Pursuing Justice: The Pro Bono Files

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.  

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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