Honors Night Awards: Edward Heath Has Cultivated A 'Giving Back' Culture At Robinson & Cole

When Edward Heath graduated from law school in 1999, he wanted to join a law firm with an engrained culture of pro bono efforts. "I wanted to give something back to the community," he said.

Heath found that culture with his first job, at Robinson & Cole in Hartford, where he is a partner in the business litigation practice group and chair of the firm's Pro Bono Committee. In that role, Heath has made an effort to link partners and associates with the kinds of legal projects they are most interested in. The result has been an even greater emphasis on an already robust pro bono program.

"For the past several years, Robinson & Cole has been named a top 100 firm for pro bono among the AmLaw200, and that's quite an accomplishment," Heath said. "We've been building on that success."

Heath managed to encourage more than 50 lawyers with the 200-lawyer firm to participate in outreach efforts to provide legal services for people in need, including a busy clinic in the New Haven area that provides legal help to veterans who have trouble finding jobs and homes. Last year, Heath worked with court administrators and Chief Family Court Judge Linda Munro to establish a program at the Middletown family court to help victims of domestic violence to fill out paperwork to obtain restraining orders. The program is expanding to Hartford later this year.

"That clinic has been very rewarding, in terms of the help we're providing to women seeking protection from abuse," Heath said. "This program has allowed us to represent many women and children, some of whom were toddlers, facing varying degrees of abusive and threatening behavior."

For his contributions to veterans and abused women in need, among others, Heath is being recognized as the winner of the 2013 Connecticut Law Tribune Pro Bono Award.

Heath is careful not to take sole credit. "I like to see this award as a reflection of what our firm has done," he said. "I've been a facilitator of people's pro bono work here at the firm and the firm has done a lot of work in the community. I'm very proud of that work, even though I think it reflects upon Robinson & Cole rather than on what I've done individually."

But those who have worked with Heath said he is a worthy recipient of the honor, because of his energetic approach to expanding legal services for the poor. Among Heath's many supporters is Steve Eppler-Epstein, executive director of Connecticut Legal Services.

"Ed has been a leader in pro bono efforts in Connecticut for years," Eppler-Epstein said. "It matters, of course, that the pro bono partner at a major law firm like Robinson & Cole cares so much about delivering legal services to those in need. Far beyond that, Ed participates actively in the statewide conversation about broadening pro bono efforts. He richly deserves this award."

Heath has a busy career as a litigator and chair of the firm's White Collar Defense and Corporate Compliance Practice Team. He counsels clients, including technology companies, manufacturers and financial institution, in dealing with government investigations and advising those clients on ways to avoid litigation.

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