Law: Legal Aid/Pro Bono/Public Interest Activism Index
ACLU - The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States. To learn more about volunteering for the ACLU or if you are an attorney interested in offering your services pro bono, please contact your local ACLU affiliate.
Arizona Justice Project - Examines claims of innocence and manifest injustice, and provides legal representation for inmates believed to have been failed by the criminal justice system.
Brennan Center at New York University School of Law - Part think tank, part public interest law firm, part advocacy group – the Brennan Center combines scholarship, legislative and legal advocacy, and communications to win meaningful, measurable change in the public sector.
Offers many opportunities for volunteer lawyers to work with our staff on litigation, policy research, and public advocacy efforts.
California Lawyers for the Arts, Inc. - A nonprofit tax-exempt service organization that provides lawyer referrals, dispute resolution services, educational programs, publications and a resource library to artists of all disciplines and arts organizations.
California Indian Legal Services (CILS) - The first Native American-controlled law firm organized to provide specialized legal representation to Native Americans and Indian tribes. CILS provides free or low-cost representation on those matters that fall within the priorities set by its Board of Trustees. Created by California Indian leaders and public interest attorneys, CILS has been one of the preeminent advocates for the rights of Native Americans and Indian Tribes for over thirty years.
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) - Formed to provide free and affordable legal services to grassroots, community-based groups and local governments working to protect their quality of life and natural environment through building sustainable communities.
Community Rights Counsel (CRC) - A nonprofit, public interest law firm based in Washington D.C. that was formed in 1997 to assist communities in protecting their health and welfare.
Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund - Has provided legal representation at no cost to more than 700 clients, from the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Wilderness Society to community-based coalitions.
Fair Trials International -
Campaigns for fundamental rights for people facing the ordeal of criminal charges in a country other than their own. In addition to providing legal assistance and advocacy to individuals in need, ft fights the underlying causes of injustice in cross-border cases through policy interventions, research and training.
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network -
A Haitian-led capacity building organization that brings together a network of lawyers, artists, students, Haitian activists, cultural experts, workers and human rights organizations, advocates, government officials and progressive radio, press and media outlets to support and work cooperatively with Haitian freedom fighters and grassroots organizations promoting the civil, human and cultural rights of Haitians living at home and abroad.
Human Rights First - Support human rights activists who fight for basic freedoms and peaceful change at the local level; protects refugees in flight from persecution and repression; helps build a strong international system of justice and accountability; and makes sure human rights laws and principles are enforced in the United States and abroad.
Impact Fund - Provides strategic leadership and support for litigation to achieve economic and social justice. Provides funds for impact litigation in the areas of civil rights, environmental justice, and poverty law.
Institute for Public Representation (IPR) - Public interest law firm and clinical education program at Georgetown University Law Center. Its attorneys and law students act as counsel for groups and individuals who are unable to obtain effective legal representation on matters that have a significant impact on issues of broad public importance. Currently, the Institute staff works in three project areas: civil rights, communications law, and environmental law.
International Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP) - Provides pro bono services of skilled and experienced lawyers to promote human rights, equitable and sustainable economic development and the rule of law worldwide. Assists governments and non-governmental organizations working to advance the rights and well-being of their citizens and helps build the capacity of the legal profession to meet the needs of their communities.
Katrina Legal Aid Resources Center - Resources for people affected by the hurricanes, for legal aid and defender programs helping them, and for private attorney volunteers.
Lawyers & Advocates for Wyoming (L.A.W.) - Started in 1991 by Gerry Spence. Provides quality legal representation in defense and promotion of the public's interest on substantive issues of health, safety, consumer rights, and civil liberties to Wyoming citizens.
Lawyers Without Borders LWOB) - The world's largest group of volunteer lawyers from around the globe who stand ready to offer pro bono service to worldwide projects and initiatives. LWOB is also a portal and clearinghouse for legal needs and organizations in search of legal resources as well as a vehicle for addressing Human Rights Issues through sometimes traditional and, more often, innovative channels. We encourage our colleagues in the Rule of Law sector to contact us when their projects call for high-caliber or specialized staffing needs.
La Raza Centro Legal - Founded in 1973, La Raza Centro Legal provides direct legal services, education, leadership development, and opportunities to organize around community issues. As a bilingual and multicultural staff, we seek to create a more just and inclusive society in the interest of the Latino, indigenous, immigrant and low income communities of San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. Our programs in employment, housing, immigration, naturalization, senior and youth law enable people to exercise their legal rights, confront injustice, increase self-sufficiency, and advocate for themselves. With a passion for justice, we work with our clients to build and support a societal commitment to respect the dignity and rights of all communities.
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights (LCCR) - Champions the legal rights of people of color, poor people, immigrants and refugees, with a special commitment to African-Americans.
Legal Aid Society of New York - Provides legal services to individual clients often involving children, seniors, persons with disabilities, survivors of domestic violence, immigrants, uninsured families and individuals, persons moving from welfare to work, homeless children and families, persons with HIV/AIDS and persons with mental illness..
Legal Services Corporation (LSC) -
The Congress of the United States entrusts the Legal Services Corporation with a dual mission: to promote equal access to justice and to provide high-quality civil legal assistance to low-income Americans. Surveys indicate that 80 percent of the need is unmet. Even this may be an understatement -- many people who are eligible for civil legal aid do not seek it. Moreover, the analysis for the Justice Gap Report was completed before the 2008 recession and a series of natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, which swelled the need for civil legal aid and the number of people without access to it. Also see Wikipedia article for more informatin and a listing of LSC programs throughout the U.S.
Legal Services for Children (LSC) - Provides free legal and social work services to children and youth in order to stabilize their lives and help them realize their full potential. 1254 Market St. 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94102.
