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Making a Difference – Pro Bono Opportunities Networking
September 24, 2020 @ 12:45 pm – 1:45 pm
We encourage you to participate in a free pro bono networking session being held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting. Please join us Thursday, September 24, 12:45 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. to learn about pro bono opportunities in your local area and ways you can get involved given the critical need created by the pandemic and the wildfires. See the five sessions below and register for the one based on your location. Note: You do not need to register for the Annual Meeting to attend these sessions.
Scroll down for full details! Register Here:
- Bay Area and Central Coast, Justice & Diversity Center | Pro Bono Legal Services
- Legal Services of Northern California
- Central California Legal Services
- Legal Aid Society of San Diego
- Los Angeles, Orange County, Inland Empire: Public Counsel
Session Details
Session #1: Bay Area and Central Coast; Justice & Diversity Center | Pro Bono Legal Services | California Rural Legal Assistance
Volunteer Contact: Jay Lee
Pro Bono Manager/Supervising Attorney
The Bar Association of San Francisco
301 Battery Street, Third Floor, San Francisco, CA 94111
415.782.8970
jlee@sfbar.org
Website: https://www.sfbar.org/jdc/jdc-legal-services-programs/
The Justice & Diversity Center (JDC) provides free legal help and related social services to low-income and homeless San Francisco residents, as well as nonprofit organizations in Northern California. Volunteer attorneys enable us to do a large part of this work and reach more clients than JDC could through staff attorneys alone. For transactional attorneys, JDC’s Community Organization Representation Project (CORP) is a great opportunity to help nonprofits that serve low-income and underserved communities—we especially need attorneys experienced in employment and labor, tax, corporate formation and governance, intellectual property, data privacy, business contracts, and real estate law. Use your legal skills to make a difference!
Jeffrey T. Ponting | Pro Bono Coordinator
California Rural Legal Assistance
CRLA–Fighting for Justice, Changing Lives
Phone: (510) 267-0762, ext. 1007
jponting@crla.org
Session #2: Northern California | Legal Services of Northern California | Capital Pro Bono (formerly Voluntary Legal Services Program of Northern California -VLSP)
Pro Bono Contact: Jenni Gomez
Pro Bono Coordinator
Legal Services of Northern California
517 12th Street | Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 551-2138
Fax: (916) 551-2195
www.lsnc.net/probono
Website LSNC: https://www.lsnc.net/pro-bono-opportunities
Given the huge demand for civil legal services in our community and Legal Services of Northern California’s (LSNC) limited resources, we depend on the work of our volunteers to address what would otherwise be a large unmet need. We welcome volunteers with all levels of experience and substantive backgrounds who are willing to put their skills to use serving this critical need. Training and supervision are provided to all volunteers. For attorney volunteers, your work as a LSNC volunteer is covered by our malpractice insurance.
Capital Pro Bono (formerly Voluntary Legal Services Program of Northern California -VLSP)
Pro Bono Contact: Heather Tiffee
Managing Attorney at Capital Pro Bono
501 12th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 551-2102
htiffee@vlsp.org
Website: http://www.vlsp.org/
Capital Pro Bono (formerly Voluntary Legal Services Program of Northern California -VLSP)
is a nonprofit agency that has provided free legal assistance with many kinds of civil legal matters to low income people in the Sacramento region since 1981. VLSP is able to provide free help because we receive grants and donations allowing us to help the poor with their legal matters and because attorneys and other legal professionals donate their services—they work pro bono.
Session #3: Central California | Central California Legal Services | Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance, Inc.
Pro Bono Contact: Andrew S. Kucera
Supervising Attorney – Pro Bono Program
Central California Legal Services
2115 Kern Street, Suite 200
Fresno, CA 93721
(559) 570-1236
akucera@centralcallegal.org
Website: https://centralcallegal.org/volunteer/
Central California Legal Services is a private, not-for-profit, public interest law firm established for the purpose of providing free civil legal assistance to low-income individuals, families, organizations, and communities. By maintaining a focus on its clients’ legal needs and the integrity of its services, an expert staff serves thousands of eligible clients in the counties of Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Merced, Tuolumne, Mariposa, senior citizens in Madera County, and on health-related cases in several other counties. Today, CCLS employs a staff of over sixty individuals with offices in the cities of Fresno, Merced, and Visalia.
Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance, Inc.
Pro Bono Contact: Cynthia Bradshaw
Volunteer Attorney Program Coordinator
Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance, Inc.
Office: 661-321-3996
Fax: 661-325-4482
Website: https://www.gbla.org/
GBLA strives to accomplish its mission by first providing legal services to meet the basic legal needs of its eligible clients. These basic legal problems generally involve preventing homelessness, access to health care, and securing financial resources to meet basic necessities of life. Secondly, GBLA tries to help those eligible clients who are able and willing to get out of poverty. In this regard, GBLA’s focus is on those legal needs that address issues of economic and family stability, physical security, and access to high quality education.
