Grant from Porter Wright supports Volunteer Lawyers Program

Thanks to a generous multi-year grant from Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, Legal Aid’s Volunteer Lawyers Program has increased its training resources for pro bono attorneys, grown its ACT 2 program for retired attorneys, and launched a CLE for Pro Bono project to take advantage of the 2014 Ohio Supreme Court rules related to earning CLE.

Volunteer attorneys are comfortable and willing to take more pro bono cases when they are provided with the resources they need to provide excellent representation to clients.  Porter Wright’s financial support of $50,000 over five years helped Legal Aid meet this need by hiring dedicated Volunteer Lawyers Program support staff who curate portable resource libraries stocked with essential materials for volunteer lawyers at clinics and outreach events held throughout Northeast Ohio.

To compliment Legal Aid’s “Law in a Box” portable resource libraries, Porter Wright’s grant has also supported Legal Aid’s work to create an online digital library of these materials, making them even more accessible to volunteers.  Legal Aid anticipates these materials will be available online beginning in late 2017.

A second focus of Porter Wright’s grant is Legal Aid’s engagement and training of late-career and retired volunteer attorneys. In particular, their generosity spurred development of the ACT 2 program, in which seasoned attorneys give pro bono legal assistance to low-income clients. With a foundational group of 34 attorneys, ACT 2 is poised to mentor law students and novice attorneys representing Legal Aid clients. Plans are in the works to match Legal Aid’s 2017 summer associates with retired or late-career mentors. While a program to cultivate mentorships between novice and retired attorneys is on the horizon, many ACT 2 attorneys already take a keen interest in coaching younger attorneys as they serve together at Legal Aid outreach clinics.

Finally, with the help of Porter Wright’s financial gift, Legal Aid has capitalized on the new Ohio Supreme Court rule which provides CLE credit for pro bono work.  In 2016, 158 attorneys took advantage of this program, earning 310 hours of credit (with 20 attorneys earning the 6-credit maximum) while serving the region’s most vulnerable. Attorneys receive one hour of CLE for every six hours of pro bono time. Legal Aid Volunteer Lawyer Program staff members assist volunteers by providing a transcript of all their hours, and then submit certified transcripts to the Ohio Supreme Court.

The financial support received from Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur has allowed Legal Aid to recruit and train more volunteers and provide more community assistance.

Want to join Porter Wright and financially support our Volunteer Lawyers Program?  Make a gift to the 2017 Campaign: https://lasclev.org/donationform/ or call 216-861-5590.  Or, sign up to volunteer at www.lasclev.org/volunteer!