Caroline Ciraolo

Age: 45
Hometown: Baltimore
Cause: Tax litigation

Drawn to cases off ending her sense of fairness, Ciraolo volunteers about 200 hours a year defending individuals and businesses in IRS disputes. Clients have ranged from teachers misled about tax law to wives unfairly dunned for taxes on their husbands' income. (She saved the wives millions.) The Baltimore attorney, who launched her state bar's U.S. Tax Court pro bono program in 2008, has gotten colleagues to train personnel at nearby Fort Meade to prepare returns for soldiers — making her firm a pioneer in a new national program.

Says Ciraolo:

People you help pro bono are very grateful clients. When you get a good result, there are tears."