Walk a Month in My Shoes: An Experience for Pro Bono Attorneys and Others Who Work with Low-Income Clients

Topics:
  • Training (non-CLE)
  • Law Firm

All attorneys - from both the pro bono and legal services communities - who currently or may in the future work with low-income clients are invited to participate in a "Walk a Month in My Shoes Poverty Simulation" on Wednesday, October 24, from 9:00 am - noon. This 3-hour interactive training program, a national pro bono week activity, is designed to help the DC legal community develop clearer insight into the hardships faced by low-income clients by living their lives during a simulated month.

The Poverty Simulation is led by Tiela Chalmers, a nationally recognized expert on access to justice issues, and is appropriate for attorneys interested in pro bono or public interest work who currently practice in law firms, public interest organizations, government agencies, or in-house legal departments, or for law students.

Ms. Chalmers will provide background on poverty in America and an overview of the upcoming simulation. Ms. Chalmers also will begin to explain the connection between the life circumstances of low-income clients and why this matters to our pro bono and legal services delivery system.

Participants will discuss what it was like to try to make ends meet and to access services in a system that sometimes stigmatizes the poor. Participants will then discuss how being poor impacts the services they are providing to clients and how we deliver legal services to this population. Participants will discuss what they learned about why it costs more to be poor, why low-income clients do not always follow up on instructions and next steps we give them, and the concerns that might lead someone to make poor decisions (or decisions their lawyers might not condone).

The Poverty Simulation is offered free of charge thanks to the time and generosity of our sponsors, including Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Covington & Burling LLP, Crowell & Moring LLP, Dechert LLP, DLA Piper LLP, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, Mayer Brown LLP, Shearman & Sterling LLP, Sidley Austin LLP, The Washington Council of Lawyers, and WilmerHale LLP.

Thank you!

Register Today - Space is Limited!