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Spring Newsletter 2021

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Expanding access to legal education and advocacy

As our communities reopen, Pro Bono Project remains focused on providing free legal advice, limited scope representation, and / or legal information to low income domestic violence survivors, currently and formerly incarcerated individuals, as well as other indigent community members in need of our services.


We are excited to introduce new projects such as our YouTube channel, our Reentry Phone-In Clinic, and other expanding community legal clinics throughout Santa Clara County. Every day, our staff and volunteer attorneys encounter issues such as child custody and visitation, domestic violence, expungement, divorce, basic wills and trusts, contracts, landlord-tenant, law enforcement misconduct, and mental health challenges. Seven years ago, Pro Bono Project developed Virtual Legal Services in order to increase legal help for all. This impacted our community centers, the Santa Clara County Bar Association, and Santa Clara County's family court. Since Covid, the push into the virtual space has increased the demand for legal information and advocacy, and we are fortunate to be experienced and in a great position to be able to provide that valuable service. 


We are very happy that our virtual presentations at the Elmwood Correctional Facility have resumed. As more of our population gets vaccinated, we hope to resume our in-person services while maintaining our system in the virtual space. We will remain dedicated to providing legal solutions to some of the most vulnerable members of our community. For many of us, it has been an honor to provide stability to people during these uncertain times.


Yours in Service,

The Pro Bono Project Team



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Sandra Madrigal, our Executive Director, was featured on

Channel 48 - Telemundo's/

KNTV's Comunidad Del Valle with Damian Trujillo.


Sandra encouraged viewers to seek assistance if they are victims of domestic violence and described how Pro Bono Project can help.

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Click here to visit our website

YouTube  Facebook  LinkedIn

Pro Bono Project Launches New

Initiative to Reach Community

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pro Bono Project team was busy brainstorming new ways to reach out and help community members in need of our services. Recognizing the usefulness of YouTube as an outreach tool, the staff self-produced and launched a series of instructional videos on the Pro Bono Project Silicon Valley YouTube channel...


Read more here.

Quarterly Calls Dashboard


Our call volume has increased significantly over the past few months. We connect callers with our attorneys, refer callers to outside resources, and often provide emotional support to those in need.

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As of April 1, 2020, we received 1, 312 calls from English speakers and 179 calls from Spanish speakers.

Lawyers in the Library

We continue to serve individuals in the community by providing free 20-minute legal advice sessions by phone. We are currently recruiting new volunteer attorneys to this program. If you are interested, please email pforbes@probonoproject.org.


We offer clinics with the following libraries and centers:

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COMING SOON

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First Wednesday of the month

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Shia Association of the Bay Area


First Sunday of the month

Articles by our team

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PBP Collaborates on Survivor's Rights Project


Pro Bono Project and Maitri created a tool for domestic violence survivors to navigate the criminal court system. Rachel McKenzie (Managing Attorney), Phoenix Forbes (Legal Program Coordinator), and Zakia Afrin and Shabana Ansari (Maitri) created the following Frequently Asked Questions sheet for survivors:


Click here to read

Trauma-Informed Judicial Practices During a Natural Disaster


Survivors are experiencing trauma of their abuse as well as the trauma of the pandemic simultaneously.


Lisa Cope Duflock (Staff Attorney) explores the impact of these traumas and how our courts can better support survivors during natural disasters like the pandemic.


Click here to read

A Changing California:

The Impact of Proposition 19


Nancy Williamson (Staff Attorney) has over eleven years of experience in trusts and estate law. The impact of Proposition 19 has become a frequent topic of concern among our Lawyers in the Library participants. Nancy explains the law's unique nuances and how it may effect Santa Clara County residents in the following article:

Click here to read

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



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Pro Bono Project Silicon Valley

For the Good of the People