Pro Bono Net would like to recognize the thousands of volunteer lawyers who make a huge difference for those in need and the incredibly important work of pro bono volunteers in building our capacity to meet the vast unmet need for civil legal services. This year we are celebrating National Pro Bono Week by focusing on disaster resiliency in addition to pro bono work around the country. Throughout the week we will be sharing events, resources and highlights of the work being done to help people facing legal challenges post disaster. We are very proud to showcase this work and hope that it will inspire more people to get involved.
Volunteer attorneys make a big difference in the lives of disaster survivors. In order to help those volunteers with their work, Pro Bono Net partners with organizations around the US and its territories to develop resources, tools, and networks to better prepare and facilitate volunteering. In addition to the roundtables we discussed yesterday, Pro Bono Net offers access to news and alerts, listservs, trainings, libraries and volunteer opportunities specially designed for disaster legal aid advocates.
This year, Pro Bono Net and Lone Star Legal Aid developed a new Advocacy Center for DisasterLegalAid.org to help address a nationwide need to network public interest legal advocates working on disaster legal aid and share advocacy resources and tools across regions. Advocates and volunteers from nonprofit legal aid organizations, bar associations, pro bono counsel from law firms and corporations, law school students and faculty, and allied nonprofits working on disaster legal aid are welcome to join for free by signing up at www.disasterlegalaid.org/advocates.
By joining the Advocacy Center, members can access:
A national disaster legal aid listserv to ask questions and discuss issues around disaster legal relief- Registration details for the 2018 roundtable discussions and recordings from previous roundtables
- A library with specialized advocacy resources, including a FEMA appeals brief bank with templates provided by leading legal aid organizations working on disaster response
- A calendar with upcoming disaster legal aid training, workshop, conference, and webinar events
- News and alerts of interest to the community
DisasterLegalAid.org is a national website that provides legal rights information for people affected by disasters and resources for advocates serving them. The site is a joint effort of Pro Bono Net, Lone Star Legal Aid, the American Bar Association, the Legal Services Corporation, and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association.
We are making a call to all those who can volunteer to sign up to help disaster survivors, especially in recently impacted areas like Florida, the Carolinas, Georgia, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Volunteer sign up forms are available at and there are different ways attorneys can help. Organizations across the country are working hard to provide volunteer attorneys with the resources they need to help those affected by disasters. Below is a list of additional resources from our partners:
- Lone Star Legal Aid
- American Bar Association Young Lawyer’s Division
- American Bar Association Committee on Disaster Response and Preparedness
- LSC’s Disaster Counseling Videos