PBEye Blog - Page 10 of 68 - Pro Bono Institute

The Homeless Court Movement

September 29, 2021

By Kristen Bolster, PBI Intern On any given night there are roughly 580,500 people experiencing homelessness in the United States (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development). People who experience homelessness may be penalized and charged with civil offenses for trespassing, and receive fines and fees for actions including living in a vehicle, blocking the sidewalk, and smoking, urinating, drinking or sleeping in public. These acts can be categorized as ‘public nuisance offenses,’ which many people experiencing homelessness oftentimes have little option but to commit. Nonpayment of fines and fees can lead to collection agencies getting involved and tacking on

Help us reach our goal of 200 signatories to the CPBO Challenge® initiative

August 30, 2021

PBI’s Corporate Pro Bono Challenge® (CPBO) initiative is celebrating its 15th Anniversary this year! Since 2006, more than 185 legal departments have signed the CPBO Challenge statement and committed to encouraging their legal staff to use their unique skills to provide pro bono legal services to those in need. We thank our many signatories, which include departments with longstanding pro bono programs and departments that have recently started programs, for their commitment to improving access to justice through pro bono. This year, CPBO staff and members of the CPBO Advisory Board are calling on General Counsels and Chief Legal Officers to sign

Lifted Eviction Moratorium Will Lead to Thousands of Renters Facing Eviction Without Representation

July 26, 2021

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

COVID-19’s Lasting Impact on Small Businesses

July 8, 2021

by Ron Kharmach, PBI Intern On May 13, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that fully vaccinated individuals are no longer required to wear masks or socially distance in most circumstances. This milestone is a leap forward toward a sense of normalcy in the United States that has been eroded this past year due to COVID-19. Yet the widespread economic damage—including to small businesses—that the global pandemic caused, and the related need for legal services, is likely to outlast mask mandates. The loss of income and customer base prompted many small businesses to close temporarily. Others have shut

Looking Back While Looking Forward

June 8, 2021

Revisiting the PBI 2021 Annual Conference The cicadas are chirping and the humid, hot days have arrived here in D.C., yet it doesn’t feel so long ago that PBI hosted its springtime Annual Conference. From March 23 – 26, 2021, PBI virtually welcomed hundreds of pro bono leaders from the in-house, law firm, and public interest sectors. Here are a few takeaways that reflect back on the Conference while also speaking to the future of pro bono: Pro bono lawyers are innovating and collaborating to address the crises of our time. During a year that changed the way we practice

200+ Legal Department Leaders Call on Congress to Increase Funding for the Legal Services Corporation

May 27, 2021

For the fifth year in a row, legal department leaders have come together to support funding for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), the largest funder of civil legal aid in the United States.

Pro Bono Institute (PBI) and its global in-house project, Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO), along with the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) and the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), recently circulated a letter inviting General Counsel and Chief Legal Officers to sign on in support of increased funding for LSC for Fiscal Year 2022.

COVID-19 and Housing Insecurity

May 18, 2021

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, housing insecurity has increased. With over 20 million Americans having lost jobs or experienced pay cuts, access to stable and affordable housing has become increasingly important. Housing insecurity is defined by the Urban Institute as missing or deferring rent or mortgage payments or having little confidence in one’s ability to make rent or mortgage payments. An August 2020 study by the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) reported that nearly one in three renters experienced housing insecurity each week from late April 2020 to July 2020.

A Holistic Approach to Second Chances

April 21, 2021

When imagining a courtroom, one word that comes to mind is intimidating. Even as an observer, I can feel my body stiffen when walking into a court. The security guards seem to watch like hawks, the judge presides above you, the attorneys appear cold and stern, and the courtroom itself feels sterile and detached. This reality can leave those participating in and observing court feeling isolated and nervous.

These preconceived notions about what a courtroom is like are anything but true when it comes to the District of Minnesota’s Reentry Court program. Twice a month the courtroom reconfigures itself into a warm, inviting, and supportive environment where formerly incarcerated individuals join a team of prosecutors, federal defenders, mentors, probation officers, and a judge to try and lessen the likelihood of returning to prison.

Two Decades of Exceptional In-House Pro Bono

April 12, 2021

In 2020, Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO), the global in-house project of Pro Bono Institute (PBI), celebrated its twentieth anniversary, and published the 2020 Benchmarking Report, the sixth biannual report on the state of in-house pro bono. When CPBO was first founded, in-house pro bono was far less common than it is today. Within a decade, in-house pro bono programs had multiplied and expanded. To track and measure pro bono engagement, CPBO began surveying in-house pro bono leaders about their legal departments’ pro bono programs in 2010, and every other year thereafter.

Providing Pro Bono Out-of-State During the Pandemic

March 10, 2021

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.