Public Council, Pro Bono Opportunitites from Public Interest Clearinghouse on Vimeo.

Organization Description

Public Counsel is the largest pro bono law office in the nation. We are the public interest law firm of the Los Angeles County and Beverly Hills Bar Associations as well as the Southern California affiliate of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Our staff of forty-eight attorneys along with thousands of volunteer lawyers, law students and legal professionals assists over 29,000 low-income children, youth, adults and families, as well as eligible community organizations each year. Volunteer attorneys have the opportunity to work on a variety of different projects -- large and small, litigation and transactional matters. Our staff provides training, model pleadings and forms and consultations to volunteers. The substantive areas in which we work include:

Pro Bono Project Description

Appellate Law & Federal Pro Se
An indigent pro se civil litigant faces numerous hurdles in both the appellate courts and the federal district court. For a pro se appellant, determining whether a trial court's order is appealable, calculating the time to file a notice of appeal, designating the record on appeal, complying with applicable rules, and drafting briefs that provide a clear discussion of the relevant facts, procedural history, and law -- with proper record and legal citations - are difficult tasks for many of these individuals. For a pro se litigant in district court, deciding whether a case belongs in federal court, framing the issues properly, accomplishing service of process, and dealing with the various motions, hearings, and conferences leading to trial is an equally daunting endeavor. Public Counsel's Appellate Law Program (ALP) helps pro se indigent litigants to better represent themselves in both their civil appellate matters and federal district court matters, and provides pro bono representation in selected cases.

Community Development
Public Counsel staff and volunteers provide transactional and business legal assistance to nonprofit community organizations and micro-businesses that advance affordable housing creation and preservation, strengthen the healthcare safety net, and build foundations for financial independence. We draft and review contracts and leases, financing documents, partnership agreements and corporate policies, advise clients on general corporate and tax issues, employment law and intellectual property, and help nonprofit organizations apply for and maintain tax exemption. Our clients include a broad range of nonprofit organizations including affordable housing developers and advocacy groups, social service providers, community healthcare clinics, youth programs, and job-training organizations, as well as low-income entrepreneurs who own or are starting microbusinesses. Our Housing Opportunities, Preservation and Enforcement Program educates and advocates for the creation and preservation of affordable housing using state and local laws.

Early Care & Education Law
Public Counsel staff and volunteers work to increase the number of desperately needed child care spaces in Los Angeles County and assist existing facilities to continue their operations. We provide advice and pro bono representation to low- income family home day care providers, nonprofit childcare centers and for-profit centers serving low-income residents on licensing, zoning, insurance and landlord/tenant issues as well as other concerns. We help local governments develop ordinances and policies related to childcare. Staff, volunteer lawyers and law students regularly give educational presentations on legal issues of concern to groups of prospective and licensed child care providers.
Children's Rights
Public Counsel staff attorneys, social workers and social work interns work with pro bono attorneys and law students in assisting children in civil legal matters such as adoption, guardianship, special education, government benefits, emancipation, teen parents' issues and blocked trust accounts. We also provide representation to children whose parents are dying of AIDS and other terminal illnesses. Our School-Linked Legal Assistance Program brings legal services directly to various local high schools and middle schools through on campus legal clinics and classroom presentations.

Consumer Law
Public Counsel staff and pro bono attorneys represent defrauded consumers such as students cheated by deceptive trade schools, debtors suffering from collection agency harassment, home equity fraud victims, victims of used car scams and victims of independent paralegal -- or notario -- fraud. Public Counsel staff and volunteers also conduct community intake and brief advice clinics in East Los Angeles and South Central Los Angeles.

Homelessness Prevention Law
Public Counsel staff and volunteers have provided pro bono representation to over 20,000 homeless individuals and families before administrative agencies to secure shelter, clothing, food and other vital benefits. The majority of volunteer advocates are summer law associates and law students. Staff and volunteers also provide pro bono legal services to the growing homeless and at risk youth population, and act as a resource to service providers working with such homeless youth. Opportunities to become involved in systemic reform through impact litigation are also available to volunteers.

Immigrants' Rights
Public Counsel staff and volunteers provide pro bono representation to individuals from over 30 different countries. Individuals seeking VAWA protections or political asylum based upon racial, religious or political persecution and immigrants with long-term ties to the United States are provided with representation in immigration and federal courts.

Impact Litigation
Newly established in 2009, Public Counsel's Impact Litigation Project (ILP) builds on Public Counsel's longstanding economic justice and civil rights community practice. ILP brings suit in federal and state courts to challenge systemic and recurring discrimination and civil and economic rights violations that affect low income personals and persons of color. The lawsuits this project initiates necessarily affect large groups of people within Public Counsel's service focus.

Veterans Advocacy
The Center for Veterans Advancement (CVA), a national leader in veteran's advocacy, provides direct representation, or representation through pro bono partners, to veterans and their families. The Center provides legal representation at both the local and national levels, and coordinates its work with efforts already underway to establish special "Veterans' Courts" in Northern and Southern California designed to meet the unique needs of returning veterans. The Center also manages legal clinics, including one of the largest pro bono advocacy programs in the United States.

To Sign Up: Visit our website at www.publiccounsel.org or contact Pro Bono Director David Daniels at 213-385-2977, ext. 101, or ddaniels@publiccounsel.org.

We have remote pro bono opportunities that volunteers can work on from their "stay-at-home" work environments. To view these opportunities, please visit our website at www.publiccounsel.org and click on the "volunteer" drop down.