Alison McKinnell King

Alison McKinnell King is Pro Bono Counsel at Kirkland & Ellis in their New York office. Prior to joining Kirkland, Alison was the Pro Bono Counsel at Arnold & Porter and at Kaye Scholer. She started her career as an associate in the Corporate/Finance Department at Kaye Scholer, was asked to be the Co-Chair of Kaye Scholer’s Pro Bono Committee as an associate, became Counsel at the firm, and then became the firm’s first Pro Bono Counsel. Alison was also the first Pro Bono Counsel at Arnold & Porter. Her experience as a cross-border securities lawyer and her pro bono work as counsel to nonprofits on governance issues allows her to have a unique perspective on transactional pro bono at a large international law firm. At each firm she has strong relationships with local and national legal services organizations and has developed experience in several areas of pro bono practice, such as representing charter schools, working with refugees and victims of human rights abuses, and tax-exempt organizations and micro-entrepreneurs. She has acted as the Co-Chair of the Pfizer Legal Alliance’s Pro Bono Committee, Treasurer and Board member for the Association of Pro Bono Counsel, and the Chair of the NY City Bar Association’s Pro Bono and Legal Services Committee. She formed the City Bar’s Task Force on the Civil Right to Counsel, which she Co-Chairs with Professor Andrew Scherer. Alison is also on the Pro Bono Institute’s Defining Law Firm Pro Bono Working Group and the New York State Bar President’s Commission on Access to Justice. She sits on the Board of Start Small, Think Big, and is the Secretary/Treasurer and Board member for Volunteers of Legal Service.