Pro Bono Program

Legal Aid integrates pro bono into almost every aspect of our program, significantly expanding our impact and providing legal assistance and representation for hundreds of additional individuals and families in our community each year.

In 2017, we referred more than 200 individual matters to attorneys throughout the city. Cases are screened initially by Legal Aid and then referred to pro bono counsel. Experienced Legal Aid attorneys are available as a resource for volunteers to answer questions, provide sample pleadings, and discuss relevant law and strategy.

Volunteer attorneys from partner law firms also conduct initial interviews with prospective clients in both our Northwest and Southeast locations, work in house as part of our Legal Aid team as law firm Loaned Associates or Volunteer Staff Attorneys, provide Legal Aid with expert outside counsel and ethics guidance, and more.

Our Housing Right to Counsel Project has a robust pro bono component that engages volunteer attorneys throughout the city to significantly expand our capacity to help more District residents avoid unnecessary evictions. This ambitious initiative is aimed at leveling the playing field for tenants in D.C. Superior Court’s Landlord and Tenant Branch, where approximately only 10% of tenants facing eviction currently have representation compared to about 95% of landlords bringing eviction cases in that court.

In October 2017, we held a special event to celebrate the progress of the Housing Right to Counsel Project and to recognize stellar individual and law firm pro bono participants, including John O’Connor of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Julie Gryce of DLA Piper, and the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. View the full program below.

If you accept a case referred from Legal Aid, you could help make justice real in our community by:

* Preventing a family from being evicted
* Securing a tenant’s rights to safe and well-maintained housing
* Helping a survivor of domestic violence secure a child custody or    support order
* Obtaining benefits and health care for someone who can no longer    work due to disability
* Preserving home ownership for a family facing foreclosure

For more information about our Pro Bono Program and current pro bono opportunities, please send an email to probono@legalaiddc.org.

Pro Bono Resources