National Celebration of Pro Bono
October 20-26, 2024
Read Chief Justice of Pennsylvania Debra Todd’s letter inviting participation in the National Celebration of Pro Bono.
The PBA is proud to again join with the American Bar Association in 2024 to encourage you to plan and participate in the celebration.
Pro Bono Week Free Legal Answers Contest
Join us Oct. 20-26, 2024, as we join the ABA in celebrating National Pro Bono Week with the theme "Making Justice a Reality in Our Communities." Read Chief Justice Todd's letter and sign up for Pennsylvania Free Legal Answers so you can win prizes through participation in what Bill Baldwin, Deputy Director of Pro Bono Services at the PBA, calls "one of the best--and easiest—ways to do pro bono service." Already on Pennsylvania Free Legal Answers? Just get to work answering questions!
The PBA Pro Bono Office is holding a Pro Bono Week Free Legal Answers contest to celebrate Pro Bono Month! Lawyers, answer a question on the Pennsylvania Free Legal Answers site and earn a prize ticket (one for each question answered). Tickets will be drawn on Oct. 31. The first non-PBA member winner gets a 14-month PBA membership, good through 2025; the first PBA member winner without a current PBI ProPass gets a ProPass for the year and the first PBA member winner with a ProPass gets four Philadelphia Phillies vs. Pittsburgh Pirates baseball tickets (winner’s choice of location). Not on Pennsylvania Free Legal Answers? Sign up today: https://bit.ly/3PZ48iN
Check out the paprobono.net calendar and see all the events scheduled for Pennsylvania this month!
The PBA Pro Bono Office and its Legal Services to the Public Committee partners with the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service to invite you to join us this October for the Annual Celebration of Pro Bono. In 2024 under the leadership of PBA President Nancy Conrad and ABA President William R. “Bill” Bay, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, local bars and legal aid programs are holding events across the state around the theme of Making Justice a Reality in Our Communities.
The events highlight the ways in which access to legal assistance affects historically excluded and low-income individuals across the country in all aspects of life. As part of this year’s celebration, we are educating judges, attorneys, law students and legal support staff of the need for pro bono assistance, educating individuals about the availability of legal services and assisting individuals with their legal needs.
Pennsylvania has always been a leader in celebrating the good work of pro bono providers as it was a Pennsylvania lawyer, longtime public interest champion Sharon Browning of Just Listening, who established the Pro Bono Week celebration program under American Bar Association auspices a decade and a half ago. We at the PBA hold programs celebrating the pro bono ethic of the Pennsylvania legal community throughout the year, believing as we do that every day is Pro Bono Day!
A major focus of the 2024 Pro Bono Week is Pennsylvania Free Legal Answers, appropriately enough a project of the Pennsylvania Bar Association in collaboration with ABA Free Legal Answers. PA Free Legal Answers allows qualified users to submit questions about civil legal issues and receive answers from pro bono lawyers. When a response is filed by a participating attorney the user receives a notification by email and can login to the website to view the answer to their question. Visit https://pa.freelegalanswers.org for more information.
Learn more about Pennsylvania Free Legal Answers and other aspects of Pennsylvania pro bono.
As always, activities involving all aspects of pro bono are welcome and encouraged. The hashtags for the celebration are #probonomonth, #pbweek or #celebrate pro bono
Past National Pro Bono Week Celebrations