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2024 National Celebration of Pro Bono

Massachusetts

October 20-26, 2024

Tuesday October 1

Pro Bono Opportunities in the Fight for Environmental Justice

Boston Bar Association; Environmental Justice Assistance Network; Alternatives for Community and Environment

Virtual, MA  

Kick off Pro Bono month by joining the Environmental Justice Assistance Network (EJAN) through BBF Grantee, Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE)! EJAN is a pro bono capacity-building and referral network that matches legal, scientific, public health, and technical experts with communities that are addressing environmental justice challenges. 

Tuesday October 8

BBA Webinar: Summary Process Eviction Basics

Boston Bar Association

Virtual, Boston, MA

Interested in advocating for low-income tenants facing eviction? BBF grantee the Volunteer Lawyers Project (VLP) has a client that needs your help! Attend this training and you will leave with a general understanding of the eviction process in Massachusetts. You will also learn the defenses and resources that are available to tenants to prevent or win an eviction case. After the training, you will have enough knowledge to begin volunteering with VLP's housing unit and join them in the promotion of access to counsel and justice in the commonwealth. Register today! 

Wednesday October 9

Rian Immigrant Center Forms Workshop Training: Help our Immigrant Neighbors

Rian Immigrant Center; Boston Bar Association

Virtual, Boston, MA

Clinic in partnership with the BBA to help immigrant members of our community complete basic, but necessary immigration paperwork, including green card renewals, work permit applications, family-based petitions, and citizenship applications. This training will prepare law students and attorneys to participate in our clinics by giving you an overview of the US immigration system, of the applications we complete in the clinics, and of our clinic model. 

Thursday, October 10, 2024

Shining Star Celebration

Victim Rights Law Center

Artists for Humanity Epicenter, Boston, MA

Fall 2024 Legal Services Mixer

Boston Bar Association Delivery of Legal Services Section

Boston, MA

The BBA's Delivery of Legal Services Section invites you to a mixer to connect with friends and colleagues over appetizers and beverages. Section members as well as their colleagues, folks working in legal services organizations, and new lawyers and law students interested in working at legal services are all welcome to attend. In addition, this gathering will provide an opportunity for legal services offices with newer hires to get their staff together and/or connected to others in the legal services space.

Wednesday October 16

209A Restraining Orders Basics Training

Women's Bar Foundation

Virtual, Boston, MA

This training, in partnership with BBF Grantee, the Women's Bar Foundation, covers the basics of advocating for clients in 209A Abuse Prevention proceedings and equips attorneys with the tools necessary to represent survivors of abuse in restraining order hearings. We encourage all attorneys interested in making a difference for families impacted by domestic abuse to attend.

Monday October 21

Rian Immigrant Center Forms Workshop

Boston Bar Association; Rian Immigrant Center

Boston, MA

This forms workshop will provide volunteer attorneys and law students with opportunity to assist members of our community with completing basic immigration forms, including citizenship applications, applications for temporary protected status, green card renewals, and work permit renewals. 

Estate Planning Training Workshop 

South Coastal County Legal Services 

Brockton, MA

Volunteers who complete this training will be ready to participate in South Coastal County Legal Services’ Estate Planning Clinic, where they can help low-income senior clients by preparing their essential estate planning documents.

Clinic Student Workshop on Movement Lawyering 

Harvard Law School 

Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA

You are invited to a workshop for clinic students (past and present) on how we engage in movement lawyering in the fight for racial justice.

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Pro Bono Opportunities with Massachusetts Advocates for Children

Massachusetts Advocates for Children; Boston Bar Association

Virtual, Boston, MA

Please join us this Pro Bono Month to learn about the important work that Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC) does in removing barriers to educational and life opportunities for children and youth in Massachusetts and to explore our many pro bono opportunities. MAC's pro bono offerings are suitable for attorneys of all experience levels and practice settings; they range from small one-time research projects, to limited scope representation such as mediations, to volunteers looking to take on full representation special education cases on a pro bono basis.

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Election Protection 2024 Training - Protect the Right to Vote and Learn About Election Law

Boston Bar Association; Lawyers for Civil Rights

Boston Bar Association, Boston, MA

BBF Grantee Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) is seeking your help in ensuring a free and fair 2024 election! Attend this training so you can volunteer for Election Protection, the nation’s largest non-partisan voter protection coalition, with LCR. Volunteers who attend this training will be eligible to participate in the Election Protection Field Program.  The Field Program monitors key polling locations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire through its volunteers to ensure that all eligible voters have a free and fair opportunity to vote. 

Cultivating Pro Bono Connections from Clinics to Careers: An Election Law Example 

Harvard Law School 

Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA

Ruth Greenwood, Assistant Clinical Professor and Director of the HLS Election Law Clinic, and Michael Guggenheim ’20, Associate Proskauer Rose Join their discussion on the importance of relationships and partnerships with peers, alumni, local grassroots organizations, law school clinics, and law firms in pro bono work.  

Thursday October 24, 2024

Housing Answer & Discovery Clinic 

Volunteer Lawyers Project 

Advise low-income clients with housing issues who have been served with a Notice to Quit and Summons and Complaint and help them prepare Answer and Discovery forms using a computer tool that was created for pro se litigants.

Election Protection Volunteer Training 

Harvard Law School 

Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA 

The HLS Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs is hosting an Election Protection training for volunteers.  Election Protection is the Nation’s oldest and largest non-partisan voter protection program working to make sure eligible voters are able to cast a meaningful ballot on Election Day. 

Monday, October 28, 2024

Clinical Student Workshop on Trauma-Informed Lawyering 

Harvard Law School 

Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA 

You are invited to a workshop for clinic students (past and present) on how best to represent clients who have experienced trauma and how to practice trauma-informed lawyering.

Tuesday October 29, 2024

Pro Bono Recruitment Fair

Boston Bar Association; Suffolk University Law School 

Suffolk University Law School, Boston, MA

You are cordially invited to attend the Pro Bono Recruitment Fair & Open House for attorneys and law students with Suffolk University Law School. This event, sponsored by the Boston Bar Association and Suffolk University Law School, provides attorneys and law students with a range of pro bono opportunities. Attorneys are strongly encouraged to attend.

New Lawyer and Senior Association Happy Hour

Boston Bar Association

Scholars American Bistro and Cocktail Lounge, Boston, MA

After attending the Pro Bono Recruitment Fair & Open House, please join us for a relaxed and enjoyable Happy Hour. This is a great opportunity to unwind, network, and continue conversations with your fellow attorneys and chat about the various pro bono opportunities you learned about at the fair. 

Clinic Meet and Greet 

Harvard Law School 

Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA 

Meet members of our clinical program teaching teams and learn how to get involved in pro bono work during your time at HLS!

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Medical Parole Certiorari Petitions Training with Prisoners’ Legal ServicesSponsoring Entity

Prisoners' Legal Services; Boston Bar Association


Virtual, Boston, MA

Medical parole, or compassionate release, is a legal mechanism through which terminally ill and permanently incapacitated prisoners can petition for release from prison—and pro bono attorneys can help! During this training, BBF grantee Prisoners’ Legal Services (PLS) staff attorneys will provide background about the indignities of aging and dying in prison and train attorneys on how to contest medical parole denials by filing certiorari petitions in Superior Court. 

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Adams Pro Bono Awards Ceremony 

SJC Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Serivces

John Adams Courthouse, Boston, MA 

The Adams Pro Bono Publico Awards Ceremony is one of many activities celebrating and building support for pro bono legal work in Massachusetts and the American Bar Association has also proclaimed a National Celebration of Pro Bono during October every year.