On This Day in Pro Bono Net History: Pro Bono Opportunities Guide | Connecting Justice Communities

On this day in 2007, Pro Bono Net launched our first ever National Pro Bono Opportunities guide. We teamed up with the American Bar Association to create a single online location to make it easier for advocates to find opportunities to volunteer that match what they are looking for. While directories of organizations seeking volunteers have been available prior to this, our online, searchable version was the first of its kind.

Designed to help volunteer advocates find opportunities, the guide provides a listing of over 1500 programs from across the US that need volunteer lawyers. Opportunities can range from legal clinics and lawyer-for-a-day programs to full representation, so advocates can find the best fit for the time and effort they have available for volunteering.

The nationwide guide also includes detailed information on nonprofit organizations that provide legal services. Because the list is interactive, state and local bar associations as well as community-based nonprofits can add or update information to ensure the list is current and accurate.

Volunteers can pinpoint projects that require their skills and experience with features highlighting opportunities for transactional lawyers, litigators, law students and others. They can search for a service project in a specific substantive area of law or for one that serves a specific population, such as children, seniors, or immigrants. Volunteers can also e-mail an opportunity to a friend and suggest updates to the guide.

The National Opportunities Guide is still going strong, more than 10 years later and is one of the most popular features on our probono.net platform. To visit the guide go to www.probono.net/oppsguide and get started volunteering!

Originally published at https://www.connectingjusticecommunities.com on May 29, 2019.