D C BAR PRO BONO CENTER
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : a****e@d***r.o*g
Mission Statement
The D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center recruits, trains and supports lawyers to provide free legal services to low-income residents of the District of Columbia, and to nonprofits and small businesses serving disadvantaged neighborhoods.
About This Cause
The D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center is the largest provider of pro bono legal help in the District of Columbia. With the support of our generous donors and more than 1,500 dedicated attorney volunteers, we operate award-winning legal clinics, projects, and resource centers where and when the community most needs our help. The D.C. Bar created the Pro Bono Center in 1978 to help people in the District of Columbia who could not afford a lawyer. Initially a lawyer referral service that placed a small number of pro bono cases with local law firms, the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center has become the largest provider of pro bono legal assistance offering the widest range of services in the District of Columbia. Each year, the Pro Bono Center recruits, trains and supports volunteer lawyers to provide more than 20,000 individuals, nonprofit organizations and small businesses with free legal information, resources, brief advice and full representation. Through our neighborhood clinics, court-based resource centers, and direct referral projects, the Pro Bono Center and our volunteers help people living in poverty to stay in their homes, rebuild their families and access vital public benefits to secure basic necessities. To strengthen the safety-net service providers that D.C. residents in need rely on for food, shelter, education and job training, we match nonprofit organizations with pro bono counsel and provide training in legal topics. We also assist small businesses that create jobs and contribute to the economy in struggling neighborhoods in the District. The Pro Bono Center identifies gaps in the legal services delivery system and develops programs to increase access to justice. We create clinics and programs designed to meet the most pressing legal needs of the low-income community and provide accessible pro bono opportunities for any lawyer who wishes to serve. We offer opportunities for not just litigators, but also transactional attorneys; from those who can give a few hours on a Saturday morning to those able to represent a client from start to finish. Every day, we see the difference a pro bono attorney can make in the lives of people in need. We see it in the faces of parents awarded fair custody arrangements for their children; tenants who avoid the devastation of eviction; and people with disabilities who finally receive Social Security benefits to which they are entitled. By harnessing the tremendous power of volunteer lawyers, the Pro Bono Center is helping to alleviate some of the burdens that neighborhoods and people living in poverty experience daily in the District of Columbia. Accomplishments in 2022-2023: LEGAL SERVICES TO THE COMMUNITY ADVOCACY & JUSTICE CLINIC recruits, trains, and supports attorney volunteers from more than 20 participating law firms and federal agencies to represent individuals in family, housing, public benefits, consumer, and personal injury defense matters. In 2022-2023, the Advocacy & Justice Clinic placed and mentored 200 full representation cases. ADVICE & REFERRAL CLINIC brings teams of volunteer lawyers monthly to the Anacostia neighborhood to provide individuals with brief information and advice on most civil legal matters, including unsafe housing conditions, wrongful termination, debt collection, probate, family law, and bankruptcy. Volunteers provide brief advice and refer individuals requiring representation to the Pro Bono Center’s Advocacy & Justice Clinic, or to other legal services organizations. From February - June 2023, 191 clients were served at the Advice & Referral Clinic. COURT-BASED RESOURCE CENTERS enable residents to meet with a volunteer attorney to help them navigate the legal system just steps away from the courtrooms where their cases will be heard. These Resource Centers assist individuals with landlord/tenant, consumer, and family law matters at D.C. Superior Court. FAMILY LAW ASSISTANCE NETWORK (FLAN) The Family Law Assistance Network (FLAN) is a collaborative effort with the DC Affordable Law Firm and the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. Spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic to address urgent family law matters remotely until in-person services can resume, the partners worked with the D.C. Superior Family Court to launch this project in March 2020. FLAN began serving parents and third-party caregivers with D.C. custody, child support, parentage, and divorce cases through a dedicated phone line and email referrals from the Family Court Self-Help Center and other legal services organizations. The Pro Bono Center’s dedicated FLAN attorney fields