Lawyers for Civil Rights Recognizes Goodwin’s Pro Bono Program with 2025 Economic Justice Champion Award

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) honored Goodwin’s Neighborhood Business Initiative (NBI) with its 2025 Economic Justice Champion Award during a reception at The State Room in Boston. The Economic Justice Champion Award recognizes individuals, organizations, or initiatives that have made significant contributions to advancing economic equity and opportunity. 

NBI is a Goodwin-run initiative founded in 2001 to promote equal opportunity and support wealth creation in communities that face barriers by providing pro bono legal services to small business owners who are members of, or whose businesses positively impact, such communities. 

LCR is a Boston-based non-profit organization that fights discrimination and fosters equity through creative and courageous legal advocacy, education, and economic empowerment. With law firms and community allies, they provide free, life-changing legal support to individuals, families, and small businesses. 

Goodwin and LCR have collaborated to serve Boston’s small business community for more than 20 years. Notably, Goodwin helped LCR to found BizGrow (then known as the Economic Justice Project) and leads business law workshops for LCR constituents. A cornerstone of our collaboration is a twice-monthly Small Business Office Hours program offered in partnership with the Boston Public Library’s Kirstein Business Library & Innovation Center. Since NBI’s founding, more than 800 Goodwin lawyers have contributed 25,000+ hours of pro bono legal work to small businesses operating in and around Boston, and 1600+ Goodwin lawyers have contributed 45,000+ hours nationwide.  

Click here for more information about Goodwin’s Pro Bono Initiative.