By Eve Runyon, PBI President & CEO
One week later, I’m still thinking about the ideas, conversations, and moments that shaped PBI’s 2026 Annual Conference. Across sessions, side conversations, and the times in between, I had the privilege of hearing from and engaging with so many dedicated professionals who are deeply committed to pro bono and access to justice. There is far too much to capture in a single post, but several themes have stayed with me, and I want to share them.
The Commitment Endures
In the face of real challenges and constraints, pro bono is not retreating — it is thriving. There have been adjustments, and in some corners, greater scrutiny, but the work continues and the commitment remains strong. Pro bono leaders and volunteers continue to roll up their sleeves and do incredible work. That resilience is worth celebrating.
Pro Bono Leadership Has Become Truly Multi-Generational
Across firms, legal departments, and public interest organizations there is a breadth of generations leading and contributing to this work. Three generations and, in some instance four, working side by side. That is more than a demographic fact. It is a strategic advantage. Deep institutional knowledge meets fresh perspective, urgency, and a willingness to experiment.
Adaptability Is No Longer Optional — It’s the Baseline
Experimentation matters because our work demands constant adaptation. Serving people and communities with the greatest need means continuously refining programs, scaling what is effective, and learning quickly when conditions shift, whether that shift is legal, economic, technological, or organizational. Sustained adaptability is no longer a special initiative or a commendable trait, it is the baseline. And proactive learning is the skill set that keeps teams resilient when the ground moves beneath them.
Community and Collaboration Remain Our Greatest Strength
If there is one area where the Conference reinforced our collective strength above all others, it was community. The pro bono and access to justice ecosystem works best when it works together — law firms, legal departments, and legal services organizations, partnering together and in collaboration with expert service providers, technologists, community justice workers, and more. All sharing information, coordinating strategy, and supporting one another. Collaboration is how we avoid reinventing the wheel. It is how we scale what works, and it is how we show up consistently for the clients who need us most.
Technology and AI Are Moving from Exploration to Expectation
Technology and AI are rapidly shifting from “interesting to explore” to “necessary to understand.” Across conversations, my colleagues are leaning into increased automation, co-intelligence, RAG bots, and emerging approaches like VIBE coding — not as buzzwords, but as practical tools to strengthen service delivery and make limited resources go further. The opportunity is real, but so is the responsibility. We need thoughtful, ethical approaches that protect vulnerable people, improve quality, and build sustainable workflows, not ones that add complexity or create new risks for the communities we serve.
Access to Justice Is Both a Shared Responsibility and a Shared Opportunity
Underlying every session and conversation was a quiet but persistent reminder: access to justice is not the work of any single organization or sector. It belongs to all of us. Different organizations bring different tools, different expertise, and different reach, but we are all working toward the same goal. There is space for everyone to contribute their comparative advantage, and when we do, the impact multiplies.
I left the Conference encouraged by the excitement, innovation, and commitment of the amazing people doing this work, and motivated by the same clear charge that came through again and again: keep learning, keep working together, and keep building projects, initiatives, and systems that make it easier for people to get the legal help they need.