This year marks the fifth anniversary of the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program’s Spanish Language Advice and Referral Clinic. The quarterly clinic was started in partnership with the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia (HBA-DC), CentroNía, Ayuda, the Central American Resource Center, and the Carlos Rosario International Career Center, which hosts the clinic at its Columbia Heights location.

The walk–in clinics engage volunteer attorneys to provide free advice, brief services, and referrals to Spanish–speaking, low–income residents of the District. Volunteer attorneys and the clinic staff all speak Spanish.

“ The Spanish language clinics are some of my favorite pro bono opportunities,” says Jordi de Llano, a long time volunteer with the clinic, outreach coordinator for HBA-DC, and an associate at Troutman Sanders LLP. “[The clinics] enable the Spanish-speaking members of the D.C. Bar, as well as many other wonderful volunteers, to serve a segment of the community that has all too often slipped through the cracks.”

In recent years the clinic has become increasingly popular both with community clients and with volunteers and partners who make the clinic possible.

“ HBA-DC is extremely proud to have partnered with the D.C. Bar to create the Spanish language clinic and to continue to work together on this very important project,” says Brigida Benitez, a founding leader of the Spanish Language Advice and Referral Clinic and a member of the board of directors at HBA-DC. “There is a critical need for legal services in Spanish in D.C., and we are trying to help address that problem with this clinic.

" I encourage anyone who speaks Spanish to volunteer,” Benitez adds. “For a few hours of volunteering, you are able to provide significant help to people who need it. It is a tremendously rewarding experience.”

“HBA-DC is our main source of volunteer attorneys for the Spanish clinics,” says Pro Bono Program Managing Attorney Elizabeth Campbell. “They really make great efforts to engage their members and bring volunteers to the clinics.”

The Pro Bono Program leads other initiatives to bring much-needed legal assistance to District residents with limited English proficiency. These efforts include its Language Access Initiative, the multi-language Legal Information Help Line at 202-626-3499, the Web site LawHelp.Org/DC, and its participation in the Community Legal Interpreter Bank, managed by Ayuda.

See the Spanish Advice & Referral Clinic for more information or to volunteer.