MassProBono is an