Pro Bono Institute (PBI) has selected the legal division of Freddie Mac and Ricardo A. Anzaldúa, Freddie Mac’s Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary to receive its 2019 Laurie D. Zelon Pro Bono Award for providing exemplary pro bono service and for leadership within the profession to increase pro bono legal services and improve access to justice. PBI will present the award at a luncheon during PBI’s 2019 Annual Conference at the Gaylord National Resort at D.C.’s National Harbor on Thursday, March 28.
Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Freddie Mac’s Legal Division has partnered with numerous local and regional community organizations and initiatives in the Northern Virginia area to provide extensive pro bono services. Freddie Mac began its formal pro bono efforts more than 25 years ago, working with Legal Services of Northern Virginia (LSNV) to serve disadvantaged members of its community. Freddie Mac’s Pro Bono Program now includes a broad array of projects serving individual clients, hosting numerous pro bono clinics at Freddie Mac’s headquarters, providing corporate legal services to nonprofit organizations, and successfully litigating more than a dozen complex asylum and related immigration matters. Freddie Mac engages more than 60 percent of its 207 Legal Division employees in pro bono.
Ricardo A. Anzaldúa became Freddie Mac’s general counsel in January 2019, overseeing all legal and regulatory strategies, services, resources, and corporate governance matters. In this new role, Anzaldúa continues his longtime commitment to pro bono legal services, which began as a student at Harvard Law School where he worked on pro bono asylum cases. As general counsel of MetLife, Inc., from 2012 to 2017, Anzaldúa established a policy to enable legal department staff to perform pro bono during work hours. He received an award from Manhattan Legal Services for his leadership in providing legal aid to indigent New York City residents. While serving in senior positions in the law department of The Hartford Financial Services Group (2007–2012), Anzaldúa joined the board of the Greater Hartford Legal Aid Foundation and continued to serve on the board until 2018, the last three years as its president.
As a Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO) Challenge® signatory, Freddie Mac’s Legal Division has a goal of more than 50 percent participation by its entire legal division staff.
To learn more about PBI’s award recipient, visit the 2019 Laurie D. Zelon Pro Bono Award page on PBI’s website.