Meet our partners.

Founding Partners

Microsoft is a pioneer in the pro bono space with a long history of using its legal expertise and technological innovation to address some of the most pressing social issues and broaden access to justice.

Since its inception in 2003, the Microsoft pro bono program has grown to over 25 pro bono initiatives, partnering with nonprofit organizations and law firms across the country, working on a variety of projects ranging from immigration and human rights to criminal justice reform. The program leverages the skills and passions of Microsoft’s attorneys and legal-business professionals, who volunteer their time and talent to provide high-quality legal services to underserved communities and causes. 

In 2018, Microsoft created a full-time pro bono lead position, held by Beth Henderson, who is responsible for enhancing access to justice and encouraging more participation in pro bono activities. The program is constantly growing and diversifying its pro bono portfolio, both nationally and internationally, and leading the way with the use of digital transformation and responsible AI in its legal services.

Along with Microsoft’s Sima Sarrafan, assistant general counsel, and one of the co-founders of ProJourn, Henderson has been key in the design of ProJourn’s processes, using experience and knowledge about how to structure and scale corporate partnerships and flagship pro bono
programs.

Long recognized as the national leader in First Amendment law, Davis Wright Tremaine’s media attorneys have played a central role in many of the most important, precedent-setting cases affecting rights of free expression, content ownership, access to public records, and other vital issues.  

Thomas R. Burke is the former chair of Davis Wright Tremaine’s award-winning nationally recognized media practice. He has over 30 years of experience defending speech and content across all mediums. Burke is one of many Davis Wright Tremaine’s media attorneys who are volunteering their time and talent on ProJourn matters, whether through direct representation, vetting articles, or providing educational programming to mobilize more pro bono volunteers. He is the co-chair of ProJourn’s advisory committee.

Joanna Plichta Boisen, chief pro bono and social impact officer at Davis Wright Tremaine, directs and oversees all aspects of Davis Wright Tremaine’s nationwide pro bono and social impact department work and high-level initiatives. She also serves as outside counsel to in-house legal departments interested in building out and developing sophisticated pro bono core priorities and programs. She helped structure and scale ProJourn and continues to advise on logistics, administration, and growth strategy.

Davis Wright Tremaine’s pro bono and social impact department has been instrumental in helping establish and launch ProJourn and continues to serve as a strategic partner to the program as it expands nationwide. 

The Knight Foundation are social investors who support a more effective democracy by funding free expression and journalism, arts, and culture in community, research in areas of media and democracy, and in American cities and towns where the Knight brothers once published newspapers. 

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press provides pro bono legal representation, amicus curiae support, and other legal resources to protect First Amendment freedoms and the newsgathering rights of journalists.

The Reporters Committee serves newsrooms of any size and every kind of journalist. Through its programs, like the Local Legal Initiative and ProJourn, the Reporters Committee focuses particular attention on ensuring local and public interest newsrooms, which might not have access to legal services, get the help and support they need. 

Beyond representing journalists in the courtroom, Reporters Committee attorneys file friend-of-the-court briefs in relevant court cases, review articles before they are published to help preempt potential later challenges, and operate a free Legal Hotline. 

The Reporters Committee also often plays a convening role, bringing news organizations to the table to collectively advocate around newsgathering policy issues. Its leadership results in increased protection for journalists and ensures that government leaders and institutions are accountable when the First Amendment is at stake.

The Reporters Commitee has operated ProJourn since 2021 and employs the ProJourn team.

Law Firms & Legal Teams

We are immensely grateful for the support of the following law firms and in-house legal teams who dedicate their time to assist journalists on a pro bono basis.

Akerman LLP | Bloomberg L.P. | Canfield Law LLC | Caplan Cobb LLC | Covington & Burling LLP | Davis Wright Tremaine LLP | Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP | Jackson Walker LLP | Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP | King & Spalding LLP | McGuireWoods LLP | Microsoft | Proskauer Rose LLP | Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation | Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP | Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP

Referral Partners

We are part of an ecosystem and want to acknowledge here the organizations that we work with daily. We call them “referral partners” because we refer clients to them whenever we can’t help them, and they do the same with us.

Our Supporters

ProJourn is generously funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Microsoft.

As a program operated by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, our financials can be found in RCFP 990 Forms.