Session #4: San Diego | Legal Aid Society of San Diego | San Diego Voluntary Lawyer Program
Pro Bono Contact: Christine Pangan
Staff Attorney
110 S. Euclid Avenue
San Diego, CA 92114
877-534-2524
ChristineP@lassd.org
Website: https://www.lassd.org/about
LASSD strengthens our community by fighting for justice. We provide low-income clients with free civil legal assistance, including legal advice and counsel, effective referrals, and legal representation. We are the largest poverty law firm serving San Diego County. We can help with many types of legal problems that individuals face. To thousands of San Diego residents living in poverty, justice is not an abstract ideal. It is food, shelter and protection. It is the difference between staying in poverty and getting out; between dependence and self-reliance. But without help, justice is often denied. We can assist with the areas of law listed below.
San Diego Voluntary Lawyer Program
Pro Bono Contact: Jennifer Nelson
Pro Bono Manager and Supervising Attorney
707 Broadway, Suite 1400
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 235-5656
jnelson@sdvlp.org
Since 1983, San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program (SDVLP) has changed the lives of thousands of poor women, children and men throughout San Diego County. A private, non-profit organization, SDVLP is the county’s oldest and most comprehensive pro bono legal services program.
SDVLP serves the most vulnerable members of our community: the homeless, abused children, domestic violence victims, elder abuse victims, veterans, immigrants and those with HIV/AIDS. Notably, more than 75% of SDVLP’s clients are women and children.
Session #5: Greater Los Angeles, Orange County, and Inland Empire | Public Counsel | Neighborhood Legal Services | Public Law Center
Pro Bono Contact: Maggie Bordeaux
Supervising Senior Staff Attorney – Consumer Rights & Economic Justice
610 South Ardmore Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90005
Tel: (213) 385-2977
Fax: (213) 385-9089
Public Counsel is the largest pro bono law firm in the nation. We work with major law firms and corporations to change people’s futures.
Our staff of 71 attorneys and 50 support staff – including five social workers – along with over 5,000 volunteer lawyers, law students and legal professionals assists over 30,000 children, youth, families, and community organizations every year.
Founded in 1970, Public Counsel is the public interest law firm of the Los Angeles County and Beverly Hills Bar Associations as well as the Southern California affiliate of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
Public Counsel’s activities are far-ranging and impact a wide spectrum of people who live at or below the poverty level. Volunteer attorneys have the opportunity to work on a variety of different projects-large and small, litigation and transactional matters. Our staff provides training, model pleadings and forms and consultations to volunteers.
Neighborhood Legal Services
Pro Bono Contact: Maggie Bordeaux
Director of Pro Bono and Policy Advocacy: Skip Koenig
Glendale – 1102 East Chevy Chase Drive, Glendale, CA 91205
Pacoima – 13327 Van Nuys Blvd., Pacoima, CA 91331
El Monte – 3629 Santa Anita Avenue, El Monte, CA 91731
jullierattray@nlsla.org
Founded in 1965 as part of the nation’s War on Poverty, NLSLA is now one of the largest and most prominent public interest law offices in California. NLSLA attorneys, based in offices, courthouses and clinics throughout Los Angeles County, specialize in areas of the law that disproportionately impact the poor, including housing, public benefits and healthcare.
Our Advocates work with doctors to improve individual and community health, help families maintain income security during tough economic times, save homes and protect our neighborhoods, help survivors of domestic violence and victims of special crimes, and engage in high-impact legal advocacy that leads to systemic change.
Through a combination of direct representation, policy advocacy and impact litigation, NLSLA attorneys work to reduce the effects of poverty in Los Angeles’ low-income communities, support the development of opportunities for individuals and families to move themselves out of poverty, and protect and enforce the legal rights of poor people by ensuring access to our justice system.
Public Law Center
Pro Bono Contact: Kenneth Babcock
Executive Director & General Counsel
601 Civic Center Drive West
Santa Ana, CA 92701-4002
Founded in 1981, The Public Law Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing free legal services to low income residents and other nonprofits in Orange County. Last year, Public Law Center staff and volunteers provided over 65,000 hours of free legal services in handling over 4,500 cases benefiting low-income children, adults and seniors. The estimated value of this work is roughly $60 million in just the past three years. Our services include counseling, individual representation, community education and strategic policy advocacy and impact litigation to challenge societal injustices.
We are committed to accessibility! Virtual events are equipped with closed captioning. To request an in-person accommodation, send us a note at accessibility@calawyers.org or contact us at 916-516-1760 for assistance.