VOLS Monthly Newsletter

National Pro Bono Month

Happy National Pro Bono Month! VOLS has been on the move and out in the community, collaborating with our law firm, corporate, and community partners to help New Yorkers with their civil legal challenges. This month we honored the VOLS 2024 Pro Bono Dean’s List at a wonderful celebration hosted by pro bono partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. We invite you to take a moment to meet this year’s honorees and learn about their impactful pro bono work across our six projects. Congratulations and thank you to our 2024 awardees! 

Best,

Abja Midha | She/Her
Executive Director, Volunteers of Legal Service

Ps – Let us know how you participated in pro bono this October.


Remembering Bob Egan, VOLS Board Member for 40 Years

VOLS mourns the passing of Robert James Egan, an active member of our Board of Directors since 1984. Bob was an original member of the VOLS Board and part of the visionary group of attorneys who helped significantly grow the private bar’s commitment to pro bono legal services in New York City. He remained on the VOLS Board for four decades, serving as a Treasurer and continually helping to define how firms and corporations engage in pro bono. We are grateful for his legacy and will miss his contributions to the VOLS community.


Get To Know Our Team!

 As part of the VOLS spotlight series, we spoke with Jaime J. Balbuena Hernandez, Staff Attorney, Immigrant Justice Corps UCP Fellow, VOLS Immigration Project.

How does VOLS IP support immigrant youth and their families?  
VOLS IP supports immigrant youth and their families by providing consultations, referrals, taking the case on for full representation or assisting in a pro se matter. Alongside Pro Bono, we do screening clinics and DACA renewal clinics. The goal is to screen the client and inform them of any relief they qualify for as well as inform them why, at the time of the screening, they don’t qualify for other reliefs. By doing this, we hope to help the client be as informed as possible to help minimize any potential fraud by other individuals, promising them a world of benefits for a large sum of money.  

Why is it important to reach immigrant youth in their communities? 
It is so important to reach immigrant youth in their communities because we want to assure that they know what immigration benefits they may be eligible and potentially help apply before they either don’t qualify for the relief or the time period for them to apply has passed. Non-profit orgs are backed up that many immigrant youth will age out from the benefit they may be eligible for and lose a route to citizenship in the United States. With the help of Pro Bono, we are able to take on additional cases and provide additional support to immigrant youth.  

Is there an experience and/or client that you found particularly memorable?  
I always circle back to the first client I was able to help obtain SIJS status for. He was one of the very first screenings I did at VOLS. I was fresh out of law school, and was excited to start applying what I had learned in school and what I would continue to learn. In the last two years, we have been successful in helping the client obtain SIJS status, obtain a working permit, and close their immigration proceedings. It will be some time before the client is able to apply for a green card, but in the meantime their deportation proceedings are closed, and the client can work in the country and build the future he has spoken to me about.    

Tell us about yourself. What makes a “good weekend” for you?  
What makes a good weekend for me is spending quality time with my wife and family, taking a stroll in the park, and watching sports.  



Join our Team!

VOLS seeks an experienced Operations Director who will focus on creating, managing, and improving policies, practices, and procedures across the organization with the goal of improving VOLS’ effectiveness in fulfilling its mission. Visit our website for the full job description.


Project Updates

VOLS Benefits Law Project (BLP) conducted a training for attorneys at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobsen LLP focused on New York State Unemployment Insurance (UI) hearings. VOLS BLP welcomed Jean Stevens as a Supervising Attorney for Housing and Benefits Law, working primarily with the VOLS Benefits Law Project (BLP). The project is currently planning our first presentation and clinic focused exclusively on the Disability Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE) on December 10, for residents of Hamilton-Madison House. 

VOLS Senior Law Project (SLP) was invited to participate in the New York City Council’s initiative to offer free life planning services to eligible New Yorkers. Our team was on-site in Staten Island to assist participants with their wills and advanced directives alongside pro bono attorneys from Davis Polk & Wardwell and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. SLP also held legal clinics and educational programs for older adults with community partners Legacies of Cooper Square Unido, Greenwich House’s Our Lady of Pompeii and Independence Plaza Older Adult Center, Henry Street Settlement, Riverstone Senior Life Services, University Settlement. VOLS SLP held a legal clinic for older adults served through Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement with the support of pro bono attorneys from Bloomberg, Debevoise & Plimpton and Societe Generale. We worked with volunteer attorneys from Wells Fargo on a wills clinic and teamed up with volunteers from MetLife on a wills execution clinic. SLP held several trainings for pro bono on our older adult client’s legal needs, conducting training for attorneys at Debevoise & Plimpton, Latham & Watkins, Deloitte, Davis Polk & Wardwell and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. 

VOLS Immigration Project (IP) supported best practices in pro bono for the women experiencing incarceration when Project Director Stephanie Taylor participated in a Kirkland & Ellis-hosted panel discussion, “Advocates for Justice: Championing Trafficking and Domestic Violence Survivors in the Civil and Criminal Legal Systems.” The team continued in-person prison clinics throughout the month. With pro bono attorneys from Fried Frank, Kirkland & Ellis, and Thomson Reuters, we met with clients at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility to provide family law education, advocacy, and counsel. Today our team is holding a legal clinic at Taconic Correctional Facility with pro bono volunteers from Davis Polk, Kirkland & Ellis and Thomson Reuters. 

VOLS Incarcerated Mothers Law Project (IMLP) supported best practices in pro bono for the women experiencing incarceration when Project Director Stephanie Taylor participated in a Kirkland & Ellis-hosted panel discussion, “Advocates for Justice: Championing Trafficking and Domestic Violence Survivors in the Civil and Criminal Legal Systems.” The team continued in-person prison clinics throughout the month. With pro bono attorneys from Fried Frank, Kirkland & Ellis, and Thomson Reuters, we met with clients at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility to provide family law education, advocacy, and counsel. Today our team is holding a legal clinic at Taconic Correctional Facility with pro bono volunteers from Davis Polk, Kirkland & Ellis and Thomson Reuters. 

VOLS Microenterprise Project (MEP) held a presentation on key legal and other considerations for small business owners in collaboration with Societe Generale, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS) Black Entrepreneurs NYC initiative. SBS Commissioner Dynishal Gross kicked the things off with opening remarks on the importance of free legal services for small business owners. Over 100 participants received crucial information on entity selection, compliance with the Corporate Transparency Act, employment law, accounting best practices and cybersecurity and accessibility when doing business online. 


Support VOLS Athletes! Team VOLS x TCS New York City Marathon

Team VOLS takes on the TCS NYC Marathon this Sunday, November 3! Join us in cheering on our incredible team as they run to help close the access to justice gap for New Yorkers in need of civil legal services.  Visit our fundraising page to meet our team and make a gift. 


Support Us While You Shop

Enjoy 20% off Minted’s unique stationery, children’s art, and gifts when you shop using our exclusive discount code, and Minted will donate 15% back to us. 

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