By Ellie Eimer

Natalie Scruton Federle joined the workforce in one of the worst economies this country has ever seen. It was 2010, she had just graduated from Wake Forest Law School and she was looking for a job in New York. She wasn’t having much luck. Her husband got a job in Chicago, so she decided to try the Windy City’s job market. She received an offer at DLA Piper in their employment law department.

Federle transitioned from DLA Piper, to Neil Gerber and Eisenberg, to Jackson Lewis, to working in-house at a company called Outcome Health.

At Outcome Health, Federle realized she would have to take it upon herself to find her own pro bono work. She needed to find a way to make a positive impact that also worked with her new job environment. While researching, she found the Settlement Assistance Program at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. Federle said she knew this would be a good fit because she had done so many settlement conferences for her clients.

In order to be the most productive in her pro bono work, Federle only takes on projects where she feels she knows the law very well, she said.

So, when Federle saw that Healing to Action, a nonprofit that supports survivors of gender-based violence, needed help with their employee handbook, she jumped at the opportunity to help.

“A handbook is something I’ve done hundreds of times, so I knew that I would be able to efficiently provide them with high quality legal services,” Federle said. “I don't think that only Fortune 500 companies should have access to high quality legal services. It's important for all lawyers to use the skills that they have to help where they can.”

During the pandemic, Healing to Action jumped into gear as domestic violence rates surged. A leader with Healing to Action created a resource guide to explain the stay-at-home order for those in her community who were scared to leave their homes because of their immigration status. The leader found that this had become a tool that abusive partners would use to further confine their partners.

“A lot of times survivors will blame themselves for what happened,” said Healing to Action co-founder Sheerine Alemzadeh. “So what we’re really trying to do is bring people together to see that this is happening to a lot of other people in a lot of other contexts.”

Healing to Action focuses on ending gender-based violence through building a leadership and collective power of the community’s most impacted, Alemzadeh said. The nonprofit addresses all types of gender-based violence: physical, psychological, sexual and economic. It also helps survivors to launch grassroot campaigns in their own communities.

Alemzadeh said she has been working on ending gender-based violence for nearly her whole career.

“I became interested in the issue as a young person before I went to college,” Alemzadeh said. “I was really struck by how in communities like mine, immigrant communities, there were just so many more challenges and barriers to come forward when this type of thing happened.”

In December of 2015, Healing to Action took part in a bootcamp program for nonprofit startups organized by Chicago Lawyers’ Committee, which also provided a legal team to help with their 501(c)(3) status. Alemzadeh said she has also utilized the employment law hotline.

“We’re incredibly grateful for Chicago Lawyers’ Committees’ support,” Alemzadeh said. “They have been a really important partner for us over the last several years. Our work wouldn’t be possible without partners with their level of expertise, generosity, and commitment to our work.”

Most recently, Healing to Action has been working with Federle. Although it began with updating their handbook, Federle has quickly become the point person for the co-founders whenever they have a legal question.

“Organizations like Healing to Action have limited resources, and they need to be focusing those resources on serving their communities, not on hiring lawyers,” Federle said. “I’m really glad that I was able to make this connection with them. I appreciate the work that [Chicago Lawyers’ Committee] does, making it easy for someone like me to step in and help so that [Healing to Action] can focus their time, energy, and resources on the community they’re designed to serve.”

*Since the story was written, Natalie transitioned to a new job at Sermo.

Pro Bono Spotlight: How Natalie Federle Makes a Positive Impact