Pro Bono Program
Overview
Each year, the DRLC receives thousands of requests for legal assistance from people with disabilities-more than 5,400 such requests last year. While our committed staff and student externs work to capacity providing legal assistance, the need for our services far exceeds our ability to meet it. As a result, we rely heavily on our pro bono partners.
Volunteer attorneys have historically played two important roles in the work of the DRLC:
1) Most of the cases accepted by the DRLC's Civil Rights Litigation Project are either class actions or cases whose resolution will benefit large numbers of people. In order to pursue such matters, we partner with volunteer attorneys who are affiliated with major law firms that have the financial and staff resources necessary for complex cases. Over the years this kind of collaboration has had an outstanding record of achievement in cases of major impact.
2) On the other hand, the majority of people with disabilities who contact us have smaller, more personal legal issues. In order to meet these needs, the Pro Bono Program identifies, cultivates, and maintains critical relationships with attorneys throughout Los Angeles who are willing to accept these types of pro bono referrals and undertake small litigation cases, brief service (e.g., letter writing, advice, and negotiation without litigation), and individual special education advocacy.
The Pro Bono Program began in 2004. During its inaugural year, we were able to develop a comprehensive program and methodology that includes recruitment, Special Education Training, and on-going support. Thanks to the efforts of Audrey Kraus, our Pro Bono Director, forty-two attorneys agreed to accept special education referrals from the Education Advocacy Project, and eight firms agreed to co-counsel with us on high impact civil rights litigation.
We are currently planning to expand the Pro Bono Program in two ways:
1) Increasing pro bono outreach, training, and opportunities to attorneys in the Inland Empire and San Diego, where the DRLC is opening new offices.
2) Developing programs targeted to corporate in-house counsel, who often are limited in their pro bono activities because of conflicts of interest, and lack of litigation
experience. Our Education Advocacy project and Cancer Legal Resource Center offers pro bono opportunities that avoid these potential barriers and provide opportunities to assist clients in meaningful ways.
Click here for an article by the California Bar Journal in October 2005
Staff:
Jennifer Lee, Esq., acting Pro Bono Coordinator