Let me tell you about the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center. Its mission is to provide free legal services to individuals, non-profits and small businesses. It does this through the use of volunteer attorneys from the area. The Center is the largest mobilizer of pro bono volunteers to serve the civil legal needs of the District’s low-income residents.
As a member of six bar associations, I can tell you that the Center is the best pro bono program in the country. Amazingly, it receives no funding from the DC Bar. It is entirely supported by voluntary contributions.
Volunteer attorneys take on cases without pay to serve individuals living in poverty who are at risk of losing their homes, their livelihood or their families. It also helps small businesses and community-based nonprofits that need legal help. It is estimated that last year it touched the lives of 20,000 DC residents.
The list of services the Center provides is too long for this short Legal Beat article; check it out on-line. Legal help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on the legal help line at (202)626-3499.
The line refers callers to the www.lawhelp.org/DC website for a complete list of services. It then provides information on five areas of law: domestic violence, elder law, homelessness, HIV, and other matters.
For those with homelessness issues, press 3. Have a pen handy to make a note of the name of the Legal Clinic for the Homeless and its phone number, or have the system connect you directly. The other service on this menu is the Shelter Hotline, which can connect the caller directly with a shelter. Finally, the system allows the caller to leave a message.
Those without access to a phone or the internet can visit the Center’s Advice and Referral Clinic, held the second Saturday of each month from 10:00 a.m. until noon at the two Bread for the City locations (1525 7th Ave. NW and 1540 Good Hope Road SE).
