Spend Your Pay Raise... To Support A Good Cause!
How about spending part of your pay raise on helping a good cause?
Biglaw associates, how should you spend your pay raise? Here are seven ideas from the American Lawyer, including a Hamptons share and Hamilton tickets.
If you’re feeling more altruistic, how about making a charitable donation to support a good cause? Here are three ideas:
1. A few days ago, in discussing the legal community’s response to the Orlando shootings, we mentioned the Pulse Victims Fund established by Equality Florida. You can support the Fund here.
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2. Remember that the Biglaw pay raises were brought to you by Cravath — under the leadership of its presiding partner, Allen Parker. As we mentioned when he assumed this role back in 2012, Parker sits on the board of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). If you’re an animal lover, donate to the ASPCA here.
The Mosier family.
3. Finally, last year we profiled Jenny Mosier, a former Department of Justice official and Covington & Burling associate who launched the Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation. The Foundation is focused on promoting awareness and raising research funds for DIPG, the disease that took the life of her son.
The Foundation has partnered with 22 law firms (and counting) on an initiative called Dress Down to Defeat DIPG. Here’s how it works:
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Participating law firms will designate dates in June when employees may “dress down” in jeans or other casual clothing, in exchange for making a donation to support Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG™ Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to raising funds for DIPG research. By joining together in this giving campaign, event participants are helping to shine a spotlight on this particularly cruel childhood cancer while also making a meaningful contribution towards promising new research.
We’ve posted the full press release below; see if your firm appears on the list. If so, consider dressing down to support this great cause; if not, look into whether it might be interested in signing up. And whether you dress down or not, you can support the Foundation by donating here.
Regardless of whether you go with any of these charities, please consider using some of your newfound money to support a worthy cause. With partners sharing the wealth with associates, associates should share the wealth with those who are less fortunate.
Dress Down to Defeat DIPG [Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation]
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MICHAEL MOSIER FOUNDATION — LAW FIRMS JOIN FORCES TO FIGHT DEADLY CHILDHOOD CANCER
June 15, 2016
Twenty-two law firms will participate in Dress Down to Defeat DIPG™ to raise funds for research in the fight against DIPG (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma), a tumor located in the brainstem. DIPG is the deadliest pediatric cancer with a median survival from diagnosis of 9 months and a near 0% survival overall.
Participating law firms will designate dates in June when employees may “dress down” in jeans or other casual clothing, in exchange for making a donation to support Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG™ Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to raising funds for DIPG research. By joining together in this giving campaign, event participants are helping to shine a spotlight on this particularly cruel childhood cancer while also making a meaningful contribution towards promising new research.
Participating law firms in this event, as of June 15, 2016, include: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP; Arnold & Porter LLP; Covington & Burling LLP; DLA Piper (Baltimore); Hogan Lovells; Jenner & Block; K&L Gates LLP; King & Spalding LLP; Kirkland & Ellis LLP; Latham & Watkins LLP; Mayer Brown LLP; O’Melveny & Myers LLP (DC and New York); Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP; Paul Hastings LLP; Perkins Coie LLP; Sidley Austin LLP; Squire Patton Boggs LLP; Steptoe & Johnson LLP; White & Case; Wiley Rein LLP; Williams & Connolly LLP; and Zuckerman Spaeder LLP. Participating offices are in Washington, DC, unless otherwise indicated.
The effort to unify law firms in support of this cause came from personal tragedy. On September 4, 2014, Jenny and Mark Mosier, both Washington, D.C., attorneys, learned the devastating news that their six-year-old son, Michael, was diagnosed with DIPG. Their world shattered as doctors informed them that there was no effective treatment. In just a matter of weeks, Michael, a healthy, energetic six-year-old boy went from playing sports and boarding the bus for his first day of kindergarten to needing a wheelchair and losing the ability to control the left (and dominant) side of his body. Unfortunately, after a courageous eight-and-a-half month battle, Michael passed away on May 17, 2015.
Mark and Jenny both have ties to Covington & Burling LLP, where Mark is a partner in the appellate practice. He clerked for Supreme Court Justices Rehnquist and Roberts. Jenny was a litigation associate at Covington before joining the Department of Justice and serving as Deputy Chief of Staff to Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr.
DIPG typically strikes children between ages four and eleven. Because of its location in the brainstem where all motor activity is controlled, DIPG is inoperable. The disease progresses by taking over a child’s motor functions one-by-one, typically starting with vision and balance problems, before moving to partial paralysis, followed by the inability to chew, speak, swallow, move and eventually breathe – all of this while the child remains mentally intact.
DIPG has gained more attention through coverage of a young woman named Lauren Hill, who was a vocal advocate who raised over $1 million dollars for DIPG research before passing away in April 2015. Her courage was recognized by many news outlets, and she was honored at the 2015 ESPY awards for Best Moment in connection with fulfilling her lifelong dream of playing college basketball, despite her terminal diagnosis.
For decades, treatment for DIPG has remained the same and has been ineffective. Nearly all funding for DIPG research comes from charitable foundations, which are typically run by families who have suffered the ultimate loss of their child. The entire amount spent annually on DIPG research – approximately $3 – 5 million – is less than 0.0005% of the total funding for cancer research. In just the past few years, due to better medical technology and increased access to tumor tissue, researchers have made real advances in their understanding of this disease. There is finally hope for progress in finding a cure.
Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation dedicates its efforts to promoting awareness and finding treatments and a cure for DIPG through funding of medical research, including through its membership in the DIPG Collaborative.
Visit www.defeatdipg.org for more information. Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation is also on Facebook (www.facebook.com/defeatdipg) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/defeatdipg).
CONTACT:
Jenny Mosier
Executive Director, Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation
[email protected]
David Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at [email protected].
