Pursuing Justice: The Pro Bono Files

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.  

Transforming Education in New Mexico

What does an adequate public education look like? And what happens when a state fails to provide an adequate education to its Latino, Native American, and other children? Meet three lawyers who worked as part of a team of civil rights lawyers and pro bono attorneys in the consolidated education adequacy case Yazzie/Martinez v. State of New Mexico, a landmark decision that is laying the groundwork to transform public education in New Mexico.

 

Real Talk About Pro Bono (Part 2 of 2)

In this special two-part episode, we turn the tables and interview the host of Pursuing Justice, legal services veteran Alicia Aiken, and engage in some “real talk” about her unique combination of experiences with pro bono work. How have her ideas about what works (and what doesn’t work) in representing pro bono clients changed? 

In Part 2 of our conversation, Alicia is very open about her experiences as a pro bono volunteer after she left legal aid, including the times when she wasn’t volunteering at all.

Real Talk About Pro Bono (Part 1 of 2)

In this special two-part episode, we turn the tables and interview the host of Pursuing Justice, legal services veteran Alicia Aiken, and engage in some “real talk” about her unique combination of experiences with pro bono work. How have her ideas about what works (and what doesn’t work) in representing pro bono clients changed? 

In Part 1 of our conversation, Lish talks about being a full-time non-profit lawyer, one who was initially skeptical about pro bono lawyers, but eventually embraced the possibilities of pro bono programs that are designed well and attend to the needs of clients, legal aid, and volunteer lawyers. 

Bad Paper

Over half a million veterans have received less-than-honorable discharges (known as “bad paper”) since 1980. This prevents them from accessing veterans’ services, often with devastating results. On this episode of PLI's Pursuing Justice hear how Matt Caplan, a partner with Cooley LLP, and Holly Christian, a pro bono manager and staff attorney with Swords to Plowshares dedicate their time to helping veterans secure their benefits.

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Making Detroit Entrepreneurs Capital Ready

The United States is having a national conversation about historical discrimination against people of color. Many lawyers are also working on the question of “How do we address the economic inequalities caused by discrimination?” Entrepreneurship is one traditional path to building stability and strengthening communities in the U.S., but many Black and Brown business owners lack access to the capital they need to sustain and grow their business ideas.

This episode of Pursuing Justice takes a close look at how pro bono Detroit lawyers are partnering with the grassroots group Osborn Business Association to support local entrepreneurs who want to strengthen their businesses and have access to the capital they need to grow and succeed.

Link to podcast page on pli.edu

Helping Small Businesses Through Transactional Pro Bono

The question we are looking at today is: Should businesses get free legal help? When put like that, your gut reaction might be 'No'.

But, the sudden changes caused by COVID-19 have shone a light on how important small businesses are. In fact 89% of US businesses have fewer than 20 employees. Their impact on our lives is not small at all. COVID-19 might have caused many of us to see small business in a different way, but there are lawyers who have been noticing and recognizing small businesses’ value to the community for a long time. These lawyers have worked for decades to strengthen neighborhoods by building partnerships with community leaders and local entrepreneurs.

In this episode, PLI's Pursuing Justice talks with transactional lawyers in Detroit about how they provide pro bono legal help to the small businesses in their community, and how these lawyers have pivoted to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Pro Bono in a Pandemic: A Law Firm Goes All In

As soon as it became clear that COVID-19 was going to have a major impact on the United States, Brad Karp, Chairman of the law firm Paul, Weiss, started thinking about how he could help people get through what was coming. From the firm's headquarters in New York City, Brad emailed 1,000 Paul, Weiss lawyers to ask one simple question, "Who wants to work on a pro bono project to help people and small businesses affected by COVID-19?"

Brad and his colleagues, Robert Atkins and Jean McLoughlin, discuss what happened next with host Alicia Aiken. 

Please note: CLE credit 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.