The Impact of Pro Bono Work: Celebrating National Volunteer Month
April 8, 2025
Authored by: Emerald Sheay
This article is made possible by the generous support from Taylor Tufano at 9Sail.
Emerald Sheay
Here at Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ), every day is a day to celebrate our volunteers. For over 20 years, our network of volunteer attorneys has made VLJ’s mission—ensuring access to justice for people experiencing poverty—powerfully possible. Whether through providing legal aid for community members experiencing poverty in one of our legal clinics, or by taking a pro bono case for extended services, our volunteers truly embody “Taking cases and changing lives.” April brings a particular cause for celebration as it is National Volunteer Month!
National Volunteer Month and the Legal Profession
National Volunteer Month, recognized every April, is dedicated to the volunteers who donate their time and skills to make a positive impact in their communities. Relatedly, National Volunteer Week falls this year between April 20 – 26, and has been celebrated annually since 1976. The importance of volunteer work in the legal profession, in particular, cannot be overstated. Attorneys can promote equal access to the justice system by offering free legal services to communities historically under-resourced and under-represented.
Lawyers providing pro bono legal help in civil matters are especially important, because unlike in criminal matters, there is generally no right to counsel in civil cases, meaning tenants facing eviction, survivors of violence, and veterans seeking stability have no guaranteed advocate in their corner. Civil legal issues are prevalent households with no- and low-incomes, but there is limited civil legal assistance available. Now more than ever, firms and corporations are stepping up to the plate to volunteer their time and talent to pro bono legal services. As just one example, approximately 120 firms who participated in a recent pro bono initiative donated 4,950,520 hours of pro bono work in 2022, and 5,076,659 hours in 2023. A recent report from the Pro Bono Institute reflects this, and the report also found that about 73.3 percent of attorneys worked on pro bono matters in 2023.
Benefits of Pro Bono Work
Volunteers may choose to devote their time to pro bono for a wide variety of reasons. While benefits for clients receiving free legal services may seem apparent, there are also numerous benefits to the attorneys working on their pro bono matters.
For Clients
In a nutshell, community members with limited ability to afford legal assistance are provided with access to justice when they are assisted by a pro bono volunteer. It is no secret that attorneys are expensive: lawyers in New Jersey typically charge between $180 and $537 per hour, with the average rate being $348. Many individuals simply cannot afford these services, even where the problems they are facing are severe, such as tenancy, bankruptcy, or family law issues. Providing these communities with legal services is stabilizing, promotes the justice system and the rule of law, and helps to bolster local economies. Pro bono lawyers make all the difference.
For Lawyers
Attorneys benefit from time spent on pro bono matters, too. In New Jersey, lawyers are subject to mandatory pro bono assignments, referred to as “Madden” cases. Madden cases are frequently assigned in an area of law unfamiliar to the attorney, and may come at an inopportune time. Volunteers who devote time on pro bono matters through court-eligible programs may claim an exception to a Madden assignment. In other words, lawyers can exercise much more control over how they fulfill their ethical obligations. Additionally, taking a pro bono matter is a great tool for professional development as it provides many networking opportunities as well as the chance to learn new skills and areas of law. In recognition of this, per a recent Thomson Reuters study, 73% of law firms use pro bono as a way to develop their staff. The support for pro bono work in the law firm setting continues to grow, just as demand for legal services is increasing.
Our Pro Bono Impact
VLJ is proud to be part of the effort to provide pro bono civil legal assistance in New Jersey. In 2023 alone, attorneys volunteered approximately 6,000 hours, or $1.95 million, in donated legal services through our organization. These hours were spent on 1,911 cases impacting 4,261 people. This figure includes 1,644 children. Our efforts are focused on several programs, including bankruptcy, tenancy, survivor’s justice, criminal record clearing (expungement), divorce, and veteran’s matters. We are also a part of the South Ward Promise Neighborhood that provides resources to children and families living in Newark’s South Ward.
Get Involved
Interested in volunteering with one of our pro bono programs? There is no better time than National Volunteer Month (and beyond!) As a first step, complete our new attorney volunteer form, or if you are a non-attorney paraprofessional, complete our non-attorney volunteer form. Already a volunteer? April is also Second Chance Month. VLJ is facing a growing demand for expungement legal help; those and other pro bono opportunities can be reviewed on our website. If you’re interested in taking a case, please contact Emerald Sheay at esheay@vljnj.org.
Whether celebrating Women’s History Month, Second Chance Month, or National Volunteer Month (and more), VLJ works to ensure access to justice for people experiencing poverty thanks to the invaluable assistance of our wonderful volunteers. There is no time like the present to harness the power of pro bono. Who knows, it may change a life including your own!
