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conferences; and change a client’s life for the better are all powerful incentives . The challenge of the case is also its opportunity for the volunteer: to gain real legal skills, know you’re having a profound impact on the outcome of a case, and get the client contact it can take years to access at a firm . If one firm takes a few of these cases, they build an in-house expertise so that they require less mentoring going forward, and associates begin to see them as a litigation “rite of passage .”
B. Clinics Can meet Pro Bono Attorneys’ Need for Predictability
While “placing” litigated cases is the bulk of our work, we are constantly developing alternative ways to connect pro bono attorneys to low-income litigants . The typical pro bono attorney is a mid-level associate . They are working long hours, at the behest of partners, often without great control over their schedules . In order to balance volunteer work with paying work, predictability is a priority for them . Litigation can be difficult to place with these attorneys, since courts like housing and family court are anything but predictable, and the personal and emotional nature of the cases often causes them to move in unexpected directions . We typically assign two attorneys to any case, to protect against time management conflicts, but even then, as described above, they are the most resource-intensive matters .
Legal information or pro se clinics, on the other hand, are a successful way to engage first time volunteer attorneys while offering a legal service that meets the immediate needs of some clients . At a minimum, pro bono attorneys will provide concrete assistance to a certain number of people at any of these clinics . In addition, almost any legal information clinic results in some individuals being identified as needing full representation . More broadly, these clinics serve as “stealth” community legal education as clients go back and tell family and friends what they have learned, usually passing along our phone number in the process! We sometimes call these clinics “gateway” pro bono opportunities11 – often the volunteer attorney who helped someone with a clinic matter is then interested in continuing his or her assistance for other legal matters that arise .
We typically design these as single issues clinics – such as uncontested divorce or naturalization clinics -- as opposed to general “walk in” legal advice clinics . They can be structured either as pro se clinics,12 or full representation clinics, depending upon the balance between clients’ needs and attorney comfort and liability coverage . Some legal issues are resolved “on the papers” – in other words without a court appearance . When we structure these clinics for clients with volunteer attorneys, private attorneys are supported by our legal staff (attorneys and paralegals) so clients get the full attention of a lawyer . The lawyers bring with them law firm support, which can simplify roadblocks such as affording or achieving service of process; paying filing fees; and accessing agency records and fingerprints . For example, when Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents13 (DAPA) had just been announced by the President (and when we still thought it would be an achievable remedy) Her Justice reviewed our client files for people who had not been eligible for immigration remedies when we met them, but who we thought would be eligible for DAPA . We invited them to a clinic at Simpson Thacher . We conducted
11 Thanks to Janice MacAvoy, Pro Bono Counsel at Fried Frank harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP for the phrase.
12 Research thus far indicates that at least some litigants can effectively represent themselves. See, e.g., D. James Greiner & Cassandra Wolos Pattanayak, Randomized Evaluation in Legal Assistance: What Difference Does Representation (Offer and Actual Use) Make?, 121 Yale L. J. 2118 (2012); Ralph C. Cavanagh & Deborah L. Rhode, Project, The Unauthorized Practice of Law and Pro Se Divorce: An Empirical Analysis, 86 Yale L. J. 104 (1976).
13 Current status on the DAPA remedy is provided at Executive Actions on Immigration, u.S. ciTizenshiP & immigr. serVs., http://www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction (last visited on May 15, 2016).
Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice