful in so many ways that we need to make sure people know about that and change things,” says Weinberg, pro bono partner with Dentons, the world’s largest law firm.
The group meeting takes place under the auspices of the Law Firm Antiracism Alliance (LFAA). The alliance includes more than 300 law firms, representing more than 165,000 lawyers, that provide pro bono support to legal services organizations and community leaders at the forefront of challenging racial inequity.
Weinberg co-founded the group in 2020, which offers a wide range of services, from research to litigation to legislative advocacy and beyond. Examples of the alliance’s work include a report on the ways in which current and proposed state anti-abortion laws uphold existing structural racism and disparately impact BIPOC and other marginalized people; a comprehensive report that demonstrates the power and benefits of a culturally responsive and racially inclusive education for all students, from both legal and pedagogical perspectives; and an amicus brief in support of affirmative action in the recently decided SCOTUS case about the admissions policies of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.
As pro bono partner at Dentons and in his work with the LFAA, Weinberg constantly receives requests from NGOs and legal aid organizations looking for help. “We try to match them all with lawyers who want to be of service,” he notes.
The Path to Pro Bono
Bringing together Big Law lawyers, let alone joining their ranks, was not remotely on Weinberg’s radar when he graduated from law school and went to work for what is now known as Legal Aid Chicago. “I loved having individual clients and going to court. I loved trying to use whatever talents and privileges I had to create more justice in the community,” he recalls.
But when budget cuts hit legal services in the 1990s, Weinberg shifted gears and spent one year clerking on the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. After that, he joined Jenner & Block, where he made partner in 2001. Seven years after joining the firm, he was ready to move on. “I did a ton of pro bono and death penalty work, but I decided I wanted to return to full-time public interest work,” says Weinberg. Next stop was the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, where he was chief of the Public Interest Division — a job he loved. “I got to be a public interest lawyer with subpoena power, which was the best.”
Five years later, Weinberg was ready for a new challenge. At the recommendation of a classmate in Leadership Greater Chicago (a leadership program focusing on progressive public policy), Weinberg applied to be Dentons’ pro bono partner. Since joining Dentons in 2008, Weinberg has not only grown the firm’s pro bono program and co-founded the LFAA but also served as president of the Association of Pro Bono Counsel (APBCo) in 2016. In addition, he co-teaches a seminar about pro bono as an adjunct faculty member at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. In 2022, he invited Professor Margaret Burnham to speak about Northeastern Law’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Clinic at one of LFAA’s national summits; the alliance recently began working directly with the clinic.
Weinberg values his role at Dentons and the opportunity to pursue pro bono work. “The most exciting thing about my work as pro bono partner is that I became a lawyer in part because I thought I had certain skills that could be useful to community and society,” he says. “I originally represented individual low-income clients, but now I get to figure out ways to put people together who can really effect positive systemic change.”
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