Second Acts® is an innovative initiative to support transitioning and retired lawyers who are interested in a second, volunteer career in public interest law. Despite the ongoing social justice gap for low-income and underserved populations, this seasoned and knowledgeable talent pool has been largely overlooked. In an effort to develop a bold, new model of legal retirement, we are working with our core constituencies, major law firms, corporate legal departments, and public interest organizations, to develop replicable projects that make strategic use of this unique pool of legal talent. The initiative has a variety of components, including empirical research, scholarship, consulting and technical assistance, and programmatic pilot projects.
For more information about Second Acts®, please send an e-mail to secondacts@probonoinst.org.
Second Acts® Pilot Projects/Current Grantees
With the aid of a three-year grant award from The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Pro Bono Institute selected five outstanding public interest organizations to pilot four innovative demonstration projects to make significant use of the talents and skills of seasoned lawyers:
- The Legal Aid Society in New York
- Volunteer Lawyer’s Project of the Boston Bar Association
- Bar Association of San Francisco’s Volunteer Legal Services Program, Bay Area Legal Aid
- Kids Matter, Inc.
Each has begun to conceptualize and implement scalable and replicable projects to develop a bold, new model of legal retirement and transition.
Second Acts Research & Publications
“Old and Making Hay”: The Results of the Pro Bono Institute Firm Survey on the Viability of a “Second Acts” Program to Transition Attorneys to Retirement Through Pro Bono Work, 7 Cardozo Public Law, Policy, and Ethics Journal 321 (2009)
A Blueprint for a Big Bang: Tapping Transitioning Baby-Boom Lawyers to Transform Access to Justice