Produced in conjunction with CeriFi, PBI offers a series of webinars helpful to firms and in-house departments. These programs, which generally offer CLE credits, focus on topics ranging from reprising sessions from PBI’s most recent Annual Conference to current and evolving issues in pro bono.
Registration Information:
Registration is free for Law Firm Pro Bono Project® Member Law Firms. Law firm members should contact the Law Firm Pro Bono Project initiative for the promotional code to register for the live programs or get them on demand free-of-charge once they have aired. If you are not a member, you can access the webinars through the West LegalEdcenter site, and pay a fee.
Corporate participants should contact the CPBO project for registration information.
On-Demand Webinars
Advancing Maternal Health through Pro Bono Support
This session will focus on advancing maternal health in the southern United States through the lens of racial equity. The Center for Reproductive Rights has been actively working on building pro bono support for reproductive justice organizations in the region, and this session aims to highlight efforts and successes.
AI + Pro Bono Pre-Conference
Setting the Stage: Introduction to AI
This informative session will explore the dynamic landscape of AI in legal practice. It will address how AI currently is being used and which tools are most relevant for law firms, legal departments, and legal services organizations. It will explore the benefits and risks associated with AI and how it can be used in the future. It also will examine why AI is important to access to justice and pro bono legal services. Don’t miss this opportunity to participate in this stimulating introduction and exploration of AI!
Implementation and Use of AI in Pro Bono
During this engaging session, panelists will explore and demonstrate how AI is being used to advance pro bono legal services both in the administration of pro bono programs and the delivery of pro bono legal services. Panelists will also examine pro bono opportunities for law firms and legal departments to advance the use of AI by legal services organizations and other nonprofits. Gain valuable insights into the process of implementing AI, as panelists address challenges associated with AI’s use and emphasize the critical importance of reliable data. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to delve into how AI can elevate pro bono legal services to new heights!
Responsible Use of AI in Enhancing Pro Bono
How can law firms, legal departments, and legal services organizations responsibly use AI to improve pro bono legal services and advance access to justice? Join panelists for this important discussion as they examine the ethics of AI use in enhancing the provision of legal services to low-income, underserved, and marginalized communities.
Criminal Justice Pro Bono Opportunities in the Deep South
The Promise of Justice Initiative (PJI) is a nonprofit that works to combat mass incarceration and create positive change for people in the criminal legal system at the intersection of impact litigation, direct services, and community engagement. This presentation will give an overview of pressing criminal justice issues that PJI is working to address, such as extreme and excessive sentencing and forced labor in prisons, and identify pressing needs ripe for pro bono legal assistance.
Cultural Humility as an Ethical Duty
This session will present attendees with an overview of the concept of cultural humility and will make the case for why recognizing power imbalances and seeking to develop authentic connections with clients is a minimum requirement of competent representation. It will, first and foremost, invite attendees to get curious about their own culture and how that may impact their interactions with their clients.
Introduction to AI and Access to Justice
Everywhere you turn, AI is dominating discussion. How can AI be used effectively, what are the challenges, and will it be a gamechanger? For access to justice leaders, AI is heralded as an exciting tool that can help close the chasm in access to justice, but how is it being used? Join our panelists, leaders in the legal profession, for this important primer on traditional and generative AI. Explore with them how it is being used to improve access to justice, including the administration of the courts, and consider how organizations can lead, addressing the challenges of AI and embracing it for the good of their mission.
Measuring Impact: The Real Story
This session will explore how we can measure the role of pro bono in social change. Panelists will share how to track and communicate the impact of pro bono beyond fees and hours and will address theories of change; qualitative and quantitative data collection sources and methods; and impact storytelling that showcases the important contribution of pro bono to your social mission and the ways in which pro bono service changes lives.
No Litigators, No Problem: Leveraging Transactional Attorneys for Urgent Impactful Pro Bono
Litigation is not the only way to respond to urgent issues through pro bono! Session attendees will learn from panelists about how they have engaged attorneys in discrete but impactful non-litigation pro bono projects – addressing urgent issues in the areas of climate change, reproductive rights, racial justice, and immigration – and how these projects allowed them to leverage the unique skillset of non-litigation attorneys with expertise in transactional law, regulatory law, IP, and tax law.
No Time to Waste
Facing today’s increasing and immediate unmet legal needs, funding priorities and timelines, and competing attorney demands, legal services organizations and pro bono leaders are responsible for launching rapid response projects. This session will provide best practices and ways to overcome barriers to launching projects when there’s no time to waste.
Shifting Mindsets, Strengthening Motivation: How to Increase Volunteer Engagement Now
Join Dr. Larry Richard, renowned lawyer-psychologist and founder of LawyerBrain LLC, for an insightful presentation on the strategies that will – and will not – work to motivate pro bono volunteers. Dr. Larry draws on scientific research and powerful psychological principles to offer practical advice on how to shift mindsets from resisting pro bono participation to encouraging volunteer engagement.
“Sweet Child O’ Mine” Needs Pro Bono Too: Building and Finding Pro Bono for Children and Youth
This session will discuss how pro bono volunteers can advance justice for and with children and youth, through direct representation, policy advocacy, strategic litigation, clinics, research projects, and capacity-building efforts. Panelists will consider the legal needs of children and youth that are well-suited for pro bono volunteers; provide successful examples of children’s rights pro bono by in-house legal departments and law firms; identify children’s justice policy issues that are ripe for pro bono support; and explore how to help build children’s rights projects if they don’t already exist in a community.
The Supreme Court: Reflections on the Current Term
The work of the Supreme Court of the United States continues to be ripe for discussion and debate. Whether it’s the role of history in recent court cases and the controversy around whose history is being told, the advocate or historian, or the strength of stare decisis and the overturning of precedent, the work of the Court has garnered great scrutiny. Join our panelists, experienced Supreme Court lawyers, for this important discussion on the workings of the Court and explore with them high-profile cases with potentially far-reaching ramifications in the areas of reproductive rights, social media and free speech, US elections, the authority of the administrative state, homelessness, redistricting, and more.
Tech + Project Capacity = WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER
In less than two years, the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center has harnessed technology to increase the volunteer capacity and client impact of its Driver’s License Restoration Project (DLRP) by 40 percent through innovative (and affordable!) technology. This session will walk you through the evolution of the DLRP and technology and will include a live visual presentation of the volunteer experience during an advice letter clinic. You’ll hear from a Law Firm Pro Bono Coordinator about how the volunteer experience is enhanced through tech.
Thinking REALLY Big: Scaling Access to Justice Through Community Engagement
America’s access to justice problem is enormous. The World Justice Project ranks the United States 115th among 142 countries for the accessibility and affordability of civil justice. The National Center for State Courts estimates that 76 percent of civil cases in state courts involve at least one unrepresented party. The Legal Services Corporation estimates that 92 percent of the civil legal needs of low-income people get no or inadequate help. This is a problem that demands new, big, and scalable solutions. Join this discussion with access to justice leaders to explore an innovative, national movement that empowers well-trained community members – social workers, tenant advocates, health care workers, clergy, librarians, union representatives, teachers, and others – to provide legal assistance to the tens of millions people who currently get no help at all. The program will examine the role pro bono volunteers and leaders can play in engaging their communities in expanding access to justice.