calls and emails daily, files emergency pleadings, and appears in remote court hearings on behalf of pro se litigants. Currently FLAN is providing services onsite at the Court on Fridays and continuing to serve litigants remotely every weekday. FLAN received 840 requests for help in 2022-2023. The Pro Bono Center served 243 clients. HOUSING ATTORNEYS OF THE DAY are available to provide short-term representation to clients facing eviction. In 2022-2023, the Housing Attorneys of the Day served 156 clients. HOUSING RIGHT TO COUNSEL PROJECT addresses the District's affordable housing crisis by increasing legal representation for subsidized housing tenants facing eviction. In partnership with other legal services providers, 17 law firms, and the Federal Government Pro Bono Program, we recruit, train, and mentor pro bono lawyers to represent tenants. In 2022-2023, the Pro Bono Center placed and mentored 12 cases with the Housing Right to Counsel Project and trained 60 attorneys. IMMIGRATION LEGAL ADVICE & REFERRAL CLINIC brings teams of volunteer lawyers quarterly to Columbia Heights to serve individuals with immigration and asylum matters. Volunteers from law firms, law schools, voluntary bar associations, and D.C. Bar Sections staff these Clinics. In 2022-2023, 256 individuals were served. LANDLORD TENANT RESOURCE CENTER (LTRC) and LANDLORD TENANT LEGAL ASSISTANCE NETWORK (LTLAN) The Landlord Tenant Resource Center is based at D.C. Superior Court and provides legal information to help unrepresented tenants and small landlords understand court proceedings, prepare pro se pleadings, obtain continuances, and offer information on how to present their cases in court. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pro Bono Center closed the LTRC but, in partnership with five other legal services providers, developed the Landlord Tenant Legal Assistance Network (LTLAN) to provide a single (remote) point of entry and referral for D.C. tenants and small landlords. Pro Bono Center staff answer all calls before customers are dispatched to one of the six providers for assistance. Volunteer lawyers, mentored by Pro Bono Center staff attorneys, provide tenants and small landlords with legal information and advise on how to assert their rights and present their cases in court. From 2022-2023, the Pro Bono Center staff conducted intake on 3,385 tenants seeking assistance from the LTLAN and referred 2,328 cases for support within the network of partners, including to the Pro Bono Center. In March 2023, the Pro Bono Center re-opened the in-person Landlord Tenant Resource Center (LTRC) one day per week at D.C. Superior Court to serve tenants and small landlords. The LTRC served 906 tenants and 151 small landlords. NONPROFIT LEGAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM is one of the leading programs of its kind in the nation. It provides community-based nonprofit organizations with pro bono counsel, brief legal advice, training and an extensive online legal resource center at www.lawhelp.org/dc/npsb. In 2022-2023, 48 nonprofit organizations were matched with pro bono counsel, 91 nonprofit organizations received brief advice & assistance at our nonprofit legal clinics, 302 nonprofit managers attended office hours to ask legal questions, and 3,597 people accessed our training in legal topics. SMALL BUSINESS LEGAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM provides small businesses with brief legal advice, training, pro bono counsel and an extensive online legal resource center, www.lawhelp.org/dc/npsb. In 2022-2023, 584 entrepreneurs attended our small business clinic, 3 small businesses were matched with pro bono counsel, and 1,186 small business owners were trained in legal topics. BANKRUPTCY CLINIC matches individuals seeking to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy with pro bono attorneys for representation. We train the volunteer attorneys and pair each one with an expert mentor. OUTREACH SERVICES LEGAL INFORMATION HELP LINE and LAWHELP.ORG/DC provide the public with comprehensive legal information on the telephone and online. Help Line messages on 30 legal topics are recorded in English, Spanish, French and Amharic and are available 24 hours a day/7 days per week. In 2022-2023, the Help Line received 17,407 calls and responded to 683 messages. LawHelp.org/DC provides a wide range of resources including automated pro se pleadings in plain language on over 10 legal topics. LawHelp.org/DC averages more than 114,702 page views per month. PROBONO.NET/DC provides free substantive information on a wide range of legal issues to pro bono, legal services and government attorneys. The web site includes a comprehensive library of training materials, pleadings, and briefs on affordable housing, bankruptcy, consumer, community economic development, employment, family law, and public benefits. The Pro Bono Center coordinates the web site for more than 8,245 registered users. The D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center is supported entirely by voluntary contributions.