Page 6 - Palm Beach Vol 7 No 1

Ring in the New Year and Resolve to Take a Pro Bono Case
By Jason Lazarus and Bob Bertisch
When Bob Bertisch and I were asked to do an article on pro bono, we were initially unsure what to write about. e importance of pro bono or why you should take a pro bono case in the new year? ere are a lot of those articles. (People really need your help and it feels good to do. And it can also be a great way to gain experience in a new area or even get a trial). If you’re not already working on a pro bono case, hopefully this article will pique your interest by showing you that there are plenty of opportunities available, no matter your practice area.
Every year the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County conducts e Annual Cam- paign for Equal Justice in order to ensure that our community’s most fragile and vul- nerable residents are provided with those essential legal services to secure their most basic needs for safety, housing, healthcare and economic security. rough this cam- paign lawyers are recruited to handle a wide variety of pro bono cases for eligible clients. Attorneys can sign up to be on the Legal Aid Society’s Pro Bono Panel through the web- site at www.legalaidpbc.org.
e Florida Bar Foundation recently launched Florida Pro Bono Matters, an in- teractive website (www. oridaprobonomat- ters.org) that’s designed to make nding pro bono cases faster and easier for attorneys. e site contains cases posted by most ma- jor pro bono legal service providers across the state. Attorneys can scroll through easy to read case descriptions or use the search function to lter cases by location or area of law. When you nd the right one, e-submit a very short interest form and the posting organization will contact you with more in- formation and put you in touch with the cli- ent. Attorneys can “share” interesting cases by email or text to a colleague or friend, and also have the option of requesting a mentor to guide them with the case.
For corporate or in-house counsel, the authors of this article recently started a new project called the 20 for 20 Legal Aid Cor- porate Challenge. e project’s goal is to enlist 20 companies in Palm Beach County to commit each of their legal sta members to provide 20 or more pro bono hours an- nually. Participants can choose from among
several pro bono opportunities, including: expulsion hearings (representing children recommended for expulsion at quasi-judicial school board hearings); guardian advocates (representing parents or guardians of young, mentally disabled adults); domestic violence hearings (representing domestic violence victims at TRO hearings); immigration clin- ics (assistance at clinics for undocumented parents to ensure child care needs are met in the event the parent is deported); and the Non-Pro t Legal Assistance Project (as- sisting nonpro t agencies with speci c legal needs or issues). For more information, visit http://www.legalaidpbc.org/press_20for20. php, or email [email protected] or [email protected].
For federal court practitioners, the Southern District of Florida has a list of pro bono cases available on its website, http://www. sd.uscourts.gov/. Attorneys can choose from a variety of cases, includ- ing assisting individuals with ADA, FLSA or copyright infringement claims, claims for social security bene ts, or assisting inmates with excessive use of force claims. Visit the site, and click on the tab Attorney Resourc- es, and scroll down to Volunteer Opportu- nities and Pro Bono Assistance for a list of available cases. For more information, email FLSD_ProBono@ sd.uscourts.gov.
ere are additional pro bono opportuni- ties as well, such as the ABA Military Pro Bono Project, which provides assistance to active duty service members and their fami- lies. For a list of pro bono cases, visit https:// www.militaryprobono.org/, or email mary. [email protected]. Pro bono Disas- ter Relief e orts are also still ongoing, and include a legal aid hotline, clinics and assis- tance with insurance and FEMA denials. For more information, email anthony.palermo@ hklaw.com or [email protected].
For additional information contact e Legal Aid Society Pro Bono Project Super- vising Attorney, Kimberly Rommel-En- right, at [email protected] or (561) 655-8944 ext 265.
Bob Bertisch has been the executive director of the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County for the past 36 years. Jason Lazarus is a litigation partner at Hol- land & Knight and a Legal Aid Society board member.
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