Volunteer Opportunities

The National Speech and Debate Association is looking for volunteers to judge debates. For students to attend debate tournaments, students are required to provide a judge. If their parents are unavailable to judge, the students will have to hire a judge which can cost anywhere from $100 – $500 per tournament. This creates a financial strain and can hold students off from competing at a higher level.

Law and debate have 3 goals: research, analysis, and oral advocacy. Volunteers will provide feedback on how to be more convincing or how to find a better argument.

Interested? Follow these steps to start volunteering:

Create an account on tabroom.com
Click on your email in the top right
Select “Offer hired judging” on the right
Scroll through the list of tournaments and select the one that best fits your schedule

Here’s a list of resources if you’re interested in judging:

How to judge public forum (this is the debate event that is best for new judges): https://youtu.be/yq8gnbXDO10?list=PLbRmCbS7bdKJn2GAhHcWe6xIRj2NWPpgk
More videos and explanations about judging: https://www.speechanddebate.org/judge-training/ (any questions you have can be answered by contacting this website or reading through their resources)
https://nfhslearn.com/courses/adjudicating-speech-and-debate
How to use tabroom: https://docs.tabroom.com/Judging
How to create a tabroom account: https://youtu.be/2ZeQlXo5SkY
How to fill out a ballot: https://youtu.be/OBPl_7wh4kE

Remote Pro Bono Opportunities

Volunteers are needed to join California’s Free Legal Answers platform*, a virtual legal advice clinic that answers questions from low income Californians on a variety of employment, housing and family issues caused by COVID-19 and wildfires. Free Legal Answers California is a collaboration between the California Lawyers Association, Legal Access Alameda, Disaster Legal Assistance Collaborative and ABA and offers you an unique opportunity to do brief pro bono at a time that works for you – before breakfast, when the baby is falling asleep, during a break in your meeting schedule or on the weekend. We provide training, expert oversight and malpractice insurance, so you make a real difference.

We are currently recruiting volunteers to draft questions to be reviewed, and “reviewing” attorneys* in real property, employment and family issues to review volunteer answers. We also need volunteers to staff the Wildfire Disaster Hotline, calling back clients who leave messages asking for legal advice.

You will have the chance to sign up for particular days and weeks that work for your schedule and all training is offered online for those who are not signing up as experts.** For more information about the Free Legal Answers program and to sign up, go to: https://ca.freelegalanswers.org/Attorneys/Account/Requirements

To sign up for the Disaster Hotline, go to: https://disasterlegalservicesca.org/2020norcal/

*Reviewing attorneys are those with at least 10 years of experience as family law, labor/employment and real property practitioners and/or Certified Family Law Specialists.

**Attorneys who volunteer for Wildfire Assistance will need to take training related to insurance and FEMA matters.

Morrison and Foerster LLP has created comprehensive guides to help victims in disasters.

Disaster Legal Aid Collaborative of Northern California (formerly the Bay Area Resilience Collaborative) has training videos and resources available to train attorney volunteers.

Disaster Legal Aid also has a significant number of resources, including resources for advocates, and sample forms.

United Policyholders also has made available disaster resources as it relates to insurance issues.

Free Access to Fastcase is also available to attorneys or volunteers in need. Click here to register for a free trial . Or email relief@fastcase.com for additional support.

If you would prefer to make a financial donation to support legal services programs, please consider donating to the California Lawyers Foundation.

PRO BONO APPELLATE OPPORTUNITIES

The Litigation Section Committee on Appellate Courts has compiled a list of nonprofit organizations throughout California that need pro bono appellate assistance on an ongoing basis. Interested attorneys should contact the organizations directly. If you are a nonprofit organization that would like to be included on the list, please email the Chair of the Committee on Appellate Courts. See the list of opportunities.

Volunteer Opportunities