Volunteer of the Month – January 2025

David Cabrales is Of Counsel with Foley & Lardner  LLP.

• • How did you first get involved in pro bono?

At the request of a client GC who was looking for a way to give her legal team a pro bono activity that was going to be fun, collaborative, and fulfilling, we decided to jointly staff one of the DVAP Veterans Clinics, followed by a happy hour.  That first outing, in 2018, was such a success that we have repeated it several times per year both with that original client, and also with several other in-house legal groups.

• • Describe your most compelling pro bono experience. 

The most compelling part for me about our Veterans Clinic outings, is that in a matter of a few hours, our group of client and law firm lawyers and support staff can provide 24 to 30 hours of volunteer legal services to our military veterans and their dependents.  For some of them, you can sense the relief in knowing they are finally being heard by an attorney, who can start them down the path of resolving the legal matter they are wrestling with.

• • Why do you do pro bono? 

Through our training and licensing, we lawyers have been given a wonderful opportunity to be stewards of our legal system.  With that opportunity comes a responsibility to help ensure that everyone has meaningful access to that system, particularly those who have already served us in uniform or as a family member of someone in uniform.

• • What impact has pro bono service had on your career?

Our joint Veterans Clinic outings have allowed our clients to see us in a different light than merely as another one of their legal service providers.  It is hard to overstate the bonds that you create, working alongside someone in a volunteer effort.

• • What is the most unexpected benefit you have received from doing pro bono?

Even though I have been planning these Veterans Clinic outings for nearly seven years (with a hiatus during COVID), the level of enthusiasm to participate from both the in-house legal teams and my law firm colleagues has not diminished one bit (and it is NOT just because of the post-clinic happy hour)!