FIPBD 2022

April 28, 2022 marked the third annual Financial Institution Pro Bono Day (FIPBD), organized by Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO), the global in-house project of Pro Bono Institute (PBI), in partnership with dozens of legal departments in the finance and insurance industries.  Pro bono leaders from legal departments, often in partnership with legal services organizations and major law firms, organized more than 65 pro bono opportunities and trainings for April 28. FIPBD serves to spotlight the need to increase access to justice by providing legal services to low-income, marginalized communities, and promote in-house pro bono engagement and collaboration with law firms and legal services organizations.

More than 1100 in-house volunteers from financial institutions participated in pro bono events that addressed issues such as homelessness; transgender name changes; life planning documents for veterans and seniors; green card assistance for Cuban immigrants; naturalization and asylum applications; DACA renewals; Temporary Protected Status applications for refugees from Ukraine, Haiti, and Venezuela; ending torture of LGBTQ+ youth; uncontested divorce filings for low-income individuals; tax credit applications for senior citizens; expungement of criminal records; driver’s license restoration; children’s rights around the world; obtaining vital identification documents; intake clinics; brief advice hotlines; legal assistance for nonprofits or micro-entrepreneurs; and many more.

The volunteers served more than 1000 clients, with an expectation that many more clients will receive services as a result of trainings that were held as part of FIPBD.  At several events, volunteers developed new resources for a nonprofit or NGO that will use the resources to serve additional beneficiaries.

Companies organizing FIPBD 2022 events included Accenture**, Ally Bank, American International Group (AIG)**, American Express, Apple Bank**, Bank of America**, Barclays, Barings Bank, Bloomberg**, BMO Financial Group**, BNY Mellon**, Capital One**, Citigroup, Inc.**, Citizens, Credit Suisse, Discover Financial Services**, Fannie Mae**, Freddie Mac**, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Nasdaq, PNC Financial Services Group**, Raymond James, U.S. Bank**, Vanguard**, Wells Fargo, and Zurich North America**. Representatives of these companies committed many hours of work to making FIPBD happen.  Dozens of firms and legal services organizations, listed below, partnered with the organizing companies’ legal departments to make these events possible. Additional financial institution legal departments that participated in FIPBD events include Aon, First Republic Bank, KeyBank, Lending Club, and Schroders.

Feedback from the volunteers and clients reflects that FIPBD was an incredibly impactful experience. For example, one volunteer shared that she and her law firm partner helped a client prepare a citizenship application, reporting: “We worked well together and we got to finish the entire application. The client seemed very happy and thanked us.  We felt good about this experience and giving back to the community.”  An organizer of a Justice in Action sprint reported:  “People appreciated the teamwork, the chance to do a hybrid live/virtual project and the important work completed in just a small amount of time.”  The leaders of an expungement clinic shared: “Volunteers explained that it was rewarding to hear stories from clients deserving of the second chance that expungement/record sealing could give them. Clients were appreciative of the opportunity to be helped and heard.” This is just a sampling of the positive feedback from this year’s FIPBD.

CPBO thanks everyone who worked so hard to make #FIPBD2022 a success.

List of Events

Alabama

Uncontested Divorce Clinic
This uncontested divorce clinic connects qualified low-income clients from Volunteer Lawyers Birmingham with volunteer attorneys to assist the client with an uncontested divorce. PNC volunteer attorneys and paralegals will be paired with a Maynard Cooper & Gale (MCG) attorney in Birmingham to work as a team to assist the client in the preparation of the required pleadings to file an uncontested divorce in Jefferson County Circuit Court.

California

Legal Name & Gender Marker Change Clinic
At this Virtual Legal Name & Gender Marker Clinic, volunteers will help clients complete required paperwork to apply for legal name and gender marker change and help complete fee waiver applications.

Legal Audit Clinic for Bay Area Non-Profit Organizations
At this virtual Legal Audit Clinic, participants will be provided training on the fundamentals of nonprofit representation and will then be paired with other attorneys (and subject matter experts where needed) to provide a legal assessment of each nonprofit’s legal needs. Everyone is welcome, regardless of experience.

