Yesterday we held our annual Summer Pro Bono & Public Interest Forum, featuring a discussion with ACLU National Legal Director David Cole and breakout panels on different types of pro bono and public-interest practice. Enjoy a few photos from the event.
Most Washingtonians, regardless of where they reside, know that the city landscape is changing. It is hard not to notice the construction cranes and ubiquitous “sidewalk closed” signs signaling new buildings on the horizon. But this construction has left some, including those residing in older and economically challenged neighborhoods, asking whether these changes are ultimately a step forward, especially if construction makes the cost of living in their neighborhood unaffordable. A recent New York Times article addresses this battle between gentrification and the expansion of affordable housing options. Many advocates and residents are concerned that developers are solely focused on building high-cost, market-rate housing, leaving those in low-rent apartments or in lower-cost neighborhoods in untenable positions. Specifically, the Times discusses development in Anacostia, where median home sales prices jumped 22 percent in 2017. The Times also reports on the city’s efforts and commitment to increasing affordable housing. Since 2013, the city government has adjudicated thousands of legal challenges, many filed in an attempt to slow the speed of development across the District and ensure more affordable housing is included in development plans. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser is currently seeking to revise a comprehensive city plan to decrease these court challenges and undo the logjam of construction of badly needed new housing units. Despite these efforts, the future of affordable housing – and the effects of development on well-established neighborhoods – remains in question.
In today's political climate, it is vital for individuals to have access to legal advice in order to protect their basic civil rights and civil liberties. This year at the Summer Pro Bono & Public Interest Forum, we'll discuss how to think creatively and devise alternative ways to achieve the goals of a civil rights lawyer and protect those rights. #SumFo19
By Alexis Applegate Many students go to law school to help people in their communities, and many of those decide to practice poverty law. This year at the Summer Pro Bono & Public Interest Forum, we'll examine how that passion to help people intersects with issues affecting low-income residents of Washington, DC. (more…)
By Karly Satowiak This year at the Summer Pro Bono & Public Interest Forum, we're adding a new panel in response to the current political climate. Our panelists will discuss how various sectors have come together to hold the federal government accountable, the diverse ways that they are challenging federal policies, and the role that the private sector plays in this work. (more…)
By Emily Batt At our 2018 Summer Pro Bono and Public Interest Forum, the Immigration and Human Rights panel will discuss the work on the ground done by immigrant-rights organizations both in the District and around the country. During this especially timely panel, we'll discuss the current state of immigration advocacy under the Trump administration, as well as guidance for law students and new lawyers on breaking into immigration law and the practical realities of working at a nonprofit immigration organization. (more…)
By Nicole Foster People with mental-health disorders and substance-abuse disorders are overrepresented in the criminal-justice system. A recent study by the Vera Institute shows that 14.5% of incarcerated men and 31% of incarcerated women have a serious mental illness, compared with only 5% of the general population. This data illustrates the need for more lawyers with the skills, training, and resources to effectively represent indigent criminal defendants with mental-health disorders. (more…)
Law students and attorneys gathered to experience the "Walk A Month in My Shoes" Poverty Simulation at American University Washington College of Law on March 9, 2018. The event was organized by the Washington Council of Lawyers in partnership with five of the D.C. area law schools. (more…)
Many people (and many TV shows) think of lawyers as fiery litigators who perform in courtrooms. Most lawyers know that the profession is more diverse, but when it comes to pro bono cases, all too many lawyers still think of litigation first. But there’s plenty of rewarding pro bono work to be done by non-litigators as well. (more…)
By Anne King In his latest book, Georgetown Law's Peter Edelman highlights several ways in which the government treats poverty like a criminal offense. At our recent Dinner and Discussion, Peter joined us to discuss that book, Not a Crime to Be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America, and also offered advice on public-interest lawyering. (more…)
By Alexis Applegate When someone mentions the Civil Rights Movement, what comes to mind first? For many of us, it’s Rosa Parks’s stand on a bus, which sparked the Montgomery bus boycott and galvanized the broader effort. Yet few of us think about transportation as a civil-rights issue. (more…)
Exciting news from Bread for the City -- the organization has begun construction on a 30,000 square-foot facility on Good Hope Road, more than tripling their footprint in Southeast! The new Southeast Center will provide a variety of new and enhanced services, including primary health care, vision, and dental services; a wellness center; and even a vegetable garden on the roof. The new facility will also feature an expanded jobs center, which will provide job seekers with a new classroom, computer lab, and training space, in addition to offering counseling, mentorship, and long-term support. Bread for the City hopes to open the new and improved Southeast Center in 2020. In the meantime, they plan to continue providing Southeast residents with legal, employment, and social services. Read more about this exciting development in Anacostia here!
