Best Places to Work: Best Use of a Very Hungry Caterpillar

By Susan Keen Flynn

Location: Cleveland headquarters with 11 offices nationwide 

Number of Employees: 477, including 167 attorneys 

What They Do: One of the country’s top 100 law firms, established in 1916 by Newton D. Baker, U.S. Secretary of War during World War I and former mayor of Cleveland 

Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Attorneys and staff from the Cleveland office have tutored elementary students in math and reading for approximately 15 years.

Once a week, nearly 20 lawyers and employees spend an hour at Orchard School on the West Side tutoring second- and third-graders. “Everyone benefits from a strong Cleveland, and there isn’t going to be a strong Cleveland without a solid school system,” says Patricia Poole, a partner at Baker Hostetler who has served as a tutor. “Even if we can help one child a year, then we all benefit.”

Baker Hostetler also provides school supplies to Orchard and four other schools and rewards students with perfect attendance each grading period with cookies and entry into a drawing to win a bicycle. — SKF

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