District of Columbia (metro area)

Schedule H Training and Clinic
Legal Counsel for the Elderly has hundreds of clients who may be eligible for a D.C. tax credit of up to $1,000, which is available to low-income residents with high housing costs. Seniors who subsist entirely on Social Security may not need to file an income tax return, but they could get $1,000 to help pay for rent or property taxes by filling out the D.C. Schedule H tax form. Volunteers are needed to help low-income D.C. seniors fill out this straightforward form. You do NOT need to know any tax law and would NOT be listed as a tax preparer. An instruction manual prepared by LCE with step-by-step directions will be provided.

Small Business Clinic
The D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center, in partnership with the DCRA Small Business Resource Center, is hosting 45-minute remote legal consultations for small business owners and entrepreneurs. We help answer questions about starting, dissolving, or selling a business, reviewing leases or other legal documents, legal disputes, and other issues common to small or emerging businesses. Consultation procedures and a client interview form will be sent to you, along with a call-in information, if applicable. Volunteers are not expected to provide ongoing assistance.

AARP Schedule H Clinic
Volunteers at the AARP Schedule H Clinic will provide assistance to low-income D.C. taxpayers to obtain a property tax credit on their income tax returns.

Sealing Criminal Records
Volunteers will be working with clients who are seeking to have criminal records sealed.

Florida

Ukraine, Haiti and Venezuela Immigration Clinic in Miami Dade County
Volunteers will assist clients from Ukraine, Haiti, and Venezuela who are applying for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a temporary immigration status provided to nationals of certain countries who cannot return home safely.

Bay Area Legal Services Intake Clinic
As part of FI Pro Bono Day, Citi Legal will staff the Bay Area Legal Services general intake clinic which provides access to legal services on a wide variety of matters for the underserved community in Hillsborough County.

Georgia

Serving Nonprofits
This event will provide nonprofits with legal services.

Illinois

Virtual Expungement Clinic with Chicago Legal Aid
For people with past arrests or convictions, expunging or sealing their records can open back up access to social services, housing, eligibility for jobs and many more opportunities. Join us to prepare petitions for expungement and sealing for clients who have been screened by Legal Aid Chicago during this live 2-hour virtual clinic.  Volunteers on this project will be provided with a training and client assignment and will be paired with other volunteers prior to the clinic.  During the clinic, volunteers will collaborate to complete the petition and will call the client to finalize the petition. Following completion of the petition by the volunteer, Legal Aid Chicago resumes responsibility for the case including reviewing, signing, filing, court appearances and providing clients with court orders.

CVLS / BMO Intake Clinic
Intake clinic to interview potential clients for placement. Training is available on demand all day.

Maryland

Low Income Wills and Advanced Directives with Maryland Legal Aid
Join Maryland Legal Aid (MLA) in this virtual volunteer event to prepare wills and advanced directives over zoom for low income individuals across the State of Maryland. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought estate planning into the forefront of many people’s lives and low income populations have not been spared. By assisting with drafting a will and/or advanced medical directive you can provide peace of mind to a person who otherwise would not have the opportunity to control what happens to their body and assets after death. To assist volunteers MLA has developed a clinic model that provides the tools and training necessary to quickly and effectively provide client services.  Volunteers will be asked to watch a short training video in advance of the event. All client information is collected by MLA and provided to volunteers in the form of a questionnaire along with template documents. During the clinic volunteers will be split into small groups with a MLA mentor and asked to draft the documents for the client. At the conclusion of the clinic draft documents will be returned to MLA to coordinate review and execution of the forms with the client.

Massachusetts

Written Information Security Policy Clinic
Massachusetts law requires that non-profits that face the public have a written information security policy to protect any consumer non-public personal information that they might gather.  Working with the non-profits screened by The Lawyers Clearinghouse, and paired with Morgan Lewis attorneys, we will meet with non-profit representatives to help them consider and write a policy that is compliant with law and fits their needs.  One hour of training will precede the clinic.