Please welcome our 2018 spring intern, Christelle Tshibengabo, an undergrad at the University of Nebraska. Learn more about her and say hello when you meet her at one of our upcoming events. I was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo to a family of seven; I am the youngest of my siblings. My family and I immigrated to the United States in 2001. I lived in Atlanta, Georgia for most of my life pre-adolescent life. Then my mother and I moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, because Nebraska is known for its cardiologists and she was diagnosed with heart failure. (more…)
As we start 2018, our Executive Director, Nancy Lopez and her poetic daughter, Jessica, look back on the past year and ahead to new challenges: As 2017 comes to a close, we reflect on all the things that arose: The programs, people, and legal developments, Some of them were small, and others immense. Trump officially took office; women marched on the mall Lawyers left the federal government - some, but not all. Some went to Dulles to fight the travel ban Pro Bono in Action tapped the earnest, as part of our plan. Our Government Pro Bono Roundtable was sold out: it was packed! Our panelists spoke of those who felt the system was stacked; Believing that without a lawyer by their side They could never prevail; that we could not abide. So we trained lawyers in depositions, objections, and public speaking Teaching those classes were Clap, Horton, Harden and Pinckney. Some Litigation Skills Trainings were casual, others more intense, But they all taught lawyers how to effectively represent clients. Perspectives on Poverty Law was a bit hit, as always Because students learned from judges about court happenings on most days Judges Raffinan, Becker, and Dayson replied eloquently, To questions which were posed by the jovial Chinh Le. The Supreme Court: A View from the Press Gallery was fantastic The convened panel of journalists was slightly bombastic Barnes and Mauro, Liptak and Howe, De Vogue and Savage, you can read them right now! Our Summer Pro Bono & Public-Interest Forum, we’ll never forget: With Ruth Bader Ginsburg, our most popular guest yet! Over 350 people listened in awe, And attended panels on Civil Rights, Immigration, Criminal, Transactional, and Poverty law. Legal Services Corporation provides civil legal aid across the nation Congress threatened to cut their funding - a major abomination! But lawyers rallied from law schools, Big Law, corporations, and more and so this vital funding became fully restored. Emily, Melinda, Katie, Rebecca and Erich, Plus Sarah, together they are our latest board picks. We gladly welcomed these fine new members in, but we had to say a sad goodbye to our beloved Jim Rubin. This year’s DC Pro Bono Week was utterly astounding Constantly it seems to grow—events are compounding. We strove to encourage volunteer service without much fuss Using Pro Bono to Advocate for Social Justice. Our Awards Ceremony closed out the year We honored some outstanding advocates, and shed a few tears Patty Fugere, Mayer Brown, and Jaya Saxena performed incredibly, Also great: Deborah Birnbaum, and Tracy Goodman from CLC! As 2017 comes to a close, we reflect on all the things that arose, But the most important thing through each laugh and tear, Is the hope that comes with each turning year: Time never stops It keeps going and going Meanwhile, our community Keeps growing and growing So let’s make this year the best we’ve seen Welcome, new year, welcome 2018!
Thanks again to everyone who joined us last week for our 2017 Awards Ceremony, and special thanks to our award winners for the work that they do to serve our community. (more…)
Soft-spoken but fierce in pursuing justice, Patty Mullahy Fugere is the 2017 Presidents Award for Public Service recipient. Patty has served as Executive Director of Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless for over 26 years, and she fights hard for her clients. She co-founded the Clinic based on a simple mantra: "If you see something wrong, don't just complain, try to work for a solution."
