SUPERHERO STARTER KIT
BE A SUPER LAWYER
Developed by Attorneys Erin and Brynne McBride
Online Resources
“Our Last Hope Rests With Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”
Designed with volunteer lawyers and active bar association members in mind, a superhero starter kit (SSK) is a call to action. In an age of limited funding, representation and resources for vulnerable populations, there is a dire need for attorneys to engage in pro bono lawyering.
Engaging in pro bono work by taking on new cases, starting a volunteer legal clinic from scratch, or enhancing an existing program takes a lot of planning and resources. The most important
first step is to "get organized." This SSK will assist you as you draft your initial thoughts and broad answers to the following questions. In the planning
process that follows you will fully develop the concepts you start with here:
Legal Grounds Wisconsin® is a free Legal Coffeehouse where volunteer attorneys answer brief questions on legal issues such as Family Law, Landlord Tenant matters, or Utilities over a complimentary cup of Starbucks™ coffee.
The Wisconsin Judicare Program maintains a website at www.judicare.org. Legal Grounds Wisconsin® can be found hosted on that website at the following link: Coffeehouse.
Your volunteer program will frequently be asked the questions, "Why are you here? Who do you serve?" Establishing a "mission statement" can make your short-term and long-term program goals much easier to identify and advertise. Of course, be creative. Find a common theme or “brand” to not only make your program more attractive to potential clients but also to potential volunteers.
Once you have answered basic organizational questions, you need to investigate the needs of the potential clients. You will be looking for: challenges and problems for the population you wish to reach, existing programs, and gaps in service. Your assessment can include input from community leaders, bar association members, community action programs, agencies, non-profits, etc. You may find your clients will receive legal information on only housing and landlord-tenant relations, or there may be a need for consumer and elder law information. Are you starting a program to serve more low-income persons in your county? ...to increase access to justice? ...to facilitate legal conversation? ...to assist persons in filling in pro se divorce forms?
We are so fortunate to live in a state dedicated to the support and welfare of its residents. Government agencies, social services and non-profits devote thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars to initiatives for underrepresented or disadvantaged populations. When a group of volunteers joins in the mission to end social inequities, these existing agencies can be a great support. Engage community or agency members in an active discussion of your program’s mission and goals. Provide continual updates to these agencies as your program grows. Additionally, these agencies can serve as referral sources for your clients.
Existing bar association programs, such as monthly pro se clinics or law school clinics, have devoted substantial resources and volunteer hours to making their programs a success. Find representatives from these existing programs to share planning and logistical ideas, shortcuts or resources. Find a program you can model, and use your local volunteers to perfect it into something unique for your community. Similarly, never underestimate the power of input from community leaders, partner organizations and stakeholders in your planning process. Instead of “reinventing the wheel,” glean guidance on issues such as: volunteer recruitment, monitoring and rewarding, assessing material needs (materials, brochures, office supplies, snacks) and administrative or logistical planning.
The first step in creating a high-quality relationship between clients and those giving legal advice/information, is finding appropriate and suitable individuals committed to volunteering for your program. It is important for your program to have a recruitment tool in mind, to target the specific population of volunteers you are hoping to attract. You may have attorneys or paralegals in mind who can address different needs of different clinic patrons. Bar members may take turns volunteering or create an independent volunteer schedule. Law students may take on the brunt of the client contact, with a few bar members as supervisors. Whatever the format of your volunteer program, success is enhanced when more people are working together for a common goal. Bar association presidents or committees may allocate additional resources to support the project, or use professional memberships to garner additional support.
In kind donations, local bar grants, corporate or foundation money or private donations are easier to collect when you have a program with proven success. Find simple ways to measure the impact of your volunteer program--measure the number of volunteers assisting in your efforts, the number of clients served, the number of children impacted by your service, for example.
Sustain your program by overlapping the donations or monetary support coming in. Most importantly, make sure this "development" role is not handled by just one person. A superhero can very easily "burn out" of her superpowers if given too much responsibility. When more people have a stake in the collection of donations to sustain the program, the more success will follow. More people have more contacts and networks that can be drawn upon.
Encourage members of your bar association to each play their own part in this group effort.
A working library of any form makes the volunteer's job easier. A series of informational brochures published by the State Bar of WI or by the Tenant Resource Center, for example, allows clinic patrons to refer immediately to legal information. Clinics can then find gaps in needed information and produce their own brochures.
Being a resource for print information is not only a good way to recruit additional volunteers and collaborators, but it is an additional means of meeting the legal needs in your community. Similarly, your clinic can draw support from organizations willing to fund the development of such materials in either in kind donations or in project grant support.
Volunteer programs also need information that lets the public know the specifics of their clinic.
Whatever form your pro bono work takes, it is always essential to "get the word out" about activities, needs and goals of your project. Having a good marketing strategy is not difficult. Rely on your project's theme or mission statement. Remember, you made it catchy and creative for a reason--it's much easier to market a unique and fun approach. Creativity also attracts media attention.
Through planned media relations, local media can be an effective partner. Local radio, television, and daily/community newspapers want to report on what is happening in their communities. If your story is told properly, media relations will serve several purposes: it will help attract necessary volunteer assistance for the work to be done, it will give other people ideas for projects to improve their own situations (legal or familial), it will foster some sense of pride in the community, and advertise specific details and logistics of your program. Before meeting with members of the media, it's important to be organized. Have all aspects of your announcement or event ready, and anticipate questions that may be asked. If you can't answer a question on the spot, have a phone number or website handy where answers can be obtained. This type of media interview is most likely on morning or noon local tv shows.
A news release invites media coverage of the news it contains. You could use a news release for:
You may get calls for interviews or more information. Spokespersons should be available to answer these calls—using a consistent and efficient description of the program and goals. If you are having an open house or "grand opening event," invite reporters/media to the event. Have an individual handy to answer questions and provide an "on the air" statement. This is also a good time to thank your collaborators. Acknowledging them in public at every opportunity will enhance good relationships with your project sponsors, volunteers, contributors and donors.
Develop your own pro bono program website where announcements, press releases, news, schedules and volunteer information can be found. The website should also contain the location of your clinic or office, directions, and a map on how to get there. Finally, never underestimate the power of flyers, posters, signs, newsletters, agency/organizational newsletters, and word of mouth advertising.
Last Updated: April 13, 2008
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Disclaimer of Liability
Wisconsin Judicare, Inc. provides the information on this Web site as a public service to low-income persons in northern Wisconsin, our participating attorneys, card issuers, and other Internet users. While the information on this site is about legal issues, it is not legal advice. Laws vary from state to state and even federal laws may be applied differently in different states. Moreover, due to the rapidly changing nature of the law and our reliance upon information provided by outside sources, Wisconsin Judicare makes no warranty or guarantee concerning the accuracy or reliability of the content at this site or at other sites to which Judicare.org links.
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