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Origins Story
ProJourn was launched as a way to address an unmet need for lawyers to help journalists.
In November 2019, a Microsoft lawyer attended a legal training session at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP (“DWT”). She heard a journalist share how he almost lost hope – and his profession – after he published an investigative news story that drew national attention and ultimately ensnared him in a legal battle between the subjects of the story. The journalist’s account of what he endured was harrowing, but the silver lining was his description of how he survived it through the support of the DWT pro bono team.
The Microsoft lawyer, Sima Sarrafan, left inspired, both by the critical role of journalists in democratic society and by the opportunity to do more to support them. Supported by her pro bono lead at Microsoft, in early 2020, Sarrafan contacted Thomas R. Burke, who was DWT’s Pro Bono Chair and is a First Amendment expert. The ask was simple – could they partner to bring more lawyers together to support journalists in need of legal support but unable to afford it? Together with their pro bono leaders, Microsoft’s Beth Henderson, and DWT’s Joanna Plichta Boisen, they pulled together a group of volunteers.
There was no program of its kind, so the group started from scratch, creating a vision of how they could not only support journalists but train more lawyers, especially those in in-house legal departments.
Notably, the idea of a “two-in-a-box” model was created to allow experts at DWT to train in-house lawyers at Microsoft to do this critical but nuanced legal work. Through the spring and summer of 2020, the team met several times a week to offer extensive trainings to lawyers and legal professionals. Together they built out what became ProJourn.
No story or success is a straight line. It is full of inflection points and critical changes that enable an idea to be reimagined and ultimately improved through the collaboration of many.
As ProJourn gained traction, it was enhanced by partnerships, including those with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (“Reporters Committee”). It also attracted the attention and support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (“Knight Foundation”).
It was through these close partnerships and support that ProJourn took a big leap forward and expanded to four anchor partners: Microsoft, DWT, the Knight Foundation, and the Reporters Committee. ProJourn thereafter rapidly developed from a pilot program serving two states and delineated workstreams to one with a national profile, operating in seven states, with broad legal offerings, extensive trainings, and sustained outreach and intake from journalists.
ProJourn looks ahead to continuing to evolve as it seeks to meet the unmet legal needs of journalists whose investigative work and stories are critical to our democracy.
