logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Nonprofit Newswire | Maine’s Volunteer Lawyers—A Powerful Model

Rick Cohen
May 4, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

May 2, 2010: Source: Maine Sunday Telegram | The nonprofits that deliver legal assistance to low-income people in need of services are quite admirable. This story from the Maine Sunday Telegram is about Courthouse Assistance Project created in 2007 by the Volunteer Lawyer’s Project in Maine. Going to court is an often frightening, disconcerting event for even the most knowledgeable of people. This program helps low-income people with family law issues such as divorces and custody disputes.

Volunteer lawyers—supplementing, not substituting for Legal Aid or Legal Services attorneys—make themselves available at various courthouses in Portland, Lewiston, and Biddeford on various days of the week to offer free advice. We’ve seen similar nonprofit efforts in the past, such as the Housing Court Task Force in New York City, and we can assure you that they are phenomenally valuable and appreciated.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

This is the kind of volunteering that works: volunteers bring a very needed service, skills that aren’t just available from anyone with a big heart. And there is a benefit to the volunteers themselves—not just the flowing endorphins from doing good. The participating pro bono lawyers get to practice real life law and improve their lawyering skills.

Congratulations to the Courthouse Assistance Project and the Volunteer Lawyers Project and all programs like this one for delivering a valuable public service and for demonstrating how volunteering in the nonprofit sector can and should work.—Rick Cohen

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rick Cohen

Rick joined NPQ in 2006, after almost eight years as the executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Before that he played various roles as a community worker and advisor to others doing community work. He also worked in government. Cohen pursued investigative and analytical articles, advocated for increased philanthropic giving and access for disenfranchised constituencies, and promoted increased philanthropic and nonprofit accountability.

More about: Legal ServicesNonprofit News

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

NPQ_Winter_2022Subscribe Today
You might also like
The Guilty Project: “How Do You Defend Those People?”
Amy Costello and Frederica Boswell
How One Nonprofit Helped Change a Nation’s Thinking about Criminal Justice
Amy Costello and Frederica Boswell
Nonprofit Legal Services Groups Help Get Pot Offense Records Sealed in NYC
Ruth McCambridge
New and Traditional Philanthropy Unite to Fund Legal Services for Immigrants
Marian Conway
Confronting Domestic Abuse: How Legal Aid Provided a Lifeline When I Needed It
Athena Gough
Striking Nonprofits: CAMBA Legal Workers Walk a Picket Line
Marian Conway

Popular Webinars

Remaking the Economy

Black Food Sovereignty, Community Stories

Register Now

Combating Disinformation and Misinformation in 21st-Century Social Movements

Register Now

Remaking the Economy

Closing the Racial Wealth Gap

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.