Every lawyer has a professional responsibility to provide legal services to those unable to pay. A lawyer should aspire to render at least fifty hours of pro bono publico legal services per year.
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This is a partial listing of opportunities available around the state. Once you sign up, you’ll be contacted by your local pro bono coordinator who will provide details.
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The CBA leads or assists with a variety of programs to make pro bono opportunities available to lawyers and clients. The table above provides links to more information and/or program contacts.
The CBA Military and Veterans Affairs Section manages this successful pro bono program where veterans get information on topics such as veterans resources, benefits, taxes, housing, and family law. Colorado Lawyers for Colorado Veterans (CLCV) 11 has recruited 280 volunteer lawyers to provide pro bono legal services to Colorado veterans, and these volunteers have so far handled 250 pro bono veteran cases.
New this year, the Colorado Succession to Service program 15 is a collaborative project among the CBA, Colorado Attorney Mentoring Program (CAMP), Metro Volunteer Lawyers (MVL), and Colorado Access to Justice Commission. The program’s goal is to establish a structured, statewide program for Colorado’s experienced lawyers and judges to partner with nonprofit organizations, courts, and other public interest entities to influence the continuing need for equal access to justice. Succession to Service is a community of lawyers looking to make a difference. The platform makes it easy for lawyers to find and volunteer for projects they care about. Using their specialized skills and experience to perform engaging pro bono work, participating lawyers become active members of the legal community and help Colorado’s courts and service providers expand and enhance the pro bono legal services they offer.
The Virtual Pro Se Clinic (VPC) 17 is another program that was developed to address the growing trend of pro se litigants in our courts. The VPC provides free monthly legal clinics at public libraries in 26 counties across Colorado. Long before the pandemic forced us all to use technology to provide pro bono legal services, the VPC was using videoconferencing and screen-sharing capabilities to help self-represented litigants better understand court procedures and processes. Each clinic patron is given a set time period, as determined by the library at the beginning of each VPC clinic, to talk to a volunteer attorney.
The POWER Act is the federal Pro Bono Work to Empower and Represent Act of 2018. 18 Pursuant to the Act’s directives, every other year all US district courts must organize, sponsor, and host a pro bono and volunteer organizing effort regarding domestic violence prevention and victim assistance oriented toward the general public. In the intervening years, district courts with Native American tribal organizations based in the state (including Colorado) must hold a program oriented toward generating interest in pro bono and volunteer assistance for Native American tribes and their domestic violence service providers. The CBA is working with the Faculty of Federal Advocates to support and promote these POWER Act programs. 19