- About the Clinic
- Volunteering
- What Volunteers Need to Know
- Directions to the Clinic
- Clinic Participants
About the Clinic
It is estimated that about 70 percent of those individuals requesting free legal assistance require only brief services- not full representation—to solve their legal problems. The DC Bar Pro Bono Program Advice & Referral Clinic is designed to provide those brief services by offering pro se individuals the opportunity to discuss with volunteer attorneys certain kinds of matters governed by DC or federal law, including bankruptcy/debt collection, consumer law, employment law, family law, health law, housing law, immigration/asylum, personal injury, probate, public benefits, and tax law. All services are provided free of charge.
The Clinic is limited to providing general information, advice, and brief services, and does not provide representation.
Providing "brief services" may not always be achieveable by the end of the Clinic session. For example, calling a third party or government agency to ascertain information about a client's matter, writing a demand letter to a landlord or a judgment–proof letter to a creditor, or reviewing a contract or settlement agreement may require some of the volunteer attorney's time after the Clinic. However, Clinic volunteers do not appear in Court or otherwise establish an extended attorney–client relationship unless they wish to do so.
If brief service is not enough to resolve the problem or if a different type of service is required, Clinic volunteers attempt to refer individuals to, or provide information about a legal or social service provider appropriately suited to handle the case.
Local legal service providers also benefit from the Advice & Referral Clinic, since it lessens the number of individuals walking into their organizations, allowing those practitioners to spend more of their resources representing clients instead of providing general information, advice, and brief services.
Volunteering
Advice and Referral Clinic volunteers must be associated with a participating organization. Please refer to the list of clinic participants. If you are associated with a clinic participant, please contact that organization’s pro bono or volunteer coordinator to arrange to volunteer for the clinic. If you are not an employee or member of a participating organization, consider asking your employer, bar section, voluntary bar association, or other organization with which you are associated to become a clinic participant. Representatives interested in enrolling their organizations in the clinic should call 202-737-4700, ext. 3380.
What Volunteers Need to Know
On the second Saturday of every month from 10a.m. until 12 p.m., the Advice & Referral Clinic operates out of two locations: Bread for the City’s Northwest Center at 1525 7th Street NW, and Bread for the City’s Southeast Center at 1640 Good Hope Road, SE. Parking is available at both locations.
Volunteers should arrive at the clinic by 9:30 a.m. for a brief orientation of clinic operations. Bagels and juice will be served. Dress is casual. Volunteers should be prepared to stay until the last client is served (usually around 1:00p.m.).
Although it is impossible to predict, most individuals have basic questions. Volunteers are not expected to be familiar with every area of the law. Mentors are available onsite and reference manuals are provided.
Directions to the Clinics
- Bread for the City’s Northwest Center:
- To arrive by Metro take the Green Line to Shaw–Howard University Metro Station. Walk three blocks south to 1525 7th Street NW. Total walking distance is 0.29 miles.
Bread for the City’s Southeast Center:
To drive to the Center from downtown DC, take the 9th Street Tunnel to the SE Freeway (I-295 - left exit). Pass the 6th Street SE exit and bear right at the fork to Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue/ I-295. (Do NOT go towards Pennsylvania Avenue.) Take the 11th Street bridge (I-295 South) into Anacostia and then take the Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue (left) exit. Take a left onto Good Hope Road, SE. Although the building is on Good Hope Road, SE, to get to the parking lot you will need to go left on Minnesota Avenue, right on T Street, and right on 17th Street. Park behind the green building.
Clinic Participants
Antitrust and Consumer Law Section
Asian Pacific American Bar Association
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC
Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law
D.C. Bar Board of Governors
D.C. Bar Pro Bono Committee
Dickstein Shapiro LLP
Estates, Trusts and Probate Law Section
Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Section, DC Bar Family Law
Section
Federal Communications Commission
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Federal Election Commission
George Washington University School of Law
Georgetown University Law Center
Keller & Heckman LLP
International Law Section
Jones Day
Labor and Employment Law Section
Litigation Section
Morrison & Foerster LLP
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
South Asian Bar Association
Taxation Section
Tort Law Section
U.S. Agency for International Development
U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division
U.S. Department of Labor
U.S. Department of State
U.S. Department of Transportation
U.S. Department of the Treasury
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Venable LLP
Washington Bar Association
Washington Council of Lawyers
White & Case LLP
