Our Philosophy

KT IMPACT is Kilpatrick Townsend’s commitment to active citizenship that encourages and enables all team members to make a meaningful impact on society. Throughout the year, the firm plans and promotes opportunities in each of our six KT IMPACT emphasis areas — community leadership, diversity & inclusion, philanthropy, pro bono, sustainability, and volunteerism.

Through our commitment to people, our communities, and the planet, our attorneys and staff further develop skills and relationships that enhance their personal and professional growth.

“We are a firm that is proud of its culture and its contributions to the greater good.”

In 1997 Kilpatrick Townsend and the Atlanta Legal Aid Society (ALAS) launched the Grandparent Adoption Program (GAP) in response to the emergence of increasing numbers of grandparents and other adults who were caring for young relatives and sought to stabilize their relationships with the children. Most often the parents of the children were not available, usually as a result of abandonment, incarceration, addiction to drugs or death, and adoption was a good solution. A partner in the Atlanta office of Kilpatrick Townsend had expertise in adoption law, and volunteered to create a project to address this need – one of the first pro bono projects of its kind in the United States.

By 2006, almost ten years after the program’s initial launch, the firm had accepted 204 adoption matters from the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, and was showing no signs of stopping., The firm’s signature program in Atlanta was so successful that it was able to start a similar program with Legal Aid of North Carolina, where there was a similar need and not enough help for families seeking to adopt their young relatives.

Yet another ten years later, in August 2016, Kilpatrick Townsend launched a new initiative that focuses on estate planning and guardianships for grandparents and other relatives with custody of children. During the 18 months since this initiative began, more than a dozen attorneys in the Atlanta office have accepted new pro bono matters drafting wills, advance directives, and minor guardianship documents. In 2017, the firm developed a joint project with another Atlanta-based corporate client to assist with this aspect of the project.

2017 KT IMPACT Highlights:

• 52% of attorneys and professional staff participated in a firm-sponsored volunteer project
• 33,649 total hours of pro bono performed
• 10 educational partnerships supported across the country
• 3x winner of the Human Rights Campaign Best Places to Work for Equality Award
• Top 10% by AmLaw 200 for breadth of pro bono service