Minnesota

Criminal Expungement Training and Clinic Event
Having a criminal record can seriously impact an individual’s ability to find housing and obtain employment. Volunteers will be provided with a 1-hour training and after meet with clients, draft petitions, schedule hearings and serve & file the documents for the pro se clients using specially designed software.

Missouri

Health Care Directive/POA Clinic
Attorneys and paralegals will assist LSEM clients with completing essential Health Care Directive and Power of Attorney forms, including providing notarization of the forms upon completion of the clients’ appointments.

New York

Non-Disclosure Agreement Clinic
In partnership with Start Small Think Big and Cleary Gottlieb, Amex will pilot a new Non-Disclosure Agreement (“NDA”) clinic that will focus on giving small business clients the tools to protect their ideas through NDAs. The clinic will walk through the various components of an NDA, explaining the scope of information covered, key legal terms and common negotiating points. Then, starting from an NDA template, Amex colleagues will assist clients (virtually and in-person) in preparing an agreement tailored to their business needs, whether that’s protecting culinary recipes, product designs or other critical practices or ideas.

Policy Review Clinic
In partnership with Lawyer’s Alliance of New York, Apple Bank’s legal department will conduct a thorough review of New Media Advocacy Project (NMAP) policies. NMAP’s mission is to provide stories that promote a more equitable world.

Clinic for Entrepreneurs
NELP is a City Bar Justice Center pro bono initiative which aims to empower micro-entrepreneurs of low-to-middle income in the NYC community. Small teams of volunteer attorneys (2-4) will meet with entrepreneurs to advise on a wide range of commercial legal questions including corporate formation, contracts, and intellectual property, all in an effort to help the entrepreneurs start their businesses on sound legal footing. As this is an intake clinic, the scope of the representation is limited to the 45-minute consultation session with each entrepreneur.

North Carolina

Driver’s License Restoration Clinic, CLE Training and Pro Bono Clinic
The project is focused on restoring driver’s license privileges for low-income clients who cannot afford to pay traffic fines and fees and whose driver’s license is suspended as a result. This project addresses two key justice issues: First, poverty, rather than the willful refusal to pay a court fee or appear in court, is the root cause of a significant number of driver’s license suspensions. Second, catastrophic racial disparities exist which result in households of color being disproportionately exposed to, and severely impacted by, traffic debt. Volunteers will work in teams to screen records and draft advice letters to assist low-income clients who are requesting advice through ncfairchance.org. Training will be provided and experts from the NC Pro Bono Resource Center will be on hand to assist and answer questions. Paralegals, legal assistants, and those barred in other states may participate.

Pennsylvania

Immigration Justice Campaign/Cuban Adjustment Act Applications
Team up with Duane Morris attorneys and the Immigration Justice Campaign to help Cuban immigrants apply for lawful permanent residency (“green cards”) under the Cuban Adjustment Act. The Act permits Cuban natives/citizens who have been inspected and admitted or paroled into the US to adjust their statuses after living in the US for one year. A straightforward process, volunteers will assist clients in drafting their applications, which Duane Morris will file post-clinic. No prior immigration experience is needed – volunteers will be trained in a CLE that is part of Financial Institutions Pro Bono Day (FIPBD) – and no work is required post FIPBD.

HIAS Pennsylvania/Afghan Asylum Applications
Approximately 400 Afghans in the Greater Philadelphia area will need pro bono assistance applying for asylum in the United States. These Afghans were lucky enough to make it out of Afghanistan as part of the U.S. withdrawal, and they currently have parole or some other time-limited immigration status in the US. Team up with HIAS Pennsylvania and Duane Morris attorneys to learn about the Afghan humanitarian crisis, as well as how you can assist by joining a team representing an Afghan asylum seeker. NO prior asylum/immigration experience is required; all volunteers will be trained as part of FIPBD. Also, the US government is fast-tracking Afghan asylum claims, so they are adjudicated within 150 days not the years long waiting period many other asylees face.

On FIPBD, volunteers will attend a CLE specifically keyed to Afghan asylum cases. Volunteers then will meet their pro bono team (several DM/in-house attorneys) and their client for an initial client meeting. Volunteers will divide up tasks to continue collaborating re drafting/filing the asylum application over the next three months. We will be working on the asylum applications in team/workshop settings; the goal is for no one to be overly burdened by handling a case alone.

