Category: Pro Bono

By Kristen Bolster Over the past few years there has been action at the local level and increasingly at the state level to implement the right to counsel in eviction cases. This action most recently has occurred against the backdrop of COVID-19, at a time when many low-income renters were unable to work and faced the threat of being evicted during a global pandemic. To aid tenants during the pandemic, the federal government announced a national eviction moratorium to stop landlords from evicting tenants for missed rent payments. However, with the moratorium now expiring on July 31, 2021 and roughly 4.1 million renters not current on rent

The coronavirus pandemic has shifted how and where we work. This has raised ethical questions for attorneys working remotely, but also has presented new opportunities to engage in pro bono work in local communities.

The second-ever Financial Institution Pro Bono Day overcame obstacles posed by COVID-19 to virtually provide crucial pro bono services to underserved individuals. Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO), a project of Pro Bono Institute, organized Financial Institution Pro Bono Day in partnership with pro bono leaders from 18 financial institutions, alongside partner law firms and legal services organizations.  On the day of service, January 14, 2021, more than 630 volunteers from 37 financial institutions participated. Pro bono volunteers showcased their commitment to increasing access to justice in over 50 events in cities across the United States and the United Kingdom.

PBI recently spoke with former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, of counsel at Latham & Watkins and chair of the NYC Covid-19 Recovery Task Force, to hear more about what the task force has been up to since its establishment in April and his debut on PBI’s podcast in July.

With the pro bono legal community’s recent increased focus on racial justice and criminal justice, Pro Bono Institute (PBI) and its Corporate Pro Bono project (CPBO) have seen a growing interest in pro bono work related to criminal expungement. Pro bono work includes both direct legal services to low-income individuals with criminal records and advancing progressive policy reform.  

While pro bono volunteers positively impact clients across all fields, pro bono legal services can make an especially strong impact on the lives of survivors of sexual violence and intimate partner violence. After Tarana Burke created the ‘Me Too’ movement and the popularization of the #MeToo hashtag spread virally on social media in late 2017, awareness and action towards sexual violence have increased in many spaces across the United States and the world. This post examines issues of sexual violence and intimate partner violence (“IPV’) and their relation to the field of pro bono legal services, touching on why access to legal

In recent weeks, our world has been turned upside down. Around the globe, we have been asked to redefine normalcy, while the term “social distancing” has found itself in our day-to-day vocabulary. Understandably, many people are feeling helpless right now. Feelings of frustration arise, because we have a desire to go out and help our communities. However, we know that the best way to do that during this time is to stay inside. Pro bono and legal professionals, especially, may feel constricted at this time, as they know their assistance is needed, but it is difficult to know how to

Many pro bono attorneys volunteer in high stress matters, such as domestic violence, child abuse, immigration, and death penalty advocacy. While the mental health and trauma of the clients in these matters is paramount, these high-stakes, high-stress matters also impact the clients’ legal services providers. Just as doctors, nurses and other medical professionals can face psychological trauma in performing their jobs, many attorneys suffer from the mental health hazards of caring for others, such as burnout, vicarious trauma, and secondary trauma. Secondary trauma stress, also referred to as vicarious trauma or compassion fatigue, is a condition caused by exposure to another person’s trauma, with

“In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” Iroquois Maxim Standing Bear was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol. The significance of this symbol — a Native tribal member claiming space in the heart of the nation’s capital on behalf of his tribe and all Native people — cannot be overstated. The history of Native peoples in America has been fraught with conflict, broken treaties, and forced relocations — an experience familiar to Chief Standing Bear, whose tribe was forced by federal treaty to leave its homeland in 1876 to make room

On January 1, 2020, the pool of attorneys eligible to provide pro bono legal services in Indiana will expand, thanks to a recent order of the Indiana Supreme Court. Indiana joins 39 states and the District of Columbia in permitting non-locally licensed in-house counsel to provide pro bono legal services in the jurisdiction in which they practice law for their employer. These authorizations come in the form of practice rules permitting registered in-house counsel, or out-of-state attorneys more broadly, to deliver pro bono services. Such rules are a critical step in helping to address the shortage of available legal aid