Giving Back to the Community Isn’t Just Good for the Community
It’s also good for the businesses that do it. Just ask Pittsburgh law firm Dentons Cohen & Grigsby.
“Our clients do best when the community is thriving,” says Christie Tillapaugh, President and CEO of Pittsburgh-based law firm Dentons Cohen & Grigsby. “And our people do best when the community is thriving.”
Tillapaugh captures, in a nutshell, one of the main reasons for businesses to join the Satell Institute and engage in Corporate Social Responsibility: giving back to the community isn’t just good for the community; it’s good for businesses, too.
Dentons Cohen & Grigsby — a new SI member that was founded in Pittsburgh and is now part of global law firm Dentons — is a prime example of what putting the community first looks like in the legal world. In addition to representing many nonprofit clients, as a core value, the firm strongly encourages its team members to volunteer for local organizations and serve on nonprofit boards. They even showcase the work of Pittsburgh artists in their office.
In this conversation, Tillapaugh — who’s taken an active role in planning SI’s Pittsburgh CEO Conference on October 17 – goes deep on her city, her firm, and how, in helping others, Dentons Cohen & Grigsby is helping itself.
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Our firm…
… was formed in the 1980s, and we have a long history here in Pittsburgh. We also have an office in Naples, Florida, with the view that our offices are where our clients need us to be.
We joined Dentons in 2020, which gives us the benefits of a worldwide firm and the opportunity to service our clients both across the U.S. and beyond.
I’m a…
… Pittsburgher. I’m from Pittsburgh and other than law school, I’ve spent all of my time in Pittsburgh and basically my entire career in Pennsylvania. It’s been really wonderful.
I started as a corporate M & A lawyer working on large public-company deals. I worked at another law firm at the beginning of my career and then went in-house for a period. And then I came here 17 years ago.
I started representing nonprofits because…
…having spent so much of my career focusing on corporate governance, it was kind of a logical extension for me — particularly working with larger nonprofits and foundations that follow public-company best practices. And so I got involved with some really interesting nonprofit-related transactions. From there I was pretty much hooked, and I really found the work to be satisfying. There are an incredible number of nonprofits here in Western Pennsylvania in particular.
One of our firm values is…
…“being in and of the community.” When I came into the CEO role a little over two years ago, embracing that was just a logical extension of what we were already doing. We have a history of encouraging board leadership and civic-mindedness, and for a number of years, we’ve had a policy in place of giving billable credit for those non-billable contributions
Lately, we’ve started to focus even more on how important community service is and the civic-minded aspects of our culture. How can we do that in a way that supports the communities that we operate in? Our view is that our clients do best when the community is thriving, and our people do best when the community is thriving.
That spirit of giving back…
… is embedded in our culture. We embraced that spirit of giving-ness even more with the “DCG Cares” initiative that we launched two years ago. In addition to the work people do individually, we now find some projects that we galvanize around internally. It could be packing backpacks or doing things for back-to-school. Most recently we were involved with the JCC Maccabi Games that were hosted here in Pittsburgh.
Also: our offices are actually in the cultural district of Pittsburgh and we’re very invested in providing support for the arts. We work with many of our neighbors who are central to many of the efforts that are happening here. And our reception floor here in Pittsburgh is perfect for displaying art. We usually feature local artists and use our space as a way to celebrate local contributions to the arts.
Our Naples office also participates in their local community and is active in regional cultural organizations, including the arts.
Being so community-focused…
…really helps us from a recruiting perspective. The firm first stood out to me as being strong in the space before I joined it, and that was a big attraction point for me.
The people who have done well at the organization are deeply entrenched in the community. It’s recognized as something that’s important, and people like that idea that they’re not just here to be a lawyer who practices in a specific space — the firm also values these other intangibles they can bring.
Whether people want to support autism or a food bank or the arts, us working with those clients and helping them thrive really helps people feel that they’re part of the fabric. I’ve had people come up and be like, I’m so glad we’re working with that organization.
The Satell Institute…
….has helped us think even more deeply about how we do Corporate Social Responsibility. How can we do it in a more meaningful way? How can it help us come together as employees, colleagues, friends and support the communities we serve?
Satell is great for organizations that are trying to find ways to be impactful in the community through Corporate Social Responsibility. The ability to share best practices, to use the time wisely, and to recognize how we all can contribute in different ways, is really impressive.
Our commitment to the community…
…it’s Pittsburgh in a sense, right? Our people are proud of their city, they like to see people doing well, and I think they enjoy knowing that they play a small part in their success.
