Summer Newsletter 2021

A Summer of New Beginnings

The Pro Bono Project has spent many years filling in the gaps in legal services to the low-income residents of Silicon Valley and making access to justice available to our community.

We offer up to 15 clinics each week with support from our local libraries and various community-based organizations. Community members are able to speak with an attorney and get legal information and potential resources on how to accomplish their legal needs.

Pro Bono Project has identified the most common legal problems which callers ask about in our general clinics, and so we created clinics designed to specifically address those topics. This summer, the Pro Bono Project established three new "focused" clinics--one for clients with wills, trusts, and probate questions; a clinic for domestic violence survivors with immigration issues; and an expungement clinic.

Our YouTube Channel is thriving, and our virtual presentations at the Elmwood Jail Facility are well-received, resulting in an increase in applications for legal services. Meanwhile, we continue to represent domestic violence survivors in their child custody and restraining order matters. As we enter into fall, we continue to embrace the "new normal," finding more ways to support our community and ensure equal access to justice.

Yours in Service,

The Pro Bono Project Team

Click here to visit our website

Legal Clinics

The Pro Bono Project partnered with

Elevate Community Center and the Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center to host our first Expungement Clinic in August 2021. Individuals who wished to have their records cleared signed up for services and provided their Record of Arrests and Prosecutions sheet, also known as a RAP sheet. Pro Bono Project staff attorneys met with volunteer law students, lawyers, and law professors to analyze the participants' RAP sheets to determine the appropriate legal remedies. Then, the volunteers contacted the participants and explained the process of how they could get particular convictions expunged.

We look forward to hosting another clinic in the future.

Wills, Trusts, Probate and More

The Pro Bono Project began its monthly Wills, Trusts, and Probate Clinic this past July. An experienced probate and estate planning attorney provides counsel on the following issues:

Wills
Living Trusts
Trust Administration
Probate
Conservatorship
Guardianship
Name and Gender change
Durable Power of Attorney, and
Advance Health Care Directive

Immigration Clinic for

Domestic Violence Survivors

Survivors of domestic violence encounter unique challenges when trying to heal and stabilize their families. This is especially true when survivors and/or their family members are immigrants to the United States.

Our clinic is held on every last Wednesday of the month, and it is staffed by a volunteer immigration attorney who provides specialized advice to survivors who are facing immigration issues.

Lawyers in the Library

COMING SOON

Our virtual Lawyers in the Library Clinic hosted by

the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library will resume on September 15, 2021. Our clinics will be on the following days and times:

Wednesdays from 4 to 6 pm
First and Third Saturdays from 10 am to 12 pm

Shia Association of the Bay Area

If you are interested in volunteering for any clinics with PBP, please contact Phoenix Forbes,

[email protected].

Volunteer Spotlight

Administrative Team

Katie Muraco

Hi, my name is Katie Muraco, and I have been volunteering with Pro Bono Project sporadically since 2018. I am an incoming third year student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and I hope to go to law school after I get my bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Ethnic Studies. In my free time, I enjoy swimming, going to the beach, and working with animals.

Genevieve Duflock

My name is Genevieve Duflock. I volunteer at Pro Bono Project because I am extremely

passionate about women's rights and issues surrounding domestic violence. I spent my senior year volunteering with Next Door Solutions. I am a rising senior at Santa Clara University majoring in political science. I enjoy reading, writing, swimming, and watching The West Wing. My favorite book is The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. After my undergraduate years, I plan to apply for various post graduate opportunities.

Quarterly Calls Dashboard

Our total calls from April to June 2021 were as follows:

English calls: 1,612
Spanish calls: 189

An article from our team

Probate and PBP Staff Attorney Nancy Williamson offers her take on the 13-year conservatorship of Britney Spears

Nancy Williamson (Staff Attorney) has over eleven years of experience in trusts and estate law. She has been involved with conservatorship cases, and therefore, she is familiar with how courts usually determine whether a conservatorship is in a person's best interest.

Click here to read

Thank you to Phoenix Forbes, Legal Program Coordinator, for curating the content for this season's newsletter, as well as to Catherine Connor, Staff Attorney, for designing, editing, and publishing the newsletter and for articles on our website.

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Pro Bono Project Silicon Valley

For the Good of the People