The Access to Justice Partnership – Our Pro Bono Initiative
JusticeServer is an online case management and referral system that enables private attorneys to accept and work on pro bono cases right from their own computers – providing legal services to low-income clients in areas such as consumer protection, education, elder law, employment, and housing disputes. We are recruiting attorneys in Richmond, Petersburg, Charlottesville, Falls Church, and surrounding cities and counties.

Virginia attorneys may register for JusticeServer at justiceserver.org.

The Legal Aid Justice Center manages the following types of cases through JusticeServer:

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
Assist undocumented immigrants in applying for legal recognition by immigration authorities and protection from deportation;

Drivers’ License Restoration
Assist individuals who have lost their drivers’ licenses due to outstanding criminal justice debt in reinstating their drivers’ licenses

Estate Planning
Draft simple wills, powers of attorney, and advance directives (living wills and medical powers of attorney) for low-income clients 60 years of age or older, or who have other circumstances which make simple estate planning necessary;

Guardianship
Represent the petitioner who is seeking guardianship over another person where the petitioner is 60 years of age or older, in good health, and there are not any less restrictive alternatives;

Housing
Represent tenants in unlawful detainer cases, terminations of federally subsidized housing assistance (vouchers), security deposits, and disputes involving the condition of the leased premises;

JustChildren
Represent children and families in the education, juvenile justice and foster care systems, in special education, student discipline, enrollment of special populations, dispositional advocacy for court-involved youth, conditions of confinement, and post-conviction relief for serious youth offenders;

Unemployment Compensation
Provide administrative representation to unemployment compensation claimants in appeals examiner hearings and special examiner appellate reviews before the Virginia Employment Commission; and

These substantive areas have been chosen because they tend to be limited in scope and meet areas of high demand for clients in our community. At any given time, not all types of cases will be available for referral in all geographic areas. Our goal, over time, is to recruit attorneys with a wide range of interests and experience and match them to cases that carry significant unmet need in the communities that we serve.

Online training, resources, and technical assistance is available.

For questions concerning the pro bono opportunities available in your area, please contact:

Elaine Poon
Managing Attorney
Charlottesville

Miriam Torian
Managing Attorney
Richmond

Hallie Ryan
Managing Attorney
Northern Virginia

JusticeServer is an outgrowth of the inaugural Pro Bono Summit of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia to use technology to improve the efficiency of legal aid case administration and referral of pro bono cases. The Task Force that designed JusticeServer included participants from Capital One, the Virginia Bar Association’s Pro Bono Committee, Greater Richmond Bar Foundation, the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, and Firms in Service – Richmond.