Become a Cooperating Attorney Cooperating Attorney Questionnaire (31 KB) ACLU-TN has limited staff and funding, yet is faced with a huge number of requests for assistance from individuals and organizations. We meet this demand through direct representation and by appearing as amicus curiae. Almost all of our cases are handled by volunteer attorneys who work in cooperation with our staff. For over 80 years, volunteer lawyers have been the backbone of the ACLU legal program. These volunteers include sole practitioners, recent law school graduates, some of the nation's most prominent lawyers, and many of the major firms in America. Participation by the private bar has been vital to the ACLU's work since Clarence Darrow headed the ACLU's defense of John T. Scopes in 1925 right here in Tennessee.