Name Change Clinic
At this virtual clinic, Pittsburgh attorneys will assist transgender and non-binary clients in Pittsburgh who wish to change their legal name to have it match their gender identity.  A training on the Name Change process in Allegheny County will be provided by attorneys at Reed Smith, followed by client meetings via Microsoft Teams.  This project may require some limited follow-up work (e.g., collecting documents from the client and filing the name change petition).   Attorneys from TLDEF will be available to answer questions during the clinic.  Financial institution volunteers will be paired with volunteers from Blank Rome and Reed Smith.

KidsVoice Compensatory Education Trust Training
Trustee compensatory education trusts holds funds awarded to a student through a special education due process hearing or received through a settlement of a special education dispute with a school district.  Funds are placed in trust as an equitable remedy to address the denial of a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) for a special education student.  This training will equip pro bono volunteers with the necessary knowledge to sign up as a trustee and review and make distributions from the Trust for eligible expenses based on documentation submitted by the student and/or the student’s authorized representative.

SeniorLAW Center Wills Clinic
At this virtual clinic, volunteers will be paired together to prepare wills, living wills, and healthcare and financial powers of attorney for low-income senior citizen clients.  All of the work will be completed during the clinic and there will be no follow-up required of any of the volunteers.  A training is provided in advance to all new volunteers.  New volunteers must watch this training and certify that they have done so to participate.  Attorneys from the SLC provide a brief “refresher” training on the morning of the clinic and template documents are provided.  SLC attorneys are available to answer any questions and help throughout the clinic.

FIPBD Small Business Startup Workshop
Philadelphia VIP will pair attorneys from Vanguard and from Morgan Lewis,and match teams with aspiring entrepreneurs who have questions about business formation. Clients and attorney teams will meet virtually in 1-hour consultations between April 28th and May 3rd. Attorneys will attend a virtual meet-and-greet on the morning of April 28th prior to the client consultations. Some clients may receive extended service following their consultations.

Texas

General Intake Clinic
A one-hour clinic training will take place on Tuesday, April 26, virtual and in-person. A day-long general intake clinic to follow on Thursday, April 28, virtually and over the phone.

DVAP Remote Clinic
Remote intake clinic for individuals in the Dallas area seeking legal advice.

Wills Clinic
Volunteers will assist with the preparation of wills for low-income Texas residents.

Veterans Expungement Clinic
Expungement clinic in Plano, Texas for veterans that have graduated from veterans’ treatment court and do not have an option for legal assistance with expungement following graduation.

Houston Volunteer Lawyer Legal Advice Line
Houston Volunteer Lawyers (HVL), a service of the Houston Bar Association, provides volunteer attorneys the opportunity to assist with providing legal advice and information to HVL applicants over the phone.  In-house volunteers may request to be paired with an attorney for Crain Caton & James attorney to make the phone calls.  Volunteers are provided with callers’ contact information, brief description of legal issues, and robust legal resources.

Virginia

Uncontested Divorce Clinic
Volunteer attorneys will assist clients with uncontested divorces.

National (U.S.)

Veteran Discharge Upgrade Interview Clinic
Participants will receive training and then participate in interviews of veterans (in pairs, one must be an attorney) to obtain information necessary to allow NVLSP to determine if they can represent the veteran in their request for a discharge upgrade.  Upon completing the interview, participants will create a written narrative to be sent to NVLSP.

Project Afghan Legal Assistance: Intake Screening Training
We are facing an unprecedented crisis caused by the chaotic and rushed withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan. Human Rights First has received hundreds of requests for legal assistance from Afghans in the United States. In order to place cases with pro bono counsel, they need volunteers help to screen and intake those individuals, helping to identify their immigration legal needs before assigning them to pro bono attorneys. Join us for a 1-hour training on how to conduct the screening interviews.  After the training, volunteers can sign up to take on clients right away or as they are available.

