32 Association of Pro Bono Counsel (APBCo) Clinic APBCo is a membership organization primarily comprised of full-time pro bono partners, counsel, and coordinators at major commercial law firms. In 2013, APBCo initiated a series of new collaborations across the country, in nine cities, designed to expand national law firm efforts to increase access to justice. Mintz Levin participated in the launch of the Small Business Legal Academy in New York City in October 2013. The goal of the initiative was to bring law firms, legal service providers, and fledgling small businesses from low- income communities together on a large scale, through workshops and individual legal counseling. Mintz Levin attorneys Jesse David and Louis Froelich as well as former project analyst Anthony Arias gave advice to small business owners about contracts, nonprofit formation, employment law, personnel management, intellectual property issues, and commercial leases. Boston Area Rape Crisis Center The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center is an organization committed to ending sexual violence through healing and social change. This past year, Mintz Levin attorney Christine Wahr and former Mintz Levin attorneys John Koss and Martha Zackin began the process of representing the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center in a criminal court action to ensure that the clinical and legal records of a victim of sexual assault remain sealed. Beyond protecting the victim’s own right to have her personal records remain private, the confidentiality policy that the Mintz Levin team is helping to strengthen is vital to programs involving victims of sexual abuse. By preventing defendants from accessing the records of their victims, this work will help ensure that victims of sexual abuse aren’t deterred from seeking out the incredibly important legal and clinical support that advocacy organizations like the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center provide. Brain Observatory The University of California, San Diego is setting up the Brain Observatory, an organization dedicated to promoting wider access and study of the human brain. Specifically, the organization is working to set up a library where brains can be donated so that all researchers can have access to a brain database. Mintz Levin attorneys Laura Graham, Andy Skale, and Katy Ward are providing the Brain Observatory with guidance and advice to register as a federal 501(c)(3) nonprofit and meet state filing requirements. Buzzards Bay Coalition Buzzards Bay Coalition is dedicated to the restoration, protection, and sustainable use and enjoyment of the bay and its watershed. The organization works to improve the health of the bay ecosystem through education, conservation, research, and advocacy. Mintz Levin provided the Buzzards Bay Coalition with strategic legal advice about limiting groundwater discharge of pollutants from a municipal wastewater treatment facility. Through extensive research and evaluation of potential claims, attorneys Ralph Child, Jeff Porter, Colin Van Dyke, and KatyWard, legal specialists Katherine Durham andTravis Leach, and summer associates Matt Karambelas and Kaoru Suzuki, now associates at the firm, worked with the organization’s staff and board to develop an effective strategy. Chelsea’s Light In 2010, 17-year-old Chelsea King was raped and murdered by a convicted sex offender went she went running near her home in Poway, California. Chelsea’s parents founded “Chelsea’s Light” to unite people who are passionate about protecting children and inspiring positive change in their communities. The foundation helped get “Chelsea’s Law” passed and signed into law in California. The law increases penalties for sex offenders and increases the monitoring of paroled sex offenders.The foundation’s goal is to see Chelsea’s Law passed in all 50 states and targeted efforts are currently under way in Illinois, Ohio, and Texas.