Pro Bono Programs

How to Become a VRLC Pro Bono Attorney

Participation is open to licensed attorneys who practice in Massachusetts and Oregon. Attorneys who will be working directly with clients first need to attend one of VRLC’s pro bono attorney trainings.

Pro Bono Law Firms

Volunteering with Victim Rights Law Center

While police and prosecutors may be able to arrest and try an assailant, there is only a 2% national conviction and incarceration rate, and such interventions cannot address many sexual assault victims’ needs that fall outside the criminal process. The safety concerns and emotional turmoil that follow an assault can destabilize an individual’s basic yet essential necessities, such as housing, employment, immigration, physical safety, and educational trajectory. Without VRLC, many victims would have nowhere to turn for the legal help they need to re-stabilize their lives. With the assistance of pro bono attorneys, VRLC provides free civil legal assistance to over 800 sexual assault survivors annually in Massachusetts and Oregon.

Volunteer attorneys gain personal and professional satisfaction by providing survivors with the legal support necessary to re-establish their lives. Volunteering with VRLC is an opportunity for personal growth through connecting with and helping those in need, as well as forging a relationship with VRLC, a nationally recognized leader in the victim rights movement. In addition, through training with and guidance from VRLC staff attorneys, volunteers expand and enrich their fluency in a variety of practice areas, such as privacy rights, restraining orders, housing, immigration, employment, and education.

What to Expect If You Take a Case

As a pro bono attorney with VRLC, you will be a powerful legal ally in a sexual assault survivor’s recovery. You will provide zealous, pro bono advocacy and work with your client to try to minimize the impact of the complex legal problems triggered by sexual assault. You may have the opportunity to:

• Help a sexual assault survivor obtain a protective order against the perpetrator
• Prevent the release of a survivor’s private records and information and shield your client’s medical and mental health records from subpoenas
• Prepare your client for a school disciplinary process or obtain an educational accommodation
• Negotiate with a school, employer, and/or housing official, oftentimes opposing counsel, to settle claims before they reach final adjudication
• Apply for legal status for an immigrant survivor

VRLC screens and retains all cases while supervising and mentoring volunteers. Typically, cases are a 10-20 hour time commitment, which is the amount of yearly pro bono hours encouraged by most bar associations.  

Additional Pro Bono Opportunities

In addition to representing sexual assault survivors, pro bono attorneys may also help conduct impactful legal research, write amicus briefs, and draft legislation regarding the rights of sexual assault survivors. Because sexual assault survivors’ civil representation is an emerging area of law, you may use legal theories in new ways, creating new standards or changing outmoded procedures. Through your work, you can help improve systemic response to sexual violence.

With your help, we can give rape and sexual assault survivors what they need – a voice. Defendants are given zealous advocates. Victims deserve the same.