DC Pro Bono Week 2025: Recap

DC Pro Bono Week 2025 is a wrap! The inspiration to make a difference in our community and the celebration of pro bono service continues. We know the need for pro bono lawyers doesn’t stop and as lawyers, we have a duty and obligation to help bridge the access to justice gap. Whether it’s by taking on a pro bono case, volunteering for an advice and referral clinic, contributing to systemic advocacy, or financially supporting a legal services organization, we can all do something for the public good. Thank you to everyone who made DC Pro Bono Week possible and a special thank you to the lawyers who are Supporting Communities by helping their neighbors and moving us toward a more just and equitable society through pro bono. We also offered a wide range of events and DC Pro Bono Week programs. We kicked off the week with Pro Bono Goes Local, where D.C. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Blackburne-Rigsby and D.C. Superior Court Chief Judge Milton C. Lee Jr. discussed the need for community with DC Bar President, Sadina Montani. There were many virtual opportunities offered throughout the week, you can find the recordings for those below! We got out into the city to learn more about supporting our neighbors at Children’s Law Center Medical-Legal Partnership and at the Open Houses in DC Superior Court's Landlord/Tenant Branch, Domestic Relations Branch, and Domestic Violence Division. We also supported the 2nd Annual Walk For Justice hosted by the DC Bar Foundation! And, of course, DC Pro Bono Week would not complete without opportunities to serve. Volunteers helped folks at the Expungement Clinic, DC Bar Pro Bono Center: Advice & Referral Clinic, DC Bar Pro Bono Center: Advocacy & Justice Clinic, and The Veterans Consortium: Legal Advice and Referral Clinic. Throughout, we discovered ways to get involved, volunteer, and create positive change. With all of that, you might have missed something. Catch up on any of the programs with the following recordings: Community Lawyering for Environmental Justice: Environmental Pro Bono Opportunities in the DC Region Check back soon for the rest of the recordings! Keep the momentum going on social media using #DCProBono25 and by doing what you can to support pro bono. Thank you for a great DC Pro Bono Week 2025!

2025 DC Pro Bono Week: Affiliated Trainings

Pro bono is more than a week! We like to emphasize our commitment by maintaining a list of pro bono trainings from September to December. If you have a training you would like us to uplift on this page please email Chris Marin at cmarin@wclawyers.org.

DC Pro Bono Week Profiles: Sam Sergent

Since 2015, Legal Aid’s Reentry Justice Project has been helping clients who face barriers in accessing housing, employment, and other opportunities due to a criminal record. Individuals who have interacted with police and the criminal legal system — disproportionately people of color and people who live in areas of concentrated poverty — find themselves facing a multitude of collateral civil consequences that act in real and concrete ways to perpetuate generational cycles of poverty. The Project seeks to eliminate those barriers through direct representation and systemic advocacy.

How-Tos for Developing a New Pro Bono Program

Looking to launch a new pro bono program or gain tips for improving your existing program? Learn best practices for creating new programs and collaborating with other in-house, law firm, government, and legal services lawyers to build community and serve pro bono clients. There is more to it than advertising pro bono opportunities! Join the Association for Corporate Counsel for the National Capital Region and the Washington Council of Lawyers for this program to hear from panelists with experience leading programs in their in-house legal departments. Presenters will provide practical advice on the decisions to be made and steps to take to build a strong foundation that will both encourage and support volunteers using their legal skills to help those unable to afford legal services. The panel presentation will take place from 12-1 pm ET and be followed by an online pro bono fair from 1-2 pm ET, during which attendees will be able to select up to four break-out sessions featuring legal services organizations discussing volunteer opportunities. Registrants may attend either or both the program and fair. Although the focus of this event is on in-house pro bono programs, all are welcome to attend!  There is plenty to learn about how to effectively develop a strong pro bono program no matter what sector of the legal community you are in!

Photo: classroom door at Reading Locker

Improving Children’s Literacy East of the River

By Christelle Tshibengabo Reading Partners connects students in under-resourced schools with volunteer tutors and mentors across the United States. In Washington, D.C., Reading Partners has reading centers in 19 elementary schools, 10 of which are East of the Anacostia River. A significant percentage of the volunteers and tutors in the District's Reading Partners programs are attorneys and other legal professionals. Attorneys from Hogan Lovells LLP, for example, have volunteered for Reading Partners for several years, and Hogan Lovells partner Stuart Stein is on the board of directors. Hogan Lovells has a number of programs that service communities east of the Anacostia River, including a partnership with Kimball Elementary School. Stein became involved with Reading Partners after attending a citizenship program held by Hogan Lovells at Kimball four years ago and has remained committed to volunteering since. Speaking with WCL intern, Christelle Tshibengabo, Stein explained that when he started volunteering at Kimball, he ran the corporate practice at Hogan Lovells. While his professional life kept him busy, he still made time to spend an hour every week with the students at Reading Partners. Currently, he works regularly with at least four students. When asked how volunteering with Reading Partners has impacted his life, he explained that it is an "unequal partnership" because you get more from the students than you give to them. To learn more about Reading Partners, Tshibengabo also interviewed Reading Partners Community Engagement Director, Naomi Shachter, at Maude Aiton Elementary School in Lincoln Heights. When Tshibengabo arrived, three students from kindergarten through third grade were already in the reading center starting their day. Participating students are usually pulled from classes during independent reading times based on their reading ability and needs. When they arrive at the reading center, they meet with their tutors and begin a lesson, which consists of reading a book of the student’s choice aloud, targeting difficult vowels and consonants, and assessing content comprehension. Lawyers can have an outsized impact on the students they tutor. As an example, Naomi shared the story of Ana, a DC law student and Reading Partners volunteer, and her student Israel, who worked together at Aiton’s reading center. At the beginning of their first year working together, Ana had said she wanted to become a lawyer, while Israel said he wanted to make pizza. But by the end of their second year together, both Ana and Israel wanted to become lawyers. After their time at the reading center, the students are encouraged to take books home both as homework and for recreational reading. Because books for the program are donated to Reading Partners, donors are also important to the long-term impact on the students. Reading Partners is always seeking new volunteers for its programs. To volunteer for Reading Partners, register online here. After registering online, attend an orientation, complete a background check, and then schedule a session time. The students’ lessons run for 45 minutes, so volunteering involves hour-long shifts during school hours. If finding time during the school day is a challenge, you can also donate books to Reading Partners for the students to take home. Christelle Tshibengabo interned with Washington Council of Lawyers in 2018. 

Fancy Test Event

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