Immigration/Asylum Intake Clinic with PAIR
Participants of this clinic will conduct remote intake interviews with asylum seekers. These interviews help PAIR staff assess the viability of claims and decide which clients to accept for pro bono placement. A 1.5-hour training will be held on April 28 and will be recorded for those who can’t attend live. During the training, a PAIR staff attorney will provide background on the asylum process, comprehensive guidance on how to conduct a remote intake, and tips on how to interview a trauma survivor. Further, project volunteers will be asked to devote approximately 5-7 hours (including time attending the training) conducting an intake interview by phone or Zoom with an asylum seeker (with an interpreter if necessary) and drafting a detailed summary of the interview using a template. The deadline to complete the draft summary and return it to PAIR is two weeks after the training (May 12). No background in asylum or immigration law is required to participate, and we anticipate teaming up volunteers to conduct an interview and draft the summary together.

Immigration Screenings for Afghan Refugees
Attorneys and non-attorneys will receive training and then conduct immigration screenings of Afghan refugees over Zoom. Translators will be provided.

Afghan Asylum Pro Se+ Project
This clinic is designed to help vulnerable Afghans who have come to the United States as part of Operation Allies Welcome.  This clinic will launch a new Asylum Pro Se+ Project – a partnership with the American Bar Association: Commission on Immigration and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society – to help provide vital legal services remotely to Afghan asylum seekers across the United States.

On Tuesday, March 29, 2022, the US Supreme Court heard arguments in Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety, a case involving a US Army Reservist who was unable to perform his civilian duties as a Texas State Trooper after contracting severe lung damage from deployment burn pits – the infamous waste disposal method used by the U.S. military that produced toxic fumes and long-term health damage for many veterans. Although this case was the first time SCOTUS has heard a case involving burn pits, Officer Torres is one of hundreds of thousands of veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits and need legal assistance.  Our partner organization National Veterans Legal Services Program and partner law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP are offering a 30-minute presentation on burn pits and the need for pro bono assistance for their Burn Pits Claims Assistance Program.

Roundtable Discussion: Increasing Access to Tools and Resources to Help Minority-Owned Businesses Succeed
Davis Wright Tremaine’s Project W and its Tech Equity Hub are focused on helping women and minority owned businesses grow and scale their businesses, develop relationships with mentors, advisors, and networks for peer support, and strategize ways to identify investors and raise capital. The Project W team will provide an educational primer on the challenges faced by minority owned entrepreneurs, which will then be followed by a roundtable discussion where attendees will brainstorm with other in-house attorneys and staff from financial institutions to identify ways to increase access to tools and resources to help minority owned businesses succeed.

50 State Survey on Financial Literacy with Center for Financial Literacy
The Center for Financial Literacy (CFL) was designed to promote and develop financial literacy skills among individuals, allowing them to make more sound decisions about spending, credit, debt, investments, and complex financial situations such as buying a home and saving for retirement. John Pelletier, the Director of the Center for Financial Literacy, will provide a primer on research that needs to be conducted to publish a national report that will challenge (and hopefully change) the way underbanked and marginalized communities are impacted by financial illiteracy, generational wealth gaps, and how laws and policies can help move us towards equity. Volunteers will then be provided with a 3-page questionnaire and assigned a state to provide helpful research on laws, regulations, policies, and initiatives relating to college financial literacy, adult financial literacy, and other state financial literacy initiatives. The hope is that intentional activism, educational programming, and strategic partnerships will grow from this research.

Justice in Action Sprint – Baker McKenzie Real Rights Project in Partnership with Wells Fargo
This will be an event to allow participants to do research to support Baker McKenzie’s Real Rights Project. There will be a one-hour training that will be live, but it will also be recorded for those who can’t attend. After the training, participants will commit to do 3-4 hours of independent research over the next week for their assigned subject matter. They will then post the results of their research on the project site.

IIBA Citizenship Clinic
Volunteers (working via Zoom) will help legal permanent residents fill out their naturalization applications. IIBA will pre-screen the clients, and train and mentor the volunteers. This work helps eligible individuals and families take one step closer to their dream of becoming U.S. citizens and provides them the opportunity to obtain a U.S. passport and have access to better-paying jobs.

