How Legal Aid Leverages Pro Bono Attorneys
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Carl Rauscher
Director of Communications and Media Relations
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WASHINGTON– Experts discuss new developments in legal aid pro bono engagements on the latest episode of LSC's “Talk Justice” podcast, released today. LSC President Ron Flagg hosts the conversation with guests Aili Monahan, Director of the Pro Bono Partnerships Project at Northeast New Jersey Legal Services (NNJLS); Bob Farrington, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at JPMorgan Chase; and Mytrang Nguyen, Program Counsel for Pro Bono Innovation in LSC’s Office of Program Performance.
Each October, the American Bar Association and the legal community observe Pro Bono Week. Over the last decade, LSC’s Pro Bono Innovation Fund (PBIF) has awarded 139 grants totaling over $40 million to LSC grantee organizations in support of pro bono partnerships. Nguyen has seen how these funds have enabled significant advancements in programs across the United States. She explains how during her time with the PBIF initiative, one of the biggest changes she has seen are legal aid organizations creating strategic positions for staff to manage pro bono engagements.
“When we started, staffing for pro bono tended to be thin—organizations were rightly [trying to address] the justice gap, so they were choosing to hire staff advocates to do the direct services work themselves,” Nguyen says. “So what we've seen over time is legal aid commit to these full-time strategic leadership positions in their organization—giving them staff and teams.”
Monahan is an example of a legal aid staffer whose full-time focus is working to increase the involvement of the private legal bar in providing pro bono assistance to clients. The investment in pro bono engagement is well worth it, but that doesn’t mean it is without its own challenges.
“One of the big [challenges] that we're facing right now is finding volunteers who have an expertise in an area of law who can also deliver that service quickly,” says Monahan. “So I would say that's a major hurdle for us—it’s what I call the ‘trifecta’—you're available [to] take a case, you understand the area of law, [and] you can do it today or tomorrow.”
JPMorgan Chase has been partnering with NNJLS to provide pro bono support since 2017. Over time, their partnership has grown and changed from in-person clinics, to virtual clinics, to Farrington’s new role with the organization. As the new JPMorgan Chase Legal Pro Bono Fellow, Farrington will be spending the next six months working at NNJLS full-time. Awarded annually, the fellowship enables one of their staff attorneys to spend six months doing pro bono work that strengthens communities, empowers families and advocates for vulnerable individuals.
After volunteering in clinics with NNJLS several times over the past few years, Farrington was inspired to do more.
“Earlier this year, I was reviewing NNJLS’ Pro Bono Partnerships Project and I was looking at how that could help and influence people and it was something that I wanted to do,” Farrington says. “I submitted my application for the fellowship, and I can't be more excited that I was awarded this [opportunity].”
Farrington will work on multiple new NNJLS initiatives during his fellowship, including developing and implementing a volunteer training program, pioneering a family law program to train clients to self-advocate in the judicial system, and enhancing client accessibility through improved second language legal services and access to legal services for clients who have limited technology available to them.
Talk Justice episodes are available online and on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple and other popular podcast apps. The podcast is sponsored by LSC’s Leaders Council.
Future episodes of the podcast will explore the role legal aid services play in veteran suicide prevention and a look at alternative legal service delivery models.