Mayer Brown, winner of our 2017 Law Firm Award, is known for handling complex legal and business challenges for clients worldwide. It also, however, is deeply committed to pro bono and community service. Mayer Brown lawyers have devoted countless hours to helping those in need, including indigent clients here in DC. (more…)
By Christina Jackson Jaya Saxena joined our Board in 2014 and has been going gangbusters ever since. By day, she serves in dual capacities: Assistant Director of GW Law School's Career Center and Director of the Dean's Diversity and Inclusion Initiative. And as a member of our board, her ideas and energy have propelled us forward in several ways. So many ways, in fact, that we're delighted to honor her with our 2017 Above & Beyond Award. (more…)
By Anne King Deborah Birnbaum, winner of our 2017 Government Pro Bono Award, does it all. She practices at the Office of the Solicitor at the Department of Labor and serves as her office's Pro Bono Program Coordinator. In the latter role, Deborah has developed a robust pro bono culture; her colleagues at the Solicitor's Office are doing more pro bono than ever. Deborah is also a dedicated pro bono advocate in her own right, taking on a variety of cases for many different legal-services organizations. (more…)
Tracy Goodman, Director of Children’s Law Center’s Healthy Together program, has pioneered the medical-legal partnership movement. She unites experts in law, health, and government to identify the key factors determining children's health and well-being, and then structures legal services to address those needs and change children's lives. Colleagues call her passionate, fiery, and dogged about improving long-term health outcomes for children and their families and in marshaling community resources to enact large-scale, systemic change. Tracy is a talented and creative lawyer and leader, and the winner of our 2017 Legal Services Award. (more…)
Our 2017 Awards Ceremony takes place on December 5, and this year we'll honor the following extraordinary lawyers and firms: (more…)
Photos from the recently completed DC Pro Bono Week 2017. (more…)
DC Pro Bono Week 2017 is in the books, but we hope that our complete set of Pro Bono Week profiles will inspire you to spent more time on pro bono cases and helping those in need. (more…)
By Aoife Delargy This spring, law students from American University, Catholic University, Georgetown, and George Washington University sponsored the DC Alternative Spring Break Pro Bono Service Project. Held for two weeks last March, students from these local law schools spent their spring breaks engaged in hands-on, legal volunteer work. (more…)
By Maureen Thomas Major General Mike Nardotti (US Army, Retired and former The Judge Advocate General, US Army) is a Senior Partner at Squire Patton Boggs. The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program recently recognized Mike for over 20 years of service to veterans and their families, caregivers and survivors, as a member of TVC’s National Volunteer Corps. Over the past 25 years, lawyers like Mike from Squire Patton Boggs have supported The Veterans Consortium with over 92 engagements in federal courts, participated in specialized Court of Appeals for Veteran Claims trainings, and assisted TVC in dramatically improving our ability to provide free legal services to veterans and their loved ones. (more…)
Kaley, age 13, was living with her grandmother in El Salvador when local gangs began to target her and her family. Her grandmother owns a local diner where neighborhood police officers and prosecutors often ate; as a result, gang members decided that she was pro-government and anti-gang. Gang members assaulted Kaley’s grandmother and targeted Kaley, threatening to kidnap and assault her. Kaley fled the country. (more…)
By Children's Law Center Sleigh bells ring, judge is listening—is not your typical holiday medley. But it provided the soundtrack last December for five-year-old Charlie Young while Alexis DeBernardis, his pro bono counsel, fought for him in his custody case. (Names have been changed to protect client anonymity.) Alexis is an associate at Crowell & Moring, but she also volunteers as a pro bono lawyer with Children’s Law Center (CLC). (more…)
By Priya Konings Representing unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children is challenging, and Kids In Need of Defense (KIND) is always looking for pro bono lawyers with the time, patience, and enthusiasm to handle a pro bono immigration case for our clients. When Lara Burke of Bruch Hanna came to us, we knew that we'd found someone who could rise to the occasion. (more…)
By Melanie Orhant Ryan Guilds is a lawyer at Arnold & Porter Kay Scholer and board chair of Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC). Over the past eighteen years, he's found that pro bono work offers the chance to do "that not only feels good but also gives you skills as a lawyer." And Ryan has done pro bono work in spades. Ryan's pro bono work started before he was actually a lawyer. While a 1L at the University of North Carolina School of Law, he worked on capital cases and developed an interest in prisoner's rights. (more…)
By Jodi Feldman and Neesa Sethi Earlier this year, David Young, an antitrust associate at Ropes & Gray, received the Klepper Prize for Volunteer Excellence from the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. Over the past six years, David has been one of Legal Aid’s most active pro bono volunteers: He's regularly taken on Social Security Disability Insurance/Supplement Security Income (SSDI/SSI) cases and other public benefits matters referred from Legal Aid and other legal-services organizations. (more…)