Remote Citizenship Legal Workshop
Workshop to assist legal permanent residents in completing naturalization applications.

Poverty Tows Research with National Homelessness Law Center
The U.S. is experiencing a homelessness crisis of massive proportions. At the same time, in response to increased visible poverty within their borders, cities and states are enacting and enforcing laws that criminalize unhoused individuals for engaging in basic survival activities, like sleeping and sheltering themselves from the elements. An issue of growing concern within this trend is municipalities’ targeting of individuals sheltering in vehicles, and the use of vehicle towing as a tool for displacing, harassing, and punishing very poor individuals simply for being poor — practices known by advocates and organizers as “poverty tows.” Advocates seeking to challenge and end the practice of poverty tows seek research on which cities in California (and beyond) suspended parking enforcement, including tows, during the pandemic and what, if any, fiscal impacts these suspensions had. This information will be vital for strengthening campaign demands, policy initiatives, and litigation strategies aimed at challenging poverty tows across the county. Alex Matak, an Equal Justice Fellow at the National Homelessness Law Center, will cover the Poverty Tows Research Project in detail. Volunteers will then be asked to complete an online research form to identify cities that had moratoria on towing during the pandemic, and will report on the length of the moratoria, and if the moratoria have been extended or enacted permanently.

DACA Renewal Clinic
Volunteers will participate in a Zoom Clinic to assist DACA recipients with completing renewal applications.

International

Canada

Free Legal Advice Hotline
The Hotline is available to callers for up to 30 minutes of free legal advice and provides ongoing assistance to qualifying Ontarians who otherwise cannot afford a lawyer. Volunteers will be taking calls remotely and further training and instruction will be provided to everyone who signs up.

Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)

Justice in Action: Deprivation of Liberties – Country-by-country Analysis
The Justice in Action Sprint is a community day of action in support of legal rights through substantive pro bono projects. At the Sprint, you will have the opportunity to work on projects related to human rights, tackling division and access to justice. Volunteers will be trained at the start of the day and then divided into small teams to work on specific assignments. In November of 2019, a 5-year study was completed by children’s rights experts around the world–for the UN on the Deprivation of Liberty.  The study was a focus on the deprivation of children’s liberty for many reasons around the globe. The study was recently discussed at a celebration event Baker hosted on the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This study is a game-changer for thinking about how to improve systems that lead to detention of children. This project will focus on assessing the same themes from this global study for children in the justice system.

Justice in Action: ID + Vital Docs
The Justice in Action Sprint is a community day of action in support of legal rights through substantive pro bono projects. At the Sprint, you will have the opportunity to work on projects related to human rights, tackling division and access to justice. Volunteers will be trained at the start of the day and then divided into small teams to work on specific assignments.  Volunteers will be trained at the start of the day and then divided into small teams to work on specific assignments. Without documents to prove who you are, it is difficult to function in society and gain access to school, work, transportation, buildings and much more. When a teen or young adult cannot get access to vital documents like an ID, license, birth certificate, or other critical identification documents, it is debilitating. And it is shocking how challenging it can be for teens, young adults, those fending from themselves and those from vulnerable populations who often experience barriers to obtaining their own documents. It is the number one concern raised by youth who have experienced homelessness which is just one reason why we are honored to be doing his work for the National Network for Youth in this project.

Justice in Action: Myth Busting: “Conversion Therapy” Torture of LGBTQ+ Youth
The Justice in Action Sprint is a community day of action in support of legal rights through substantive pro bono projects. At the Sprint, you will have the opportunity to work on projects related to human rights, tackling division and access to justice. Volunteers will be trained at the start of the day and then divided into small teams to work on specific assignments. We will examine so-called “Conversion Therapy” laws and practices in select countries where there is a dearth of information about this practice. To assist individual youth seeking resolution of a visa or asylum application in the US, they need to understand the country conditions that include these false “psychological” treatments and how they are used to hurt children based on a theory that they can falsely stop them from being LGBTQ+. The better immigration applicants can explain this practice in other countries, the stronger their applications to flee their home nations based on this persecution.

