Idea Exchange

Community Service

Improving life where we live

Compassionate about our communities, Nelson Mullins considers community service (volunteer work of a non-legal nature) to be part of our fabric. It’s part of who we are as a Firm and as important as the legal work our attorneys perform pro bono publico. Attorneys are trained to be problem solvers, and Nelson Mullins attorneys have been involved in solving problems and serving as community leaders for over 100 years.

Community Service

Improving life where we live

Nelson Mullins Cares
The firm encourages and supports nonprofit and charity board service across our workforce: from staff to managing partner. Often a community service client may also be a pro bono client, such as Habitat for Humanity, Transitions, or the Palmetto Project.

Among our lawyers we have former ambassadors, former governors, former cabinet members, many veterans of military service and many others who have served their state or national government in a variety of public servant roles.

Packages for Peacekeepers

For over 20 years the firm has packed and sent over 300 “Nelson Mullins care packages” to military personnel overseas serving on the front lines of defense.

Central Carolina Community Foundation

Since 1997 the firm has maintained a Nelson Mullins donor directed fund at the Central Carolina Community Foundation, funded by donations and court awarded attorney’s fees and pro bono cases that the firm has brought.

To date over $680,000 in grants have been made by the firm to a variety of charities including children shelters, legal services entities, juvenile justice initiatives, education advocacy for indigent or disabled children and more.

Disaster Relief

When a natural or man-made disaster hits a community in which we serve, depending upon the circumstances, the firm responds with volunteer and financial support. As an example the firm adopted a Louisiana shelter following Katrina and raised over $50,000 for the Palmetto Project Lowcountry Ministries following the tragedy of the Emanuel 9.

Bar, Non-profit & Board Service

Nelson Mullins lawyers have worked to improve and sustain national, state and local bar associations such as the American Bar Association, DRI, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Charleston Bar Association, the South Carolina Bar, the North Carolina Bar, the Georgia Bar, the Jacksonville Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Richland County Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association. The Firm created the Nelson Mullins Riley Scarborough Center on Professionalism at the University of South Carolina Law School. The Firm also supports service on nonprofit and other corporate Boards where not in conflict with service to our clients.

Education Efforts

With former US Secretary of Education Dick Riley setting an example, members of the firm serve or have served as trustees or board members for the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, Berry College, Claflin University, Columbia College, Furman University, John Marshall Law School, Mercer Law School, Virginia Military Institute, Suffolk University, University of North Carolina Wilmington, among others.

The firm also provides services and donations to programs like Autism Speaks, Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, South Carolina Autism Society, Communities in Schools, and various school board service.

Homeless Issues

The firm has been very active in addressing homelessness in the communities in which they serve. Among the organizations we have supported include One80 Place (Charleston), Crossroads Community Ministries Inc. (Georgia), Family Promise of the Midlands (South Carolina), Transitions (Columbia), and the Salvation Army (South Carolina). The firm has organized or served as a consultant to the creation of homeless courts in Columbia and in Charleston.

Housing

The firm has supported, both financially and with labor, Habitat chapters throughout our footprint. Our team includes an attorney who represents Central South Carolina Habitat for Humanity on certain legal matters pro bono, serves on its board of director, and, together with others throughout the firm, has worked on the construction of habitat houses. The Columbia office of Nelson Mullins has built four habitat houses. Homeworks, an organization dedicated to repairing the homes of those unable to do so, is also among the organizations we have supported.