Pursuing Justice: The Pro Bono Files

In this episode, Sarah Carver and Lauren Kellogg, of Alaska Legal Services, and Nikole Nelson, of Frontline Justice, discuss how Alaska’s Community Justice Worker program is helping to close the access to justice gap by training trusted community members to provide limited legal support in places where lawyers are scarce. Hear how this work empowers low-income families navigating complex benefits, debt, housing, and safety issues — and why the community justice worker model is gaining momentum in other states

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Please note: CLE is not offered for listening to this podcast, and the views and opinions expressed within represent those of the speakers and not necessarily those of PLI.

Hear about the Nonhuman Rights Project’s efforts to use habeas corpus to challenge the confinement of highly intelligent animals, and to push courts to recognize how the law could evolve over time. Connecting animal rights advocacy to earlier civil rights movements, advocates Evan Wolfson, Shannon Minter, Kevin Schneider, and Jake Davis illustrate the power of pro bono — along with long-term litigation, storytelling, and persistence — to move seemingly novel rights claims toward broader acceptance.

Explore our Pro Bono programs and resources

Learn about our Pro Bono Memberships and Scholarships for qualified organizations and individuals

Please note: CLE is not offered for listening to this podcast, and the views and opinions expressed within represent those of the speakers and not necessarily those of PLI.

What does it take to evolve the law? In the first of a two-part episode of Pursuing Justice, Alicia Aiken speaks with two giants of civil rights litigation, Evan Wolfson of Freedom to Marry Global and Shannon Minter of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, about the long arc of marriage equality — from early legal and cultural resistance, to the nationwide victory in Obergefell v. Hodges. Hear how a combination of pro bono power, strategy, and persistence can lead to change.

Explore our Pro Bono programs and resources

Learn about our Pro Bono Memberships and Scholarships for qualified organizations and individuals

Please note: CLE is not offered for listening to this podcast, and the views and opinions expressed within represent those of the speakers and not necessarily those of PLI.

In a series of lightning-round interviews recorded onsite at the Pro Bono Institute’s annual conference, Pursuing Justice host Alicia Aiken and Nihad Mansour, host of PBI’s Pro Bono Happy Hour, hear inspiring pro bono stories and insights from dedicated pro bono practitioners.

Guests include Sirena Castillo (Manatt, Phelps & Phillips), Sara Ghadiri (Chapman and Cutler), Elba Gutiérrez Castillo (Greenberg Traurig), Sateesh Nori (LawDroid), Jim Sandman (University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School), Brian Soja (LPL Financial) and Angela Vigil (Baker McKenzie).

Explore our Pro Bono programs and resources

Learn about our Pro Bono Memberships and Scholarships for qualified organizations and individuals

Survivors of human trafficking are often burdened with legal and financial issues through no fault of their own. In this episode, hear how pro bono support can make a difference. Host Alicia Aiken speaks with Eve Runyon, of the Pro Bono Institute, and Sarah Dohoney Byrne, of Moore & Van Allen, about a credit-repair clinic established through a partnership between PBI and the National Survivor Law Collective that is helping survivors block trafficking-related debts from their credit reports — often fast enough to unlock housing, jobs, and financial stability.

Explore our Pro Bono programs and resources

Learn about our Pro Bono Memberships and Scholarships for qualified organizations and individuals

Please note: CLE is not offered for listening to this podcast, and the views and opinions expressed within represent those of the speakers and not necessarily those of PLI.

Tiela Chalmers, the recipient of PLI’s second Victor J. Rubino Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Training, talks with Alicia Aiken about her impactful career, including her contributions to California’s disaster response infrastructure, her widely used poverty workshop, and her years of teaching with PLI.

Explore our Pro Bono programs and resources

Learn about our Pro Bono Memberships and Scholarships for qualified organizations and individuals

Please note: CLE is not offered for listening to this podcast, and the views and opinions expressed within represent those of the speakers and not necessarily those of PLI.

For the third year running, Pursuing Justice host Alicia Aiken and attorney (and fellow movie buff) John Whitcomb explore the surprising themes of pro bono and access to justice running through Oscar-nominated films from various decades.

Explore our Pro Bono programs and resources

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Please note: CLE is not offered for listening to this podcast, and the views and opinions expressed within represent those of the speakers and not necessarily those of PLI.

David Turetsky shares how, in the summer of 1981, he found himself at the U.S. Supreme Court as part of a team that halted the New York City primary elections to protect voting rights.
Link to Episode 65: Lessons in Crisis Lawyering

Explore our Pro Bono programs and resources
Learn about our Pro Bono Memberships and Scholarships for qualified organizations and individuals

Please note: CLE is not offered for listening to this podcast, and the views and opinions expressed within represent those of the speakers and not necessarily those of PLI.

Pro bono lawyers are often called upon to calmly and competently help clients experiencing crises. But what if the crisis — a natural disaster, a pandemic, an unprecedented challenge at the polls — impacts the lawyer as well? In this episode, Alicia Aiken speaks with Ray Brescia, Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life and Hon. Harold R. Tyler Chair in Law and Technology, Albany Law School, and David Turetsky, Professor of Practice Emeritus, University of Albany, about how lawyers can plan ahead to meet the moment for pro bono clients.

Explore our Pro Bono programs and resources
Learn about our Pro Bono Memberships and Scholarships for qualified organizations and individuals
Please note: CLE is not offered for listening to this podcast, and the views and opinions expressed within represent those of the speakers and not necessarily those of PLI.

Thousands of Washington, D.C. area kids with disabilities rely on buses for transportation to the schools that can serve their educational needs — some of which are very far from their homes. But for years, the DC school bus system has been failing these students, with buses that arrive late, or not at all, or with safety concerns, all of which impacts their access to education. In this episode, hear from a local parent about her experience with this dysfunctional system — and how a pro bono team including Kathy Zeisel of the Children’s Law Center, Shira Wakschlag of The Arc, Kaitlin Banner of the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and Christopher Shoemaker of McDermott Will & Schulte have brought a major federal class action seeking to remedy these issues systemwide.

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Explore our Pro Bono programs and resources

Learn about our Pro Bono Memberships and Scholarships for qualified organizations and individuals

Please note: CLE is not offered for listening to this podcast, and the views and opinions expressed within represent those of the speakers and not necessarily those of PLI.