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volunteer attorneys . No court appearances are necessary; the first phase of representation lasts under two years; and at the end of the representation you have an enormously thankful and happy client . Recently, the federal government announced that these remedies would be delayed even further since there is a cap on the number issued each year, and right now there is a large backlog . Upon hearing that cases could now take as long as 9 years, we discovered that some firms were beginning to balk at trying to continue supporting a case for so long, especially when it would be essentially inactive for 7 of those years . In partnership with Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP we created a solution . Fried Frank would sign a limited retainer for the initial phase of the representation . After that phase, Her Justice would manage the client relationship with a Board of Immigration Appeals-accredited advocate . Once the case came back ready for regularization of status (the last step) we would reach back out to Fried Frank to see if they wanted to complete the case . If not, we would place it with another law firm . In essence, we are offering the firm two time-limited cases rather that one 9-year case . The firms have responded very favorably to this solution; instead of wondering if they would have to stop taking on U visas entirely, they are now eager to continue the practice, comforted that it will be manageable .
D. An emergency staff Attorney Could Address the fact that Pro Bono Attorneys Cannot respond Quickly
Another possible benefit of a limited scope approach could mitigate the urgency in many of our cases . As mentioned above, many times by the time a client reaches us they have an imminent court date, and we struggle to assign a private attorney quickly enough . Since we are one of very few providers that offer representation in litigated divorces, these cases in particular come to us at the last minute, after the clients have exhausted all other resources, with court appearances looming . Pro bono placement is a challenge in urgent situations because matching takes time and firms must conduct conflict checks and obtain approval for a litigated matter . On occasion we will take on a case like this in-house, but with our attorneys’ high mentoring load, capacity is limited . Recently we’ve charted a solution; if one of our attorneys could appear only for the first court appearance, they could protect the client’s rights and request any necessary interim relief in order to stabilize the situation . Then we would have the time to place the case with an appropriate volunteer attorney, keeping our own caseloads to a reasonable level . We hope to pilot this approach with an interested judge, but given the desperate need for representation on divorce matters, we think this use of limited scope representation might make it possible for us to offer full representation to more divorce clients .
e. firms’ rich resources Position Them to Be strong Partners in systemic Change
Law firms that handle individual pro bono are often very interested in bringing actions that arise out of that work . Law firms can provide representation on cases where LSC-funded programs are barred due to their funding source obligations .16 They are also a terrific resource for the creation of issue briefs, as well as original research that may be beyond the resource capacity of legal services organizations . A good policy paper, backed up by the individual cases handled by nonprofits, can make changes in the system that will impact thousands of litigants to come . Much
16 Scott L. Cummings & Deborah L. Rhode, Managing Pro Bono: Doing Well by Doing Better, 78 fordham l. reV. 2357, 2368 (2010),
Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice