Pro Bono Opportunities:

• Handle Cases: Direct involvement and representation provided by private attorneys is the heart of the Pro Bono Referral Project (PBRP). Clients from Legal Aid of West Virginia (LAWV) are referred to volunteer attorneys for full individual representation at no cost to the client. LAWV:
  • Provides first dollar malpractice coverage for every volunteer attorney;
  • Offers funds for necessary out-of-pocket litigation costs; and
  • Grants access to legal research and a well-developed document collection as support for our volunteers.
  
  
• Teach Pro Se Clinics: Teach clients to complete pro se pleadings and documents in legal areas such as divorce, custody, adoptions, wills, advance directives, and bankruptcy.



• Do Client Interviews and Screening: Volunteer attorneys conduct initial interviews with potential clients at local LAWV offices, then determine whether the case presents actual legal merit, whether simple advice and counseling would be sufficient, or whether the case necessitates actual representation by a LAWV staff advocate or a volunteer attorney.



• Join Other Volunteers for "Free Days": For one day, multiple volunteer attorneys interview and advise clients at local LAWV offices. Many different types of cases are invited, and volunteer attorneys may advise the client, recommend representation, or accept the case themselves for pro bono or paid representation.



• Perform Contract and Judicare Representation: LAWV refers a limited number of contract cases to private attorneys to provide direct representation on a reduced-fee schedule with a specified maximum payment. This often occurs when LAWV clients reside in remote areas or present specialized legal problems.



• Volunteer to oversee WVU College of Law students doing pro bono work: Teams of law students who work with a volunteer attorney provide full representation, or may teach at pro se clinics for clients with needs for wills, bankruptcy and family law. Student pro bono work is coordinated through the WVU College of Law's "Appalachian Center for Law and Public Service." Click Here! for more information from the WVU College of Law's web site.



• Write Articles, FAQs, and Information Pieces for the Web Site: We need volunteers to write substantive information pieces for the public, for posting in the LAWV web site Public Law Library. Click Here! for an article on "Grandparent Visitation" by a pro bono volunteer in Charleston. We'll include your name, address, firm logo, and link to your web site (unless you would prefer otherwise). We particularly need volunteers with expertise in subjects that are not regularly handled by our staff lawyers. If this option interests you, please submit an email through our home page.



• Mentor and Co-counsel (either LAWV staff or pro bono volunteers): Be a "behind the scenes" volunteer. Provide your knowledge and experience to advocates who will directly represent clients, by mentoring, guiding or even co-counseling with LAWV staff or other volunteer attorneys who are handling cases.



• Do Legal Research and Writing: Volunteer for limited tasks, such as specific legal research, or legal drafting and writing, to be used in LAWV cases.



• Make in-kind contributions such as equipment, or secretarial or paralegal support.



• Give a financial contribution: Finally, the obvious alternative. If you can't give your time or your expertise, we always need your financial support.
• Click Here! for information about the Campaign for Legal Aid
• Or ... donate right now through the secure online button at the top of every page on our web site.

How to Volunteer?

• Send our Pro Bono Coordinator a message right now, via e-mail, and tell us the ways in which you would participate.
• Contact your local Legal Aid office directly, and tell us how you'd be willing to participate. Click Here! for a clickable map to find the office that covers your county.
• Write, call or fax our main office in Charleston, and tell us how you can participate. Our address is:
  Legal Aid of West Virginia
  Attn: Pro Bono Program
  922 Quarrier Street, 4th Floor
  Charleston, WV 25301
  304-343-4481 (phone)
  304-345-5934 (fax)