In accordance with the BBA resolution recognizing the importance of October as Pro Bono Month, the BBA has an entire month of Pro Bono Activities planned. Below you can find a list of the BBA events as well as other events around town celebrating Pro Bono Month.
Boston Bar Association: Boston Debate League Judges Training
October 4, 2012
Time: 4-5:30 pm
Location: BBA
This Seminar will provide you with the training you need to be a volunteer judge at the Boston Debate League tournament. The training will last an hour, and there will be time for questions when it is over. No experience necessary.
Now More Than Ever: Marshaling Pro Bono Resources for People in Poverty
Panel Discussion of the Flagship Report of the Legal Services Corporation’s Pro Bono Task Force
October 3, 2012
Time: 5-7 pm, Reception to Follow
Location: Milstein West, Wasserstein Hall, Harvard Law School, 1585 Mass Avenue, Cambridge, MA
The task force report presents those findings and recommendations and suggests steps that LSC, its grantees, and the legal profession can take to help shape pro bono programs into a reliable, organized system that will efficiently deploy additional resources to the core civil legal issues impacting low-income Americans.This event is presented by the HLS Program on the Legal Profession in cooperation with the Office of Dean Martha Minow, Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs, and the Bernard Koteen Office of Public Interest Advising at Harvard Law School.
Boston Bar Association: Conciliation Training
October 5, 2012
Time: 8:30 am-5:30 pm
Location: BBA
The Boston Bar Association and the Massachusetts Bar Association cordially invite family law practitioners with at least five (5) years of domestic relations experience to participate in a conciliation training. **This training is currently full, but please contact jjones@bostonbar.org to be put on our waiting list and/or to receive more information about future trainings.
Boston Bar Association: Immigration Pro Bono Committee Brown Bag: Helping DREAMers
October 9, 2012
Time: 12:30-1:30 pm
Location: BBA
This pro bono training will provide an overview of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) eligibility criteria and basic immigration law; review filing practices; offer tips on packaging a DACA request; discuss conduct-based activities that could bar applicants from deferred action (including criminal bars); and provide other strategies to assist applicants to meet their evidentiary burdens.
Boston Bar Association: Navigating Pro Bono Work at Law Firms
October 9, 2012
Time: 4-5:30
Location: BBA
This panel will address concerns that associates have about engaging in pro bono work while working for a law firm – large or small. The panelists have extensive experience managing pro bono programs, working with associates, and doing pro bono work of their own while at a firm. Panelists will discuss how associates can seek out access to pro bono opportunities, how they can balance their pro bono and billable obligations and common mistakes associates make with pro bono cases. Audience members will have the opportunity to ask their own questions of the panelists as well.
Boston Bar Association: New Lawyers Section Pro Bono Committee Reception
October 9, 2012
Time: 5:30 – 7 PM
Location: BBA
Join the New Lawyers Section for a special reception to celebrate Pro Bono Month! Catch up with your colleagues over drinks and light refreshments while learning about some of the great pro bono opportunities available through the BBA's various sections.
Boston Bar Association: The Basics of Landlord/Tenant Law
October 15, 2012
Time: 3–6 PM
Location: BBA
The Volunteer Lawyers Project in partnership with the Real Estate section of the Boston Bar Association will conduct a training on the basics of landlord/tenant law. The esteemed panel includes the Honorable Jeffrey Winik, First Justice of the Boston Housing Court, Joanna Allison, Volunteer Lawyers Project and Katy Ward , Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. There is no cost for the training for attorneys who agree to put their new skills to work by taking a housing case from the VLP on a pro bono basis.
Senior Partners for Justice 10th Anniversary Celebration
October 18, 2012
Time: 4:30-6:30 PM
Location: Grand Circle Foundation Gallery, 347 Congress Street, Boston, MA
Join Senior Partners for Justice to celebrate two momentous and joyous occasions: the 10th anniversary of Senior Partners and Judge Ginsburg's 80th birthday. For more information and to RSVP, visit
Pro Bono Fair for Attorneys and Law Students co-sponsored by the Boston Bar Association
October 22, 2012
Time: 5–7 PM
Location: First Floor Function Room, Suffolk University Law School
The Rappaport Center and the Boston Bar Association are co-sponsoring a pro bono fair where Boston-area agencies will be available to speak with law students and lawyers about volunteer opportunities. This is a terrific opportunity to learn more about the vast array of pro bono opportunities in the Boston community and to get involved. For more information and to RSVP, visit http://2012probonofair.eventbrite.com.
The John Adams and John Quincy Adams Pro Bono Publico Awards
October 24, 2012
Time: 4 PM
Location: John Adams Courthouse, One Pemberton Square, Boston
Annual awards ceremony to honor individual lawyers, law firms, government attorneys, corporate law department and other institutions in the legal profession that have demonstrated outstanding commitment to volunteer legal services for the poor and disadvantaged. This year the following individuals and firms will be honored: Susan Corcoran, DLA Piper LLP, Dorothy Varon, and Steven Dzubak.
Represent a Disabled Veteran Pro Bono before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
October 26, 2012
Time: 9 AM- 5 PM
Location: Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP, Louis D. Brandeis Conference Center, 155 Seaport Blvd, Boston, MA
The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program is seeking volunteer lawyers to assist veterans who claim entitlement to VA benefits. You are invited to attend our upcoming training seminar in Boston, MA to learn about representing a veteran in this unique area of law. The seminar is free of charge in exchange for handling one appeal pro bono. No prior experience necessary. Please complete the training application form at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HBZH2HT.
Boston Bar Association: Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Pro Bono Volunteer Training: Representing a Pro Bono Debtor.
October 29, 2012
Time: 4-7 PM
Location: BBA
The panel includes a consumer bankruptcy practitioner with extensive experience representing pro bono Chapter 7 debtors, a Chapter 7 trustee and an attorney from the Volunteer Lawyers Project. The program will cover the basics of preparing and filing a Chapter 7 consumer bankruptcy case for a pro bono debtor. The topics covered will include pre-filing considerations, preparation of the petition, schedules and statements, the 341 meeting of creditors, practice pointers and advice about handling a pro bono consumer bankruptcy case.