Midnight Special Law Collective - An independent non-profit organization dedicated to providing legal trainings and accessible, relevant, democratic and accountable legal support to a wide range of activists participating in the struggle for social change.
Military Law Task Force - The National Lawyers Guild Military Law Task Force assists those working on military law issues as well as military law counselors working directly with GIs. It trains and mentors counselors and beginning military law attorneys in all aspects of military law through training materials and direct communication. It updates changes in military law and policy.
Mississippi Center for Justice - Providing legal advocacy on behalf of racially disadvantaged and low-income people and communities.
MFY Legal Services, Inc. - MFY's mission is to ensure that no poor New Yorker is denied equal access to justice because he or she cannot afford representation.
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) - Founded in 1940 under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall. Although LDF's primary purpose is to provide legal assistance to poor African Americans, its work over the years has brought greater justice to all Americans.
National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) -
A nonprofit advocacy organization that seeks to build economic security and family wealth for low-income and other economically disadvantaged Americans. Promotes access to quality financial services and protect family assets from unfair and exploitive transactions that wipe out resources and undermine self-sufficiency.
National Health Law Program (NHeLP) - A national public interest law firm that seeks to improve health care for America's working and unemployed poor, minorities, the elderly and people with disabilities. NHeLP serves legal services programs, community-based organizations, the private bar, providers and individuals who work to preserve a health care safety net for the millions of uninsured or underinsured low-income people.
National Lawyers Guild - Dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system. Through its members--lawyers, law students, jailhouse lawyers and legal workers united in chapters and committees--the Guild works locally, nationally and internationally as an effective political and social force in the service of the people.
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI) - NYLPI is a not-for-profit legal office. NYLPI finds unique ways to tackle the problems facing low-income and underrepresented people throughout New York City.
Online Media Legal Network (OMLN) -
A network of law firms, law school clinics, in-house counsel, and individual lawyers throughout the United States willing to provide pro bono (free) and reduced fee legal assistance to qualifying online journalism ventures and other digital media creators.
Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) - A public interest legal organization dedicated to the defense of human and civil rights secured by law, the protection of free speech and dissent, and the elimination of prejudice and discrimination. Among the PCJF cases are constitutional law, civil rights, women's rights, economic justice matters and Freedom of Information Act cases. Founded by Carl Messineo and Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, who the Washington Post has called “the constitutional sheriffs for a new protest generation,” the PCJF’s work includes landmark constitutional rights litigation, often concentrated in the areas of free speech, assembly or other protected political organizing activity. The PCJF’s litigation program works alongside an equally important programmatic emphasis on education and outreach.
Prison Law Office - Strives to improve the living conditions of California state prisoners by providing free legal services.
Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC) - A network of law schools, community organizations and lawyers that facilitates law students' pro bono work with public interest and non-governmental organizations, agencies, tribunals, legal clinics and lawyers who are working pro bono on a particular case.
Pro Bono Net - An innovative attempt to use information technology to better connect and organize the public interest legal community in an online environment. Includes online communities based in New York, Minnesota and San Francisco.
Pro se - This site provides valuable information to those persons who do not have an attorney to represent them. When you are without an attorney, you are "proceeding pro se." If you represent yourself in Court, you are called a "pro se litigant" or a "self-represented litigant." "Pro se" is a Latin, legal term meaning "for himself," and a "litigant" is someone who is either suing someone or is being sued in court.
Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC) - University of Toronto. - A national network of law schools and community organizations that matches law students who want to do pro bono work with public interest and non-governmental organizations, government agencies, tribunals and legal clinics during the academic year and during the summer.
Public Interest Clearinghouse (PIC) - Provides support, technical assistance and coordination for over one hundred nonprofit legal aid programs in California and Nevada that have, as their primary business, the delivery of civil legal assistance to low-income and other under-served citizens.
Reprieve - Provides frontline investigation and legal representation to prisoners denied justice by powerful governments across the world, especially those governments that should be upholding the highest standards when it comes to fair trials. Reprieve lawyers represent people facing the death penalty, particularly in the USA, or when those facing execution are British nationals. And Reprieve lawyers represent prisoners denied justice in the name of the 'War on Terror,' including those held without charge or trial in Guantánamo Bay and the countless secret prisons beyond. None of these prisoners can afford to pay for representation.
Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) - Addresses major environmental issues in southeast United States. SELC has a highly credentialed team of about 45 attorneys, many of whom have been there for 15 years or more. SELC does not charge clients and partners for our services, but relies instead on charitable gifts from individuals, families and foundations.
Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse (VC3) - A trial-level legal aid clinic providing services to defense attorneys who represent capital murder defendants throughout Virginia.
Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) - The WCLAC, established in 1991 in Jerusalem as an independent Palestinian organization. Provides support and guidance to Palestinian women whose human rights and rights under the law have been violated. Defends women's rights as human rights and seeks to promote the development of a social, political and legal order in which human rights are well respected and women's rights are well protected.
About KWSnet
KWSnet is a human-edited subject directory of the web with special attention paid to U.S. national and international news, the arts, culture, media, politics, law, science and technology. It is based in San Francisco, California. KWSnet contains over 120,000 annotated links to resources worldwide. Use Search for, located on each page, to search within this site. Use Ctrl-F to search within individual pages. A Site Index provides a complete alphabetized listing of all pages.
KWSnet is intended for educational purposes, research, and personal use. It is regularly updated. Use the Refresh button located at the top navigation bar to make sure you are viewing its most recent update, not a cached page. If you subscribe to Google +1, Facebook or Twitter, please use the buttons located at the bottom of each page to share this resource with others. Additionally, KWSnet may be contacted via email with any comments, suggestions or link submissions at comments@kwsnet.com.
This webpage last updated on
Saturday, May 19, 2012 2:25 PM
About | Contact | Journal | Search | Site Index
