California is a huge state, with 58 counties and over 80 legal aid organizations across the state, some serving dozens of counties or more. Many volunteers looking to participate in pro bono opportunities often relied on email newsletters from networks, phone calls from their contacts at organizations, or messages from pro bono coordinators at their firm or schools. While pro bono portals do exist in California, not everyone can or does participate in them.
To prepare and truly understand pro bono volunteering and opportunity hosting processes in California, we met with pro bono coordinators at law firms, legal services organizations, and law schools to get their feedback and ideas. Then, in collaboration with a cross-section of different pro bono coordinators at legal services organizations across the state, we designed an easy, free-to-access portal to unite pro bono opportunities with volunteers across the state who might not have access to other pro bono portals or might just be unreached in general, like solo practitioners or small firms. Our goal was a solution that was tailorable to everyone’s needs, whether they be staff at a legal services provider, a pro bono coordinator for a law firm, or a law school student seeking experiences during the school year. We also wanted to make sure the portal was customized specifically for California’s pro bono community, so it needed to feature issues key to Californians, like wildfire and disaster relief and prevention.
We built out a custom portal with a singular login for volunteers and hosting organizations so that volunteers can easily view and express interest for opportunities either in their area or remote. It was a homegrown project built in collaboration with a cross-section of different pro bono coordinators across the state, and is still evolving as we gather more feedback from volunteers and law firms!
