This is a webcast of the live San Francisco session.Why you should attend
This program is a great opportunity to get a strong overview of the world of pro bono, how it can enrich and advance your professional development, and how to make it happen.
What you will learn
How to find the right case:
- What types of cases are right to meet your goals
- How to pick pro bono opportunities that fit in with your current employment situation
- Where to find cases or matters
- Options in types of volunteering commitments
Handling your first case:
- Ensuring that you are or become competent
- Handling your first client meeting
- Understanding your client’s circumstances
- Working with the court
- Finishing up the case
Who should attend
People who have not yet handled their first pro bono case, or have just taken their first matter, and people who work with newer attorneys in professional development or pro bono.
PLI Group Discounts
Groups of 4-14 from the same organization, all registering at the same time, for a PLI program scheduled for presentation at the same site, are entitled to receive a group discount. For further discount information, please contact membership@pli.edu or call (800) 260-4PLI.
PLI Can Arrange Group Viewing to Your Firm
Contact the Groupcasts Department via email at groupcasts@pli.edu for more details.
Cancellations
All cancellations received 3 business days prior to the program will be refunded 100%. If you do not cancel within the allotted time period, payment is due in full. You may substitute another individual to attend the program at any time.
All times are P.D.T.
9:00 Program Overview and Introductions
Tiela Chalmers
9:15 How to Find the Right Case
- Figuring out what you are interested in
- What are the constraints and systems of your current situation
- Finding out what work is available
- Options in types of volunteering
- Impact litigation (shouldn’t be your first case unless you are in a large firm and someone else will be involved on a daily basis)
- Full scope cases – outline types and what you gain from each
Landlord/Tenant – like business litigation, not too long, may get trial, may save housing
Family – procedures are different but a chance to make a huge difference in a very personal arena, chance to have huge impact on kids, can go on a long time but not so many tight deadlines
Government benefits – affecting income for folks
Consumer – chance to practice negotiation
Immigration – can often encompass all of the above topics, etc.
- Limited scope – explain and give examples
- Clinic setting – brief advice
- Self-help
- Teaching
- Other
Hilarie A. Atkisson, Tiela Chalmers, Paul Chavez, Elizabeth Hom, Parisa Ijadi-Maghsoodi
10:15
How to Handle Your First Case
- Competence
- Be sure you are trained – go to or repeat training close to time you take the case
- If you have questions or concerns, ask for help right away
- Challenges with client – call the agency
- Initial meetings
- Meet with client, go over all the facts you know, confirm things, follow lines of questioning
- Ask client other questions about their situation and environment that will help you understand them
- Ascertain just by your conversation, to the extent you can:
Does client understand English well enough to talk directly with you? (If not, are interpreters available through agency? Through your firm?)
Does client appear to be able to read and write comfortably?
Does client appear to you to have problems focusing, or understanding or following you?
- Set the right tone for the relationship
- Retainer agreement
- Exude competence
- Be friendly and open
- Be clear about what you want client to do
- Write down for client what you want client to do
- Set clear expectations for how often you will talk with client, and what client can do if s/he has questions
Hilarie A. Atkisson, Tiela Chalmers, Paul Chavez, Elizabeth Hom, Parisa Ijadi-Maghsoodi
11:15
Networking Break
11:30
Important Considerations & Best Practices for Pro Bono Representation
- Understanding the challenges facing individual clients living in poverty
-Financial issues- what it’s like to try to make ends meet
Prioritization of expenses
Unbanked
Costs more to be poor
- Challenges with keeping appointments
- Transportation challenges
- Other
- Working with court
- If appropriate let court know you are working pro bono
- Finishing case
- Disengagement letter
- Documents to client
- Notify agency about hours and outcome
Why this is important
- Why it makes sense to build a lifetime practice of doing pro bono
Hilarie A. Atkisson, Tiela Chalmers, Paul Chavez, Elizabeth Hom, Parisa Ijadi-Maghsoodi
12:30
Adjourn
PLI makes every effort to accredit its Live Webcasts. Please check the CLE Calculator above for CLE information specific to your state.
PLI's Live Webcasts are approved for MCLE credit (
unless otherwise noted in the product description) in the following states/territories: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho*, Illinois, Indiana
1, Iowa*, Kansas*, Kentucky*, Louisiana, Maine*, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Hampshire*, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York
2, Ohio
3, Oklahoma, Oregon*, Pennsylvania
4, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia
5, Virgin Islands, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming*.
*PLI will apply for credit upon request.
Arizona: The State Bar of Arizona does not approve or accredit CLE activities for the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education requirement.
Arkansas and Oklahoma: Audio-only live webcasts are not approved for credit.
1Indiana: Considered a distance education course. There is a 6 credit limit per year.
2New York: Newly admitted attorneys may not take non-transitional course formats such as on-demand audio or video programs or live webcasts for CLE credit. Newly admitted attorneys not practicing law in the United States, however, may earn 12 transitional credits in non-traditional formats.
3Ohio: To confirm that the live webcast has been approved, please refer to the list of Ohio’s Approved Self Study Activities at http://www.sconet.state.oh.us. Online programs are considered self-study. Ohio attorneys have a 6 credit self-study limit per biennial compliance period. The Ohio CLE Board states that attorneys must have a 100% success rate in clicking on timestamps to receive ANY CLE credit for an online program.
4 Pennsylvania: A live webcast may be viewed individually or in a group setting. Credit may be granted to an attorney who views a live webcast individually. There is a 4.0 credit limit per year for this type of viewing. A live webcast viewed in a group setting receives live participatory credit if the program is open to the public and advertised at least 30 days prior to the program. Live webcasts viewed in a group setting that do not advertise at least 30 days prior the program will be considered "in-house", and therefore denied credit.
5Virginia: All distance learning courses are to be done in an educational setting, free from distractions.
Running time and CLE credit hours are not necessarily the same. Please be aware that many states do not permit credit for luncheon and keynote speakers.
Note that some states limit the number of credit hours attorneys may claim for online CLE activities, and state rules vary with regard to whether online CLE activities qualify for participatory or self-study credits. For more information, refer to your state CLE website or call Customer Service at (800) 260-4PLI (4754) or email: info@pli.edu.
If you have already received credit for attending some or the entire program, please be aware that state administrators do not permit you to accrue additional credit for repeat viewing even if an additional credit certificate is subsequently issued.