Support DC Residents Sealing Criminal Recordsīradford talked about Neighborhood Legal Services Program and their need for pro bono attorneys in criminal record sealing cases. There are a variety of ways you can help Bread for the City serve District residents. Bread for the City is a community-based organization with a number of community-based programs including medical and dental clinics, a food pantry, a clothing room, wrap-around social services, and legal services. Bread for the City also offers other opportunities to do pro bono in their identification, housing, and public benefits projects. Pro bono attorneys can get great litigation and case prep experience while doing good in their community with ample support. Bread for the City provides mentorship to pro bono attorneys through reviewing case prep documents, talking through strategy, as well as through trainings either pre-recorded or in-person. All of the cases are screened and placed with a pro bono attorney who is available for the hearing date. Bread for the City primarily places civil protection order cases with pro bono attorneys and provides mentorship to attorneys throughout the process. With the help of Legal Aid mentors, templates, and recorded trainings you can help create stable futures for residents of DC.Įrin discussed the opportunities for pro bono representation in domestic violence cases and highlighted the support Bread for the City provides attorneys taking on pro bono cases. Pro bono representation is vital to keeping residents in their homes. Since 2000, DC has lost half of its low-cost rental units and over 20,000 Black households have been displaced. Pro bono representation is necessary to help alleviate the affordable housing crisis in DC and stop the displacement of communities of color that have called the District home for generations. With an attorney, a tenant is sixteen times more likely to raise a contested issue and eight times less likely to have a judgment entered against them. In housing cases, 95% of landlords are represented, but only 10% of tenants are represented. While the DC Council has passed some renters protections, tenants still face an uphill battle. Today, the moratoriums have ended and the STAY DC program has closed. During the pandemic, there was an eviction and filing moratorium and a federal rent assistance program called STAY DC. Court of Appeals, and Chief Judge Josey-Herring from the Superior Court for the District of Columbia, discussing the impact of pro bono representation in DC courts.įaiza highlighted the rising need for pro bono representation in Landlord and Tenant Court given the exponential growth of eviction defense cases with fewer protections for renters than before. Our conversation concluded with Chief Judge Blackburne-Rigsby from the D.C. Our panelists included Faiza Majeed, Supervising Attorney in the Housing Law Unit of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia Erin Scheick, Managing Attorney for Family and Immigration at Bread for the City Bradford Voegeli, Director of Private Attorney Involvement at Neighborhood Legal Services Program Crystal Fleming, Managing Attorney at Kids in Need of Defense and Tina Nelson, Managing Attorney at Legal Counsel for the Elderly. On October 24, 2022, we started off DC Pro Bono Week with our official kick-off event, Pro Bono Goes Local! Our panelists began with a lightning round covering where the need for pro bono attorneys exists within our community by highlighting the nuances of our community, statistics that drive their work, and where they see the gaps in justice for District neighbors.
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