Legal Service Champions: San Diego Volunteer Lawyers Program (San Diego, CA)
San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program
San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program has been working with Paladin since 2019 to connect with pro bono lawyers to serve the San Diego community. I had the opportunity to talk with Carrie Holmes, SDVLP’s Pro Bono Manager & Supervising Attorney, to hear a bit about what they’re up to and how volunteers can help.
Share a bit about SDVLP:
At SDVLP, all of our projects are pro bono projects! Our whole reason for being is to utilize the talent and passion of people in private practice to assist our clients in the San Diego community. We have clinics, litigation, and transactional opportunities.
“If there is something a pro bono attorney wants to do, regardless of time commitment or practice area, we probably have something for them!”
What is your favorite thing about this work?
I find it inspiring how many volunteers we have who give so much of their time. People are genuinely doing pro bono work out of a desire to do good and in recognition of the immense privilege of being licensed to practice law.
What are you most excited about?
Two new family justice centers just opened in San Diego. A family justice center is a centralized location where a domestic violence survivor can go to obtain services such as housing, job training, counseling, childcare, and legal help. It’s such an innovative model and we’re really excited to participate in it. We are recruiting volunteers for new domestic violence clinics now.
What do you want pro bono attorneys to know about volunteering with SDVLP?
We pride ourselves on the quality of our training. Even if you’ve never done a tenant’s rights case, or a social security case, you’ve never set foot in a courtroom, you don’t even know how to put an appearance on the record — we will train you, we will second chair cases, we have manuals and samples, we provide 1-on-1 mentorship with staff attorneys.
We’re here to support volunteers in achieving what they want to achieve through their pro bono service.
Thank you to Carrie and the entire SDVLP team for all they do to increase access to justice in San Diego!
