Featured Events 2010
No One Leaves: Foreclosure Prevention Canvassing
The Rappaport Center and the Student Bar Association, with the help of the No One Leaves Project and Chelsea Collaborative, are holding a Foreclosure Prevention Canvassing event from 10 AM to 3 PM on Saturday October 30, 2010. The No One Leaves project is a movement involving student community action to stop foreclosure evictions in Chelsea. The foreclosure crisis is predominantly affecting Boston's low and moderate-income neighborhoods, with minorities and single women as its most common victims. After foreclosure auctions, banks take ownership of the homes and evict everyone living there, whether they are owners or renters, even if everyone tries to continue to pay a fair rent to the bank. With the help of Chelsea Collaborative, a community organization, No One Leaves is working to change the way banks do business. Chelsea Collaborative will conduct a brief training and then all will hit the streets of Chelsea with No One Leaves to inform tenants and former owners of foreclosed properties that they have rights and may stay in their homes. Faculty and administrators are invited to participate alongside the
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Utah State Bar Spotlights Immigration: Public Screening and Panel Discussion of Chasing Freedom
The Utah State Bar will celebrate Pro Bono celebration week by spotlighting immigration issues in order to raise awareness and contribute to the national discussion on immigration reform. On Wednesday, October 27, the Bar will show the film Chasing Freedom, followed by a panel discussion. The goals of the event are to recognize the work of volunteer attorneys, recruit new volunteers, and build partnerships within the community. The film and discussion are free and open to the public, and also approved for 2 CLE credits for licensed attorneys.
Chasing Freedom tells the story of a young Afghan woman (played by Layla Alizada) who is persecuted by the Taliban for running a school for young girls and the pro bono attorney (played by Juliette Lewis) who reluctantly takes on her asylum case after the woman is detained when she arrives at a U.S. airport in search of refuge. The film was inspired by a real asylum case handled by a team of dedicated pro bono attorneys for the Human Rights First. It is a sobering depiction of the nearly insurmountable obstacles that asylum seekers face when they arrive in the U.S.
The post-viewing discussion will feature panelists Barbara M. Szweda, Legal Director of the Utah Health and Human Rights Project; Leonor Perretta, Immigration Attorney, and Jon Hill, Immigration Court Administrator. The Utah Bar partnered with the non-profit Salt Lake City Film Society, who is providing free space for the event, and Canadian company Entertainment One, a distributor of the film. Wednesday, October 27, 2010,7:00pm-9:30pm, Tower Theater, 876 East 900 South, Salt Lake City, UT . For more information, contact Karolina Abuzyarova, probono@utahbar.org, (801) 297-7027
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Greenberg Traurig: Ten Pro Bono Awareness Lunches
To celebrate National Pro Bono Week Greenberg Traurig will hold special Pro Bono lunches in ten of the firm's offices throughout the country. The events are multipurpose programs designed to recruit and educate GT pro bono attorneys and to celebrate the firm's Equal Justice Fellows.
The lunches will feature presentations from Greenberg Traurig Equal Justice Works Public Law Fellows. Each year, the Greenberg Traurig Fellowship Foundation, in alliance with Equal Justice Works, funds Fellows who provide free legal services to community programs. The Fellows will share their experiences and accomplishments during their GT-sponsored fellowships, and will also address volunteer opportunities and pro bono projects available to the firm's attorneys.
Since 1999, Greenberg Traurig has sponsored almost 100 Equal Justice Works Fellows in 38 cities across the country. These Fellows have delivered critically needed legal services at more than 70 nonprofit host organizations, working on 26 issue areas ranging from community development and disability rights to domestic violence and immigrant populations.
As part of its celebration of pro bono, Greenberg Traurig will announce the recipients of the firm's second annual Pro Bono Awards.
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Social Justice Week at Seattle University School of Law
Social Justice Week is a student initiated week of social justice events; this is the 4th annual Social Justice Week at Seattle University School of Law. The Social Justice Coalition is a student led meta-organization that formed in 2007 and has continued to grow and expand its collaborations with student organizations and individual students at the law school. The students have designed Social Justice Week for the purpose of creating space for the entire campus to engage in meaningful collaboration, initiate dialogue, promote change, and advance social justice movements on campus, in the local community, and globally.
