Community Involvement

At Katten, we are committed to using the resources of our firm to enhance the communities where we live and work.

In addition to performing pro bono legal work, our attorneys and staff participate regularly in local office service projects and fund-raising efforts. Outside of the office, many also volunteer and hold leadership roles with civic and charitable organizations, and educational and cultural institutions.

Through the Katten Muchin Rosenman Foundation, Inc., the firm invests in our communities by contributing to over 300 charitable and nonprofit organizations each year. From major cultural events to medical research to disaster relief, Katten sponsors a variety of programs that support education, arts and culture, health and welfare and human rights.

In particular, our partnerships with local schools help students succeed academically and prepare them for continued success in the future.

• Cristo Rey Jesuit High School serves low-income and minority youth on the Southwest Side of Chicago. Katten is part of the school’s innovative work-study program, which places students in office-based jobs with income earned disbursed directly to the school to defray tuition costs.
• Since 2003, Katten had partnered with Chicago’s Philo Carpenter Elementary School on programs designed to improve students’ literacy, increase their use of technology, and encourage and reward academic achievement. With the closure of Philo Carpenter at the end of the 2010–11 school year, Katten embarked upon a partnership with another Chicago public school, Jose de Diego Community Academy. Katten attorneys and staff will engage in diverse activities with the school, including tutoring and reading programs, Lawyers in the Classroom and a holiday book drive.
• Katten’s Women’s Leadership Forum is committed to volunteering and sponsoring various service projects at Simpson Academy for Young Women, the only Chicago Public School exclusively for pregnant and parenting students (grades 6–12). The firm’s attorneys engage students in a variety of projects designed to help them develop critical life skills, particularly in the areas of parenting and careers.
• For over 10 years, associates from Katten’s New York office have served as coaches and mentors for the Townsend Harris High School Moot Court/Mock Trial Team. Students at Townsend come from diverse backgrounds and are known for their high level of academic achievement. Katten associates teach team members how to read legal opinions, structure legal arguments, and conduct direct and cross examinations.
• Katten’s Los Angeles office has partnered with the Constitutional Rights Foundation’s Youth Internship Program, which places low-income, urban high school students from the  Los Angeles area as paid interns at law firms, businesses and government agencies.