North America/Latin America

Justice in Action: Deprivations of Liberties – Country-by-country Analysis
The Justice in Action Sprint is a community day of action in support of legal rights through substantive pro bono projects. At the Sprint, you will have the opportunity to work on projects related to human rights, tackling division and access to justice. Volunteers will be trained at the start of the day and then divided into small teams to work on specific assignments. In November of 2019, a 5-year study was completed by children’s rights experts around the world for the UN on the Deprivation of Liberty The study was a focus on the deprivation of children’s liberty for many reasons around the globe. The study was recently discussed at a celebration event Baker hosted on the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This study is a game-changer for thinking about how to improve systems that lead to detention of children. This project will focus on assessing the same themes from this global study for children in the justice system.

Justice in Action: ID + Vital Docs
The Justice in Action Sprint is a community day of action in support of legal rights through substantive pro bono projects. At the Sprint, you will have the opportunity to work on projects related to human rights, tackling division and access to justice. Volunteers will be trained at the start of the day and then divided into small teams to work on specific assignments. Without documents to prove who you are, it is difficult to function in society and gain access to school, work, transportation, buildings and much more. When a teen or young adult cannot get access to vital documents like an ID, license, birth certificate, or other critical identification documents, it is debilitating. And it is shocking how challenging it can be for teens, young adults, those fending from themselves and those from vulnerable populations who often experience barriers to obtaining their own documents. It is the number one concern raised by youth who have experienced homelessness which is just one reason why we are honored to be doing his work for the National Network for Youth in this project.

Justice in Action: LGBTQ+ Mapping
The Justice in Action Sprint is a community day of action in support of legal rights through substantive pro bono projects. At the Sprint, you will have the opportunity to work on projects related to human rights, tackling division and access to justice. Volunteers will be trained at the start of the day and then divided into small teams to work on specific assignments. Lambda Legal’s Youth in Out-of-Home Care Project advocates on behalf of LGBTQ+ youth in child welfare and juvenile justice settings and youth experiencing homelessness. Lambda has two maps capturing explicit nondiscrimination protections in state law or agency policy for LGBTQ+ youth in child welfare and juvenile justice settings. There is an incredible need for a map specifically focused on homelessness, which Lambda Legal and Baker McKenzie are developing. You will answer questions regarding state law on topics such as right to medical consent, contracting, emancipation and more.

United Kingdom

Data Protection & Cyber training session for Children’s Law Centre NI
Lawyers from Citi and ALG will provide a Data Protection & Cyber refresh training session for staff at the Children’s Law Centre NI.

Expansion of ACLU Louisiana Justice Lab volunteering opportunity
Expansion beyond Belfast Legal of the ACLU volunteering project in order to allow other Citi Legal staff to participate in conducting Intake Memos and Storytelling sessions with those ACLU clients who allege that they have been subject to racial policing / violence. If ACLU approves expansion in volunteers, then mandatory ACLU training is encouraged during the FIPBD window + possible Q&A session with ACLU leaders directly.

Capacity Building Workshops
The Baobab Foundation is an umbrella fund owned by black and ethnic minority community organizations across the UK.  The Foundation aims to raise over £1bn in endowed funds and distribute £50m in grants every year to target communities (funders include British Land, Comic Relief, Joseph Rowntree, and trust for London). Teams from Linklaters and Citi will run two capacity building sessions on the day.  One will be an interactive negotiating session.  The second will be focused on effective business writing.

Personal Brand Workshop
Breaking Barriers is a UK based charity which supports refugees in London, Manchester and Birmingham to rebuild their lives and find meaningful employment.  NRF and Citi will be hosting a personal brand workshop to support employability skills for clients of Breaking Barriers.  The session will involve breakout rooms and 1-1 support.

UNLTD Social Enterprise Support Afternoon
UNLTD SOCIAL ENTERPRISE SUPPORT AFTERNOON: For innovative social entrepreneurs to meet, connect and network with lawyers and business professionals to seek guidance and information to grow their enterprise.

* denotes a Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge^® signatory
** denotes a Corporate Pro Bono Challenge^® signatory
† denotes a Law Firm Pro Bono Project^® member