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At Schnader, we believe our communities are best served when we all roll up our sleeves and pitch in. That’s why giving back is a major part of our Firm’s culture. Below are several examples of our involvement.

Camden Center for Law and Social Justice

Lisa Rodriguez serves as Chair of this organization, which provides legal services to the working poor in New Jersey, provides immigration services, and is one of the leading New Jersey organizations involved in the resettlement of Afghan refugees.

Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

As described in Our Diverse History, Schnader was instrumental in the founding of this important national organization, and has continued to supports its work. Our former Chairman David Smith currently serves on the Board as Treasurer.

Immigration-Related Services

Schnader is extremely active in providing pro bono services to refugees and asylum applicants. Across our many offices, the Firm has assisted many dozens of individuals in filing claims and representing them in Immigration Court and before the Board of Immigration Appeals. Edward J. Sholinsky, chair of our Hiring Committee, is vice president of the Board of HIAS Pennsylvania, and Keith E. Whitson, managing partner of our Pittsburgh Office, is a Board Member of Legal Services for Immigrants and Internationals.

Criminal Justice Reform

Schnader has a long history of supporting prisoners’ rights and helping to combat mass incarceration. Our attorneys routinely handle prisoner civil rights cases. Samuel W. Silver, partner in our Philadelphia office, is president of the Board of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. The Firm has participated in many individual cases with the Project, including serving on the team that achieved a landmark court decision overturning the conviction of Anthony Wright.

Schnader also has taken a leading role in impact litigation involving prisons and jails. Schnader represented a class of inmates in a constitutional challenge to jail overcrowding. Through a series of consent orders, over the course of eleven years, the inmate processing system was revamped, and the issue of overcrowding addressed.

In 2018, Schnader partnered with several nonprofit organizations to stop the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’ practice of copying the privileged mail of incarcerated individuals. Since 2020, Schnader has partnered with other organizations alleging systemic constitutional violations in the provision of mental health care at the Allegheny County Jail. Samuel W. Silver is a member of the Board of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project.

AIDS Fund

Kevin S. Blanton, co-chair of our Business Services Department, serves as president of the Board of the AIDS Fund whose mission is to increase awareness and education about HIV/AIDS, and provide emergency financial assistance to those living with HIV in the Philadelphia region. 

Allegheny County Bar Foundation

Keith Whitson serves as president of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation, which, along with its partner organizations, runs several dozen pro bono programs focused on crucial needs including housing, protection from abuse, termination of parental rights and other family law matters, and disability rights.

Manchester Academic Charter School

Our Pittsburgh office has partnered with the Manchester Academic Charter School on various law-related projects. These include helping the students draft a “bill of rights” for their school, preparing the students for a mock trial, setting up the school’s youth court, and sponsoring an annual eighth grade trip to Harrisburg, where the students meet with legislative leaders and advocate for restorative justice.

Caton Village

Schnader was a longstanding supporter of Caton Village, a residential treatment center for women in Philadelphia which provided education and life skills training until its closure. The Firm held legal clinics, holiday events and service days, and donated computers for a new computer lab.

Turning Points for Children

Schnader has teamed up with Turning Points, the largest coordinator of services for foster children in Philadelphia, for Days of Service in commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King. Schnader purchased items to create 50 “care kits,” a duffle bag equipped with essential items needed by a fostered child to make the transition into a new home more comfortable. The care kits were created for children from newborns to teens, and included age appropriate toiletries, books, school and art supplies, and small toys.

We also designed and taught a pilot life skills seminar for young adults aging out of the foster care system. The seminar focused on the skills needed to land a first job, such as gathering information needed for the application process, assistance with drafting resumes, the dos and don’ts of interviewing, how to open a bank account, and how to secure vital documents needed for the application process. At the end of the seminar, each young adult was given a “launch kit” that included many of the basic items needed to live independently. The launch kits were funded by donations from Schnader staff and attorneys, along with a generous donation from Spikes Trophies that allowed us to provide folios for interviews. Over 20 additional launch kits were sent to Turning Points for distribution.

Other Examples of Community Involvement

Our lawyers also serve on the boards of other well-established community and nonprofit organizations whose missions run the gamut from human services and civil rights to access to justice and fair election advocacy. Examples include:

Allegheny County Bar Association Gender Equity Committee
American Constitution Society for Law and Policy
Appellate Project
Ashley Addiction Treatment
Committee of Seventy
JFCS Legal Services to Immigrants and Internationals
Legal Services of New Jersey
Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project’s Screening Committee
Military Assistance Project
Pathways to Housing – Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project
Philadelphia Diversity Law Group
Pittsburgh Legal Diversity and Inclusion Coalition
Public Interest Civil Litigation Fund
Squash Smarts
West Side YMCA
Women and Girls Foundation

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The Higher Calling Of The Law Requires...

