At PILI’s 2022 Annual Pro Bono Reception on June 15th, we took our guests on a tour of the pro bono opportunities available through PILI’s Pro Bono Program. We also celebrated several of PIL’s pro bono volunteers who help individuals and families in need of free civil legal assistance through our Pro Bono Program. Those volunteers were named to PILI’s 2022 Pro Bono Volunteer Honor Roll.
The following are PILI’s current pro bono opportunities:
- Illinois Free Legal Answers is a virtual legal clinic where low-income Illinois residents can submit a question online to ask a lawyer for help with a civil legal issue. Volunteer are needed in all 102 counties of Illinois.
- Illinois Armed Forces Legal Aid Network (IL-AFLAN) provides civil legal services across Illinois to veterans, active duty military and their spouses and dependents and as an IL-AFLAN member, PILI refers pro bono matters in the 101 counties outside of Cook County.
- Legal Help Within Reach recruits attorneys and law students from urban areas to volunteer at free legal clinics in rural and underserved communities.
- Self-Represented Litigant Help Desks utilize volunteers to meet with self-represented litigants for 30-minute appointments to help them understand and navigate the legal process, fill out forms and answer questions. Volunteer shifts are currently available at the Champaign, Macon, Madison, Peoria and Tazewell County Courthouses.
- Conflict of Interest Pro Bono Referral Panel provides a referral source for participating legal aid agencies to send potential clients who have been denied service due to a conflict of interest. Cases are currently being placed in the Third Judicial Circuit (Bond and Madison Counties), Sixth Judicial Circuit (DeWitt, Douglas, Champaign, Macon, Moultrie and Piatt Counties) and Tenth Judicial Circuit (Marshall, Peoria, Stark and Tazewell Counties).
- Legal Prep Community Law Clinic is a monthly community-based clinic at Legal Prep Charter Academies in the Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago that is staffed by PILI Alumni volunteers.
- Illinois Pro Bono Research Alliance is a project that matches law students with attorneys in need of research assistance on pro bono legal matters. This program is open to private attorneys in addition to non-profits and legal aid organizations in need of research assistance on pro bono and legal aid cases.
What to volunteer with PILI? Email us or fill out our volunteer registration form.
Interested in learning about other ways to support PILI? Learn more here »