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Volunteer and Pro Bono

The Pro Bono Practice builds the foundation for and expands private bar involvement with Legal Aid. By integrating law firms and attorneys in delivering volunteer services in the Civil, Criminal, and Juvenile Rights Practices, the Pro Bono Practice augments legal assistance to many of Legal Aid's most vulnerable groups of clients.

Pro bono services are organized by distinct legal projects established at participating law firms. The projects often originate in discussions where Legal Aid attorneys express the need to obtain pro bono representation to fulfill critical legal needs of clients in the area of the staff lawyers' expertise. A law firm establishes a new project by mobilizing a critical mass of its attorneys to represent a specific number of Legal Aid clients annually under partner leadership. The Legal Aid lawyers who developed the model become the mentors for the firm's new project.

  • To learn more about Legal Aid's Pro Bono Program and procedures, please see the Pro Bono Handbook, which includes a letter of engagement, a listing of pro bono programs and a form to receive CLE credits. The letter of engagement incorporates concerns of law firms in accepting pro bono assignments and serves as the sole retainer agreement for the matter.

Many kinds of Legal Aid cases that do not lend themselves to a pro bono project (e.g., real estate, Art. 78 Proceeding) usually are assigned individually through the Pro Bono Practice's liaison network at more than 75 participating law firms. Lists of available cases also are posted periodically on our website and on the NYC Pro Bono Center website.

All pro bono matters are mentored by a Legal Aid attorney and are assigned only after screening by Legal Aid for legal merit and financial eligibility. Volunteers handling Legal Aid cases are covered by the Society's professional liability policy.

Legal Aid supports its pro bono partnership with a number of special initiatives each year that distinguish the pro bono program. Principal among them are:

  • CLE Pro Bono Training Program for Volunteer Attorneys (PDF). A combined Legal Aid and law firm faculty conduct some 20 training sessions hosted by participating firms for attorneys interested in volunteering in Legal Aid's pro bono program, covering diverse legal areas of the pro bono program.
  • The Buttenwieser Senior Attorney Project (PDF). Legal Aid is seeking new pro bono partners, retired and soon to retire lawyers at law firms and corporations, who will serve part-time at a Legal Aid office or handle a portfolio of pro bono cases working out of their firm, corporation, or home office.
  • NYC Pro Bono Center website. Legal Aid and the Association of the Bar co-host this recently launched website at, part of Pro Bono.Net, in order to provide volunteer lawyers access to pro bono practice materials, information about volunteer opportunities, CLE training programs, and related pro bono information.
  • CLE Credit for Pro Bono Representation of Legal Aid Clients (PDF). An accredited Pro Bono CLE Provider, Legal Aid offers volunteers the opportunity to receive CLE credit for representation of Legal Aid clients.
  • Honor Roll of Law Firms (PDF). Legal Aid annually recongizes the most outstanding contributions of individual lawyers and law firms to the cause of equal justice at an awards ceremony. This year, Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick of the New York State Court of Appeals presented the awards. The Society published an honor roll of law firms and corporations in recognition of pro bono service in the New York Law Journal on October 23 and October 26, 2007.