Social Justice Week consists of a total of 24 events including educational seminars, lectures, brown bag lunches, receptions, a clinic training, a celebratory lunch with music, a visit to Night Court, and the culminating event, a University-wide day of service on Saturday. The Seattle University Law School community will explore a broad range of social justice issues together: the foreclosure crisis, worldwide climate justice, police brutality, the denial of counsel to immigrant detainees suffering from mental health disabilities, prison conditions, and many others. Click here to see the complete listing of events.
Social Justice Week is possible because of extensive collaboration; it is organized by the Social Justice Coalition in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union Student Chapter, American Constitution Society, Association of Business Law Students, Black Law Student Association, Christian Legal Society, Criminal Justice Society, Environmental Law Society, Health Law Society, Human Rights Network, Jewish Legal Society, J. Reuben Clark Law Society, Lawyers Fostering Independence, Latina/o Law Student Association, Law Students for Reproductive Justice, Middle Eastern Law Student Association, Outlaws, Public Interest Law Foundation, South Asian Law Student Association, Student Animal Legal Defense Fund, Student Bar Association, Street Youth Legal Advocates of WA SU Student Chapter, Thomas More Society, Women's Law Caucus, Young Democrats, Access to Justice Institute, Center for Professional Development and the Dean's Office. For more information, please contact Social Justice Week Co-chairs Nathan Nanfelt, Gabi Schneck, or Alex West.
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Federal Prisoner Reentry Pro Bono Project
The Rutgers School of Law-Camden, in conjunction with United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, has established the Federal Prisoner Reentry Pro Bono Project and will officially launch the project at a luncheon on Wednesday, October 27 during National Pro Bono Week.
Every year hundreds of federal inmates are released from prison and return to their communities where many face significant legal barriers to re-integrations including: outstanding child support payments, difficulty in receiving benefits, lack of identification, driver's license suspensions, and many more civil legal issues. Designed to meet these legal needs, the Project is directed by a Managing Attorney and staffed by second and third-year law students who provide the legal research and support needed to achieve an appropriate legal resolution. The Federal Prisoner Reentry Pro Bono Project furthers the real world legal education of the student participants, and in the process furthers the highest ideals of the legal profession by providing access to legal services to those most in need.
Comprehensive studies have shown that when the barriers to successful reintegration are removed at the earliest possible point, the goal of reducing recidivism and helping former prisoners return to their communities to live successful lives has the greatest chance of success. The goal of the Project is to work closely with the United States Office of Probation to identify potential clients with civil legal issues that prevent successful re-integration into society.
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WE CARE Italian Feast
The Nassau County Bar Association (NY) will hold its annual buffet of popular Italian cuisine and desserts served by local lawyers and judges, live music and dancing, and this year, a special operatic performance. The event is sponsored by the WE CARE Fund, the charitable arm of the Bar Association; the Columbian Lawyers Association of Nassau County, and Quartz Caterers. In the twenty years since its inception, the Fund has raised over 2 million dollars.
WE CARE funds needed legal services: one of the grantees of the Fund is Mercy Haven Legal Advocacy Program, which provides legal services to Long Island's most at-risk residents. WE CARE also supports the Volunteer Lawyers Project, which provides pro bono assistance to poor and vulnerable local citizens.
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7th Circuit and District Court judges in Chicago are hosting an event designed to inform volunteer lawyers about one of the most challenging and rewarding pro bono experiences in a legal career-representing a death-sentenced prisoner. On October 27 from 4-6 at the Dirksen U.S. Court House, participants will learn the basics about handling a case, what support is available, and how the experience will benefit clients, lawyers, and firms. The event is co-sponsored by the American Bar Association Death Penalty Representation Project and the Chicago Bar Association. For more information, contact Rebecca Katz, katzr@staff.abanet.org. Register and see the complete list of Host Judges on the Event website.
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