Inclusion. When Pennsylvania Attorney General William Schnader left politics and sought to return to private practice in Philadelphia, he discovered that no major Philadelphia law firms would hire his protégé, Bernard Segal, a Jewish attorney. In response, in 1935, William Schnader, Bernard Segal and Francis Lewis formed a new law firm, Schnader & Lewis -- the first religiously integrated law firm in Philadelphia.

Innovation. Because Schnader was religiously integrated from its founding, many local clients in the Philadelphia area would not retain the firm in the 1930s and 1940s. Accordingly, the firm sought to represent larger, national companies.

Vision. Firm founder William Schnader was president of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, which drafted and developed the Uniform Commercial Code. He successfully campaigned for the Code's adoption in 49 states.

The pursuit of freedom. At the request of President Truman, firm founder Earl Harrison, as Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, toured displaced persons camps at the end of World War II and recommended to the President that displaced persons in Europe be permitted to resettle in Palestine. His report was a major factor that led to American support for the establishment of Israel.

The pursuit of justice. Firm founder Earl Harrison testified on behalf of an African-American student denied entry to the University of Texas School of Law because of his race. The case challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine, as applied to state law schools and laid the foundation for Brown v. Board of Education. The Supreme Court eventually overturned the lower courts' decisions and ordered the University of Texas to admit qualified black applicants.

Courage. Firm founder Bernard Segal convinced the Philadelphia bar to defend nine accused Communists pro bono. The defendants were convicted but their cases were thrown out on appeal. As a result, the Justice Department abandoned Smith Act prosecutions across the country.

The pursuit of justice. When George Wallace threatened to block integration of the University of Alabama, Schnader’s Bernard Segal drafted a statement in opposition. He and Jerome Shestack called lawyers all over the country requesting their support. The statement was published in the Birmingham News with 53 prominent lawyer signatories and provided support for President Kennedy's Executive Order federalizing the Alabama National Guard.

The pursuit of justice. In the wake of George Wallace's efforts to impede the integration of the University of Alabama, and at the urging of Schnader’s Bernard Segal, President Kennedy convened 244 lawyers at the White House to ask them to move the battle for civil rights and racial equality to the courts. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law was born and Jerome Shestack became its full-time executive director while continuing to practice at Schnader.

Inclusion. Firm founder Bernard Segal was chair of the ABA’s Committee on the Federal Judiciary. He advocated the appointment of federal judges of all genders and races.

Inclusion. Firm founder Bernard Segal was the first Jewish person to serve as Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association. He encouraged the bar into public service and expanded its racial horizons.

Inclusion. Schnader was one of the first major Philadelphia firms to hire a female attorney.

Diversity. Schnader was a founding member of the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group, which aims to increase the number of diverse attorneys in-house and in private practice.

Inclusion. The firm appointed Albert Dandridge as Chief Diversity Officer and charged him with increasing and developing our bench of diverse attorneys.

Service. The firm adopted Caton Village (now closed), a halfway house for women in Philadelphia, where we provided free legal clinics and social and educational activities for its residents.

Service. Schnader lawyers regularly represent undocumented children who were abused or abandoned by their parents. We help these children obtain guardians, stop removal proceedings, and begin the path to citizenship.

Service. As U.S. veterans waited an average of four years for a ruling on the denial of their disability benefits, Schnader attorneys led a campaign advocating for a solution to address the backlog.

The pursuit of justice. Schnader attorneys represented Guantanamo Bay detainees, advocating for fair treatment and due process against a byzantine legal landscape.

Service. With a nonprofit partner, Schnader attorneys and staff designed and taught a pilot life skills seminar for young adults aging out of the foster care system. The program included lessons on securing vital documents, opening a bank account, looking for jobs and going to an interview.

Service. Schnader attorneys help middle school students in Pittsburgh set up a youth court, prepare for mock trials and draft a bill of rights for their school. The students learn about Constitutional law, advocacy and restorative justice from participating in these programs.

Service. Bernard Segal, a founder of the firm, believed that Schnader's hallmark is its "dedication to the higher calling of the law," which he defined as "the lawyer's obligation to assume an active role in the pursuit of a just and ordered society, in helping to solve the emerging problems of social, economic and political importance, and to serve the public as his or her client, as she or he would serve a full-paying client."

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