Welcome to the 2017
National Celebration of Pro Bono
October 22-28, 2017
In connection with ABA President Elect Hilarie Bass and the ABA’s Homeless Youth Legal Network, we encourage you to plan and participate in events assisting homeless youth as part of the 2017 National Celebration of Pro Bono. National estimates have found that 1.3 to 1.7 million youth experience homelessness every year. Homeless youth have a variety of legal needs, such as access to ID, family law, juvenile or criminal justice involvement, trafficking, immigration, education, benefits, and a variety of other civil legal matters. With your help, we hope to remove legal barriers in an effort to improve outcomes for this highly vulnerable population.
Organizations hosting events serving homeless youth will receive recognition from ABA President Hilarie Bass following the 2017 Celebration.
We are offering the opportunity to extend your National Celebration of Pro Bono by hosting events serving Homeless Youth on or around International Day for Street Children, April 12, 2017.
As always, activities involving all aspects of pro bono are welcome and encouraged. The hashtag for the Celebration is #celebrateprobono. Be sure to register your events and view our National Celebration Map to see the events happening nationwide during the 2017 Celebration.
Don't forget to check-out our resources and Celebration Store for helpful planning tools and unique products to compliment your Celebration events.
Do Good. Do Justice. Do Pro Bono.
ABA President Hilarie Bass welcomes you to the National Celebration of Pro Bono!
Why Celebrate Pro Bono?
The ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service chose to launch this important initiative because of the increasing need for pro bono services during these harsh economic times and the unprecedented response of attorneys to meet this demand. The National Pro Bono Celebration can be an effective strategic tool for enhancing and expanding local efforts to increase access to justice for all. Use it to increase pro bono participation and expand legal services to low income individuals and groups.
Although national in breadth, the Celebration provides an opportunity for local legal associations across the country to take the next step in their efforts to provide high quality legal services to those living on the social margins.
A guiding principle of the Pro Bono Committee is to support these local efforts and to assist in their growth and effectiveness by providing information, planning guides, resources, and consultation services through this website. The legal needs of the poor are local issues, and although nationwide, this celebration is intended to have a local focus and impact. Goals for the celebration include:
1. Recruiting more pro bono volunteers and increasing legal services to poor and vulnerable people.
2. Mobilizing community support for pro bono.
3. Fostering collaborative relationships
4. Recognizing the pro bono efforts of America's lawyers
This site is designed to maximize participation in the National Pro Bono Celebration. Please visit often for updates, and contact us for additional information and assistance.
"We are bound by a responsibility to use our unique skills and training - not just to advance cases, but to serve a cause; and to help our nation fulfill its founding promise of equal justice under law...The obligation of pro bono service must become a part of the DNA of both the legal profession and of every lawyer." Eric Holder
Read Attorney General Eric Holder's address to participants at the National Pro Bono Summit on October 24, 2011 in Washington, D.C.
Featured Event
Host a viewing of the ABA Webinar: Burning Down the House: The Myths Around Youth Homelessness in America
Video describing Pennsylvania's Lackawanna Pro Bono Inc. and the work that it does.
New Hampshire Attorneys Share "Pro Bono Moments"
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