Day Pitney LLP has been selected by the Boston Business Journal as one of the publication's Corporate Philanthropy Partners of the Year. The firm, which was chosen in the Innovation category for its partnership with the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC), will be recognized at the Business Journal's annual Corporate Citizenship Summit on September 10.

The partnership program dates to 2005, when Leiha Macauley of the Boston office of Day Pitney LLP (then known as Day Berry & Howard LLP) focused the firm's community outreach on the project. This effort resulted in the formation of the Child Health Advocacy Partnership as a cooperative venture between Day Pitney, the EBNHC and the Medical-Legal Partnership?| Boston ("MLP | Boston") to introduce a new model for pro bono legal services delivery that brings doctors and lawyers together in partnership to serve low-income families who reside in inner-city neighborhoods. The approach aims to treat not only medical symptoms and problems, but also their underlying causes.

Dedicated to improving child health through legal advocacy, Day Pitney was the first law firm in Massachusetts to "adopt" a health center. With support and mentoring from MLP?| Boston, Day Pitney began sending its lawyers to the EBNHC to staff a legal clinic on-site, filling legal "prescriptions" written by health care clinicians to address the unmet legal needs that cause, aggravate or block the remediation of medical problems. Since 2005, Day Pitney lawyers and staff have contributed more than 3,400 pro bono hours to EBNHC, equivalent to nearly $1 million in billable time.

"This medical-legal partnership at EBNHC is a true success story that provides tremendous value to the community by greatly expanding legal services delivery to low-income families in Massachusetts and allowing them to benefit from preventive intervention before they are hit by a legal (and health) crisis," said Leiha Macauley, partner in Day Pitney's Boston office. "Our goal is to ensure that low-income patients at every health care institution in the Commonwealth can have access to MLP services."

"We cannot overstate the positive impact of our partnership with Day Pitney on the lives of our patient-families, all of whom are low-income, and many of whom are immigrants and survivors of domestic violence or other trauma," said James Taylor, M.D., of the EBNHC. "We have observed tangible health benefits to EBNHC's patients resulting from Day Pitney's on-site delivery of legal services. Patients struggle to meet their basic needs, and typically experience exacerbated medical vulnerability so long as these legal needs go unresolved. EBNHC has come to view legal staff as critical members of their patients' health care teams."

About Day Pitney
Day Pitney LLP is a full-service law firm with approximately 350 attorneys operating in offices in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Boston, and Washington, DC. With strong corporate and litigation practices and a commitment to client service, we represent large national and international corporations, as well as emerging and middle market companies and individuals.