Annual Conference Archives - Pro Bono Institute

Connecting Expertise to Impact: Expert Support for Legal Services Organizations

March 26, 2026

By Erin Palmer, Associate Director, Corporate Pro Bono At the Pro Bono Institute 2026 Pre-Conference, Maximizing Access, Maximizing Justice: Expanding Pro Bono Beyond Traditional Limits, one session focused on a critical and often underutilized resource for legal services organizations: expert support. The session, Pro Bono for Institutional Resilience: Leveraging Expert Support to Build Stronger Legal Services Organizations, explored not just why expert support matters, but what it looks like in practice, how organizations can use it, and how to access it. At its core, the conversation was grounded in a simple reality: legal services and public interest organizations are being

Climate and Law: Supporting Nonprofits for Change

March 25, 2026

By Jennifer Pei, PBI intern Change can happen at all levels of society – from countries to civil society, and even to individuals. To address the ongoing climate crisis, nonprofit organizations are key actors that are taking action. Individuals can participate in climate activism in many ways, and the legal sector has unique skills to contribute. Pro bono legal aid is invaluable in supporting nonprofit organizations that work on environmental law and climate. This form of pro bono aid weaves environmental objectives and personal values. How to Get Involved Whether you are a litigator or a transactional attorney, there are

Still Reflecting: Lessons from PBI’s 2026 Annual Conference

March 13, 2026

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 —

Why Pro Bono Must Keep Evolving

March 3, 2026

By Eve Runyon, PBI President & CEO As I head into the PBI 2026 Annual Conference this week, I find myself reflecting on how pro bono and access to justice work have changed over the past decade and a half and what those changes demand of us now. Having attended the Conference for more than 15 years, I’ve had a front-row seat to both meaningful progress and persistent challenges. Those experiences shape some key thoughts leading into the Conference. Most importantly, pro bono is needed now more than ever. Over the past 15 years, the access to justice gap has

AI and Technology Help Bridge Access to Justice

February 6, 2026

By Andrew Braun, PBI Intern Pro bono and legal aid initiatives continue leveraging technology to provide and enhance crucial services. From expanding access to legal resources, to streamlining administrative tasks, lawyers are exploring technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to transform impactful pro bono and legal aid work to serve more clients. Fostering innovation in these technologies remains integral for organizations working to bridge justice access gaps. The access-to-justice field continues committing resources toward understanding the strengths and limitations of technologies like AI and discussing how to bring underserved clients greater access to legal help. AI has been championed for its

Partnering for Prison Justice: How Equal Justice Initiative Fights for Civil Rights

February 3, 2026

By Jennifer Pei, PBI Intern In 2025, almost two million people were detained in either state or federal prisons across the United States. The criminal justice system cost approximately $182 billion across the federal, state, and local levels. “Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”1 The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is a civil rights nonprofit organization based in Montgomery, Alabama. Founded in 1989, EJI serves communities that have been systemically marginalized due to poverty and racial injustices. Its founder, bestselling author and public interest attorney, Bryan Stevenson, began EJI as part of his work as

Celebrating 20 Years of the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge Initiative

December 11, 2025

By Alyssa Saunders, Director Corporate Pro Bono In 2026, the Pro Bono Institute Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO) Challenge® initiative will celebrate its 20th anniversary alongside PBI’s 30 years of advancing access to justice. These milestones are an opportunity to celebrate the growth of in-house pro bono over the years and challenge more legal departments to participate in delivering pro bono legal services to those in need. Background on the Challenge and In-House Pro Bono In 2000, PBI founded the CPBO project to develop and transform in-house pro bono. Since then, the CPBO project has worked with more than one thousand

Repairing Lives, Restoring Credit: How PBI Helped Launch a National Virtual Credit Repair Clinic for Trafficking Survivors

November 24, 2025

When Pro Bono Institute (PBI) convened the PBI 2025 Annual Conference in February 2025, one session on innovative pro bono models for serving trafficking survivors sparked a collaboration that resulted in a pilot series of clinics this fall. Panelists shared how the National Survivor Law Collective (NSL Collective) had begun offering virtual clinics to help survivors with credit repair under the Debt Bondage Repair Act (DBRA), which went into effect in July 2022, and the related Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Regulation V. The DBRA is an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act that empowers survivors of human trafficking to

Highlights from Pro Bono Institute Annual Conference: Project Development & Volunteer Engagement

July 16, 2025

At the Pro Bono Institute (PBI) 2025 Annual Conference earlier this year, pro bono experts from in-house, law firm, and legal services organizations gathered to share their expertise and to collaborate about the future of pro bono. Here, the PBEye blog highlights two sessions that focused on pro bono project development and volunteer engagement, in different contexts: global pro bono and rapid response pro bono. These sessions are illustrative of the expert panelists, interactive in-depth discussions, and practical takeaways that PBI Annual Conference sessions provide. Global Pro Bono Development At the session titled “Global Projects as Opportunity for Cross-Cutting Collaboration,”

Spotlight on Educational Justice: Two Case Studies from the Pro Bono Institute Annual Conference

July 1, 2025

At the Pro Bono Institute (PBI) 2025 Annual Conference, two powerful case studies highlighted how pro bono and public interest lawyers are driving systemic reform to improve education for students with disabilities. These sessions offered attendees the opportunity to learn from groundbreaking litigation and advocacy and encouraged them to get involved in this important work. Recordings of these sessions are now available upon request by emailing PBI staff. Case Study #1: The Missing School Bus – Transportation and the Rights of Students with Disabilities In a compelling session, panelists discussed their recent class action lawsuit challenging the District of Columbia’s

Category: Annual Conference