emerging issues in the delivery of pro bono services matt gallagher supervising attorney - carpls...

Emerging Issues in the Delivery of Pro

Bono ServicesMatt Gallagher

Supervising Attorney - CARPLSmgallagher@carpls.org

About CARPLS

Overview of CARPLS

Legal aid hotline

42,000 client services provided in FY08

Primarily telephone-based service

Help desks operated at 4 locations in the City

Thirty attorneys on staff, many part-time

CARPLS Volunteer Programs

“Nightline” - evening individual volunteer program

“Go Bono” - daytime firm volunteer program

Individual volunteers in specialized roles

Organizational focus on volunteers

Many of our staff attorneys came from our volunteer program - including me

Technology used to help bring pro bono volunteers into our program

Staff support for volunteer projects

Technology supporting pro bonoRecent redesign of our case management software to support volunteer attorneys

Provides detailed canned answers to specific legal questions

Written specifically from the point of view of a hotline attorney and incorporates CARPLS’ philosophy and policies

IP Phone system allows remote users to sign on

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Nightline program

Nightline: Overview

In operation for 10+ years

Wednesday evenings 5:30 - 8 p.m.

At our office

Volunteer attorneys

Volunteering on an individual basis

Nightline: Training and supervision

Two-part training

Substantive law group training

Individualized computer training

Nightline: Who volunteers?

25+ individual attorneys

Wide variety of practice areas

Wide variety of practice settings

Typical tenure 2-3 years

Nightline: What they do

Return calls in specific areas of law

Current: Landlord-tenant and consumer

Less success: employment

All work done over the phone

Supervised by CARPLS staff in person

Nightline: Pros and cons for CARPLSPro: Good return on attorney time

Pro: Gets word out about our program to many people

Pro: Can serve as development vehicle

Con: Constant training cycle

Con: Recruitment

Pro and Cons for volunteers

Low-commitment

Discrete volunteering opportunity

Networking

Learn new area of law

Develop client counseling skills

Go Bono Program

Go Bono: Overview

Taking the volunteer experience to the volunteer attorney’s own office

Focus on larger law firms / legal departments

Pilot phase

Landlord-tenant law - part of our focus on housing law

Go Bono: Overview

Firm commits to the program, not individuals

Pilot phase: 1 ‘live’ firm, one in training, one in the wings

‘Break even’ size: 20+ volunteers per firm

Required Firm Commitment

Space: Office or conference room

Two computers with web access

20+ volunteer

Firm support for scheduling and training

Individual attorney commitment

Training - 6 hours

Volunteering - 3 or 4 hours per month, 40 per year

Annual refresher training

Go Bono: Training and supervision

Recruitment events

Web-based video training for substantive legal training

In-person computer/phone training

In-person support for first ‘live’ call for each attrorney

Ongoing: remote support via phone and IM

Go Bono ongoing

Firms commit to staffing one shift per week

2 attorneys, 4 hours - 8 attorney-hours per shift

Remotely supported by the ‘Attorney on Call’

In future, volunteer whenever attorney wants

Go Bono: Benefits to firm

Low-commitment, high impact volunteering

Flexibility in scheduling

Easy to get attorneys to volunteer - in office

Go Bono: Benefit to CARPLS

Develop relationship with firms

High payoff - 20 volunteers at once per firm

Low-impact on overhead - volunteering done from their office not ours

Relatively easy to support once up and running

Go Bono: Challenges during pilot IConflicts of interests for firms - biggest challenge

Business concerns

Getting high-level leaders at firm to support and drive project

Much more on-site supervision required than we initially thought

Go Bono: Challenges during Pilot II

Getting individual attorneys to comply with our training requirements

Loss of interest after initial burst

Identifying leaders within the volunteer base

Going forward

One firm up and running

One in middle of training

One getting ready for pilot phase

Goal is 10 firms - 10 shifts per week, 1 firm each

If achieved, this would be ~100 clients served per week, 5000 per year - >10% increase in our capacity

Other volunteers

‘Random volunteers’Individuals who fill a specialized need

Foreign-licensed lawyer who provides supervised assistance to Spanish speaking clients

Paralegal volunteer to assist with some intake work

Challenges with individual volunteers

Difficult to manage

Supervision required on an intense basis - they can never ‘fly solo’

Tend to disappear randomly

Staff supervision difficult on one-off basis

Lessons learned

Lessons learned: Volunteer programsGo Bono will biggest impact to our program in terms of serving greatest number of clients at lowest cost

Go Bono also requires much more work on the front end to get it going

Individual volunteers outside of Nightline and Go Bono are rarely worth the time commitment required by staff

Lessons Learned: Go BonoTakes much more on-site staff time than we initially thought

Biggest issue for firm leadership is conflicts of interest

Proposed supreme court rule change

Biggest issue for CARPLS is getting firm leadership to commit a sufficient number of volunteer attorneys on a regular basis

Thank youMatt Gallagher

mgallagher@carpls.orgwww.carpls.org312-451-4954