For more than 30 years, the Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association (VLP) has provided free legal services to low-income and underrepresented people and communities in the greater Boston area. VLP’s expansive pro bono program provides services on a broad range of legal issues including housing, family law, consumer rights, and public benefits.

The Pro Bono Institute’s Second Acts pilot project at VLP will collaborate with Boston’s largest law firms to provide their transitioning and retired attorneys opportunities to engage in significant and meaningful public interest practice and to institutionalize firm support for pro bono work as part of retirement planning. The Second Acts Project at VLP will expand VLP’s extremely successful Senior Partners for Justice Project, creating a collegial and intellectually stimulating venue for lawyers in transition with both a formal educational component and individual mentoring.

Transitioning attorneys will be encouraged to try new areas of law through an array of opportunities, both substantive and in terms of time commitment. Cases and projects will be offered that range from individual representation in cases to signature projects that address far-reaching systemic issues. With its focus on building pro bono placement into transition planning at several of Boston’s largest firms, the Second Acts pilot project at VLP will harness the skills of Boston’s most experienced lawyers to address critical problems faced by those unable to afford legal counsel.