Volunteer

Beyond making a life-changing difference for our clients through your pro bono efforts, as an ALSC pro bono volunteer you will have access to:

• Malpractice Insurance
• A seasoned mentor to assist you with your pro bono case
• Online resources, including a brief bank, legal webinars, templates and helpful documents
• Waived court filing fees
• Reimbursed expenses

In order to become a Pro Bono attorney with ALSC, you must be an active member of the Alaska Bar Association, or a member of an out-of-state Bar Association practicing law in that particular state.  Please email us at probono@alsc-law.org with your contact information and the type of areas of law you practice or would be interesting in working with.  You can also fill out the online Pro Bono Volunteer Registration Form.

There are several things you can do! You can represent clients in court, mediate, offer one-time consultations, be an instructor at a legal clinic, co-counsel a major case, or revise and update content for our www.AlaskaLawhelp.org website.

You can also volunteer to serve as a mentor attorney or provide trainings to attorneys in Alaska through the ALSC Pro Bono Training Academy.

The average pro bono involvement with an ALSC client/case is just 11 hours.  In the last year, pro bono volunteering ranged from a commitment of half-hour consultations to a 400 hour case which took 4 years.  Most (86%) ALSC pro bono cases were completed by a volunteer attorney in 10 hours or less.

The program only refers civil matters and they are varied.

We will reimburse volunteers for their accrued out-of-pocket expenses such as: copies, long distance, faxing, filing fees etc, when representing a client. Expenses larger than $200 need to be pre-approved. We do not reimburse for secretarial and paralegal work. Filing fees in Alaska State Courts are waived when you show the proper documentation. In addition, we can arrange for paralegal work and free depositions when available.

Absolutely, for some cases we offer co-counseling with one of ALSC’s staff attorneys. The ALSC Pro Bono Training Academy also provides free trainings, library resources and mentorship by an experienced attorney.

Your client will need to be screened for eligibility under ALSC’s guidelines. Please ask your client to contact us.

We generally do not cover costs for most appeals and federal litigation. The Executive Director of ALSC must approve all appeals. Please contact our office.

Please fill in, sign and return the Case Status/Final Disposition form found in your referral packet.

Hours are credited once a case has been completed, or after a consultation. When we receive the Final Disposition form we will enter the total amount of hours (regardless of the date when the case was first accepted) into our database. Your hours will count for the year on which you submitted your form.

Please contact the Alaska Bar Association at 907-272-7469.