Pursuing Justice: The Pro Bono Files

Eviction Court and the Right to Counsel Movement

What if your pro bono work could fundamentally restructure the delivery of justice for your whole community? In this episode, two attorneys with deep experience in advocating for the Right to Counsel — and tenants’ rights in New York City Housing Court, in particular — discuss how pro bono has made a real difference in access to justice, from Gideon to today.

Related Links:

National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel

Gideon v. Wainwright. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved July 27, 2022, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/1962/155

Law Firm Antiracism Alliance

Report: The Financial Cost and Benefits of Establishing a Right to Counsel in Eviction Proceedings Under Intro 214-A

Article: Sounding The Trumpet: The Gideon Case

Decision: Gideon vs. Wainwright

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Encore: “This is NOT our area of expertise”

Following Episode 21 on pro bono assistance to disasters, host Alicia Aiken revisits our inaugural episode, which tells the story of how a corporate attorney at Schulte Roth & Zabel stepped up to help Partners In Health get clearance to deliver aid after a devastating earthquake in Haiti. This encore episode features a previously unreleased conversation with PIH co-founder Ophelia Dahl.

PLI is proud to offer programs, pro bono memberships, and scholarships to support the essential public service work of the legal profession.

 

Disaster Strikes, Lawyers Respond

When hurricanes, floods, fires — and sometimes all of the above — strike, how can lawyers help individuals and communities respond and recover? In this episode, Alicia Aiken talks to seasoned disaster relief attorneys about how pro bono can make a difference in disasters, and how lawyers can prepare to pitch in.   

Related CLE content: Connect with our on-demand pro bono disaster relief resources to help prepare you to assist disaster survivors in critical need.

 

PLI is proud to support the essential public service work of the legal profession:

• 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.

 

“Be curious. Try stuff. Stay connected.”

“This isn’t about surviving. This is about thriving.” – Bridgette Carr

What does it mean to design a fulfilling life in the law? And how does pro bono fit in? In this month’s episode of Pursuing Justice: The Pro Bono Files, host Alicia Aiken talks to Michigan Law professors Bridgette Carr and Vivek Sankaran and Jessica Morton of Democracy Forward about taking stock and forging your own path — and how pro bono can help.

PLI is proud to offer programs, pro bono memberships, and scholarships to support the essential public service work of the legal profession.

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The Multiplier Effect of Nonprofit Board Service

Nonprofit board service is “a different way of bringing your legal talent to your volunteer work,” says Pursuing Justice podcast host Alicia Aiken. In this month’s episode, she interviews Judy Siegel of the Pro Bono Partnership, and Raphael Stern of Lawyers Alliance for New York, on what lawyers should know about the benefits of serving on a board.

This episode features the co-chairs of PLI’s program Serving on a Nonprofit Board 2022: Practical and Ethical Considerations for Attorneys.  For more information about PLI’s programs on nonprofit organization law visit https://www.pli.edu/products/subjects/pro-bono/nonprofit-organizations

Link to episode page on PLI.edu

PLI is proud to offer programs, pro bono memberships, and scholarships to support the essential public service work of the legal profession.

Keeping Tenants in Their Homes

The stakes are high for low-income tenants facing the threat of eviction. In this month’s episode of Pursuing Justice: The Pro Bono Files, learn why pro bono representation is essential for renters facing outsized rent hikes, uninhabitable properties, and other challenges to their housing. 

This program features Lorraine A. López, the chairperson of PLI's program "California Eviction Defense: Protecting Low-Income Tenants 2022"

Link to episode page on PLI.edu: https://www.pli.edu/probono/probonopodcast/episode-18

PLI is proud to offer programs, pro bono memberships, and scholarships to support the essential public service work of the legal profession.

 

Related Links:

“The Limits of Unbundled Legal Assistance: A Randomized Study in a Massachusetts District Court and Prospects for the Future” - James Greiner, Cassandra Wolos Pattanayak, and Jonathan Hennessy, Harvard Law Review

“Key Studies and Data about How Legal Aid Improves Housing Outcomes” - The Justice In Government Project

“Domestic Violence Survivors Battle to Keep Legally Protected Housing Subsidies” - Yilun Cheng,  Chicago Reader, January 11, 2021

“New Study Exposes Racial and Economic Inequities in D.C. Evictions" - Making Justice Real, the official blog of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, October 9, 2020

“Eviction in Washington, DC: Racial and Geographic Disparities in Housing Instability” - Brian J. McCabe and Eva Rosen, Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy, Fall 2020

“Opinion: Low-income Tenants in D.C. May Soon Get Legal Help” - Charles Allen, Kenyan R. McDuffie, and Mary M. Cheh, Washington Post, May 18, 2017

“Amid a Housing Crisis, Renters Challenge Firms They Say Are Being Exploitative” - Marisa Penaloza, npr.org,  February 10, 2022

Unaccompanied Kids in Immigration Court

Unaccompanied immigrant children, often fleeing dangerous situations in their countries of origin, need legal representation when they appear in immigration court.   Want to get involved and make a profound difference in the life of a child? This month “Pursuing Justice: The Pro Bono Files” talks with three lawyers about the critical role of volunteer lawyers in these kinds of cases,  and  the training that is available to get you started.  

This program features speakers from PLI's program "Representing Unaccompanied Children in California: Legal Updates and Strategies for Pursuing Relief 2021”. 

Link to episode page on PLI.edu: https://www.pli.edu/probono/probonopodcast/episode-17

PLI is proud to offer programs, pro bono memberships, and scholarships to support the essential public service work of the legal profession.

Taking On a Pro Bono Asylum Case

Are you (or your law firm) thinking about taking on a pro bono asylum case? Hear how three commercial litigators at Forman Watkins, with the guidance and support of the Mississippi Center for Justice, worked on two pro bono asylum cases. What drew them to take on this kind of pro bono case? What were their “takeaways”? What was the experience like for them both personally and professionally?

Explore current and upcoming immigration programs available live and on-demand

Link to episode page on PLI.edu:

PLI is proud to offer programs, pro bono memberships, and scholarships to support the essential public service work of the legal profession.

Turning Crisis into Opportunity

Running a pro bono program costs money ‒ and Indiana’s statewide legal services program faced a serious financial challenge. Find out how Indiana’s pro bono stakeholders pulled together and, with a law firm’s help, turned a financial crisis into an opportunity.

 

PLI is proud to offer programs, pro bono memberships, and scholarships to support the essential public service work of the legal profession.

Bonus Content (Transforming Education in New Mexico)

In Episode 14, we met three of the lawyers who worked on landmark litigation to transform New Mexico’s education system. In this bonus episode we hear from Martin Estrada, Ernest Herrera and Preston Sanchez about their interesting, but very different paths to the legal profession.