Joanna Plichta Boisen '06

Chief Pro Bono & Social Impact Officer
Davis Wright Tremaine

Joanna Plichta Boisen is the Chief Pro Bono and Social Impact Officer at Davis Wright Tremaine (DWT), where she leads the firm’s nationally recognized pro bono practice and oversees its firmwide social impact strategy.

A respected voice in the field, Joanna maintains an active pro bono docket that includes Holocaust survivor reparation appeals, domestic violence representation, and advising income-eligible nonprofits.

Joanna’s passion for public interest work began long before she became a lawyer. Immigrating from Communist Poland to the United States as a child, she saw firsthand the power of the law to protect and empower communities. She attended Seattle University School of Law with a clear purpose: to serve the immigrant and low-income communities she grew up in. During law school, she was awarded the Kellye Testy Scholarship, served as Executive Editor of the Seattle Journal for Social Justice, and became the Access to Justice Institute’s inaugural intern. These experiences shaped her belief that expanding access to the legal system isn’t just a personal calling, but a profound professional responsibility.

During a formative summer at Foster Pepper, Joanna recognized that with the right leadership, law firms could become powerful engines for good and justice in the world. That realization shaped the trajectory of her career. At Foster Pepper, she founded and built a nationally recognized pro bono program, making history as the firm’s first Pro Bono Counsel and later as its first Pro Bono Partner, roles she served in for a combined 13 years. In 2019, Joanna joined DWT as the firm’s first Pro Bono Counsel, and in 2020 she became DWT’s first Chief Pro Bono and Social Impact Officer.

At DWT, in addition to her C-suite leadership and serving as outside counsel to in-house legal departments, Joanna launched innovative, award-winning AI tech tools and built initiatives that expand access to justice for underrepresented communities including the Gateway to Good, Haven AI Asylum, and the Scam Justice Legal Clinic. Combining a business mind with a bleeding heart for justice, Joanna has transformed how law firms approach doing good and established the gold standard for pro bono practice across the AmLaw 100. To this day, Joanna remains a devoted SU Law alumna, deeply grateful to the place that shaped her legal mind and taught her how to lead with compassion, courage, and conviction.