Business of Law Podcast – Microsoft’s Pro Bono Program, Dilley Detention, and Election Protection

Microsoft’s Pro Bono program supports its employees in doing righteous work.  Jason Barnwell speaks with Beth Henderson (Pro Bono Director at Microsoft; Senior Corporate Counsel), Megan Yoshimura (Principal Corporate Counsel), and Jen Scully (Assistant General Counsel) about their experiences with various Microsoft Pro Bono programs. They discuss Beth’s unique role in an in-house counsel legal department (0:54), her responsibilities and goals (2:56), the new Microsoft Annual Pro Bono Report (6:04), and the challenges she faces as they work to tackle unfairness (8:39). 

Learn about Megan’s inspiration to launch the Dilley Detention Center project with Microsoft colleagues (11:59), the experience and impact in Texas (13:58), how she integrates pro bono into her day job (15:51) and how Microsoft’s legal department created a “culture of pro bono” (17:19). They address whether pro bono experiences contribute to an organization’s business value (21:46) or help employees work better together (24:04).

After a historical election year, learn how Jen and Megan found a way to meaningfully support election protection and voters’ rights in a non-partisan way ( 27:25).  Listen to how collective intelligence can help a team get smarter and work better (36:00) and how you can take learnings from doing righteous work into your primary day job (37:40).  If you want to build a pro bono practice for yourself (41:44), this podcast will inspire you to get started.

References:
Microsoft on the Issues: Sustaining pro bono services during the pandemic with technical innovation