On June 23rd 2016, the New York State Permanent Commission on Access to Justice, in partnership with NYSTech, held the New York Statewide Civil Legal Aid Technology Conference. Pro Bono Net’s summer legal intern was in attendance and offers her perspective on the conference below. Darlene Mottley is a 2L student at Brooklyn
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Groundbreaking Collaboration Helps New Yorkers Facing Foreclosure Get Live Chat Assistance
Yesterday, LawHelpNY (www.LawHelpNY.org), a family of online legal information and referral Internet portals for low and moderate income New Yorkers, announced the launch of its LiveHelp chatting service for visitors to the New York State Unified Court Systems website, CourtHelp (www.nycourthelp.gov). The LiveHelp service will allow site visitors to chat with…
Reflecting on 15 years: An interview with Michael Cooper
This year, Pro Bono Net celebrated our 15th Anniversary. As we reflect back on the past 15 years, we caught up with a few individuals who were critical to our early growth and development. Below is an interview with Michael Cooper, Pro Bono Net Founding Board Chair. His understanding of the justice gap and…
LawHelp Interactive is Making a Big Difference for Domestic Violence Survivors
There are over 4,000 online forms on LawHelp Interactive, the largest national online document assembly platform designed specifically to meet the needs of low-income communities and the legal aid providers that serve them.
Forms are available in various areas of law and for a range of audiences. By and large, family law is the area…
LSNTAP/PBN Webinar: Technology tools to enhance legal services for Limited English proficiency (LEP) Communities: Website, videos, and more
In June, Pro Bono Net partnered with LSNTAP to produce a webinar on technology tools for Limited English Proficiency communities. Moderated by Mirenda Watkins of Pro Bono Net, the webinar examined some of the challenges of creating and maintaining multilingual tech tools and showcased possible solutions to these challenges through innovative examples in the legal…
Innovation in Pro Bono: Squire Patton Boggs’ Public Service Initiative
In the fall of 2009, Squire Sanders (which became Squire Patton Boggs on June 1 through a combination with Patton Boggs) launched the Public Service Initiative (PSI), a new model of pro bono delivery that enables the firm to 1) devote more time and resources to taking on complex cases and 2) assist…
PBN and IAN Attend the Inaugural New York Immigrant Assistance Consortium Conference
On June 9th Pro Bono Net Executive Director Mark O’Brien and Immigration Advocates Network (IAN) Director Matthew Burnett participated in the inaugural conference of the New York Immigrant Assistance Consortium. Close to three hundred immigration advocates, legal service providers, government officials, and community members joined together to discuss how to better coordinate legal…
Practises in Pro Bono: A report on PLI’s Limited Scope Training
Certain features of the American legal tradition are so fundamental as to be virtually sacrosanct: the adversarial system, attorney-client privilege, and pounding on the table to make a forceful point. Some basic assumptions underlie this model, including that lawyers provide litigants with beginning-to-end “full representation” in a case. To do otherwise has long been considered…
Practicing Law Institute Hosts Leaders in Anti-Trafficking
According to the Polaris Project, “human trafficking is considered to be one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world” with the International Labor Organization reporting almost 21 million people in forced labor in 2012. In response to this growing and devastating trend, PLI recently sponsored a standout event that featured several top…
Fordham Law Symposium Panelists Address Long-Term Policy Responses to Sandy and Advocate for Survivors
On Friday, February 21st I broke from my normal office routine and headed up to Fordham Law School for the annual Fordham Environmental Law Review Symposium, which this year was titled “Eye of the Storm: Hurricane Sandy Response and Rebuilding Strategies.” The panels at the Symposium demonstrated an emphasis on addressing the systemic problems…