Pro bono publico, usually shortened to pro bono, is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who are unable to afford them. More recently, the term is used to describe specialist services provided by any professional free of charge to an individual or community.
Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial. This article describes the development of legal aid and its principles, primarily as known in Europe, the Commonwealth of Nations and in the United States.
Pro Bono Net is a US nonprofit organization based in New York City and San Francisco. The organization works in close partnership with nonprofit legal aid organizations across the United States and Canada, to increase access to justice for the millions of poor people who face legal problems every year without help from a lawyer. It does this by (i) supporting the innovative and effective use of technology by the nonprofit legal sector, (ii) increasing participation by volunteers, and (iii) facilitating collaborations among nonprofit legal organizations and advocates working on similar issues or in the same region. Founded in 1998 with a grant from the Open Society Institute, Pro Bono Net has developed a broad base of support from foundations, law firms, corporate sponsors and nonprofit partners alike, to build web platforms that offer powerful and sophisticated online tools to pro bono and legal aid advocates, and to provide critical legal information and assistance directly to the public. Its model has been adopted in 30 states and regions, reaching approximately two-thirds of the poverty population and lawyers in the United States.
The New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) is a non-profit organization that provides free civil legal services to low-income New Yorkers. Its services include direct representation, case consultation, advocacy, community education, training, financial counseling, and impact litigation.
The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights is a consortium of American law firms in Chicago that provides legal services in civil rights cases
The Florida Justice Institute (FJI) is a nonprofit public interest law firm in Miami, Florida. It was established in 1978 by Randall C. Berg Jr. The institute has been dedicated to improving conditions in Florida's prison system and has initiated numerous class action lawsuits toward this end. Berg is past president of the Florida ACLU. Berg also served on Governor Lawton Chiles' Transition Criminal Justice Task Force and is the past Chairman of the Corrections Committee.
Bet Tzedek is an American nonprofit human and poverty rights organization based in Los Angeles, California.
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, formerly Texas Rural Legal Aid (TRLA), is a nonprofit agency that specializes in providing free civil legal services to the poor in a 68-county service area. It also operates a migrant farmworker legal assistance program in six southern states and a public defender program in southern rural counties of Texas. Established in 1970, TRLA is the largest legal aid provider in Texas and the second largest in the United States.
The City Bar Justice Center provides pro bono legal services to low-income clients throughout New York City. It is part of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Fund, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) is a publicly funded and publicly accountable non-profit corporation, responsible for administering the legal aid program in the province of Ontario, Canada. Through a toll-free number and multiple in-person locations such as courthouse offices, duty counsel and community legal clinics, the organization provides more than one million assists to low-income Ontario residents each year.
The Bar Association of San Francisco(BASF) was established in 1872 as a nonprofit legal membership organization that provides San Francisco legal professionals with networking, educational and pro bono opportunities in order to better serve the community.
Legal aid in the United States is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system in the United States. In the US, legal aid provisions are different for criminal law and civil law. Criminal legal aid with legal representation is guaranteed to defendants under criminal prosecution who cannot afford to hire an attorney. Civil legal aid is not guaranteed under federal law, but is provided by a variety of public interest law firms and community legal clinics for free or at reduced cost. Other forms of civil legal aid are available through federally-funded legal services, pro bono lawyers, and private volunteers.
Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, Inc. (HRI) is a non-profit organization that provides free legal assistance and social services to refugees and immigrants in the North Texas area who are the victims of human rights abuses. It was founded in 1999 by attorney Elizabeth "Betsy" Healy and social worker Serena Simmons Connelly. HRI assists clients through two main programs: the Asylum program and the Women and Children's program. The majority of legal cases are handled by a large network of volunteer attorneys.
The Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA) is a voluntary bar association with more than 16,000 members throughout Los Angeles County, California, and the world. Founded in 1878, LACBA has strived to meet the professional needs of lawyers, advance the administration of justice, and provide the public with access to justice.
Safe Horizon, formerly the Victim Services Agency, is the largest victim services nonprofit organization in the United States, providing social services for victims of abuse and violent crime. Operating at 57 locations throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Safe Horizon provides social services to over 250,000 victims of violent crime and abuse and their families per year. It has over 800 employees, and has programs for victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, and human trafficking, as well as homeless youth and the families of homicide victims. Safe Horizon's website has been accessible for the Spanish-speaking population since 2012. Safe Horizon has an annual budget of over $63 million.
The Alaska Immigration Justice Project(AIJP) is a non-profit agency that provides low-cost immigration legal assistance to immigrants and refugees in all immigration applications including citizenship, permanent resident status, work permits, asylum, family-based petitions and immigration petitions for immigrant victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.
The Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, JALA, developed during the Great Depression and the recession of 1937 out of a group of attorneys who organized to provide pro bono legal services to those who could not afford the services. The Jacksonville Area Legal Aid was officially named in 1973, and received 501(c)(3) tax status in 1976. JALA is a mid-size law firm with over 50 lawyers and support staff who offer free legal services to low income clients in civil legal matters which include public benefits, employment/unemployment law, family law, landlord-tenant disputes, fair housing, guardianship, refugee and asylee immigration, foreclosure defense, and consumer law. JALA works with Florida Coastal School of Law and has supported accredited externships with the Florida State University.
The Central Virginia Legal Aid Society (CVLAS) is a nonprofit organization that provides free legal assistance in civil matters to low-income and elderly residents in central Virginia.
Texas Legal Services Center (TLSC) is a nonprofit law firm that provides legal aid with free representation and assistance to Texans who qualify for their services based on income or other criteria. It also provides legal services to Texas residents who may not qualify for services from Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, Lone Star Legal Aid, Legal Aid of Northwest Texas, or Disability Rights Texas. TLSC provides support services to each of those providers.
Tanya Marie Neiman was an American lawyer and activist based in San Francisco. For over 20 years, she was director of the Volunteer Legal Services Program of the Bar Association of San Francisco, now known as the Justice & Diversity Center, "one of the largest and most innovative legal services programs in the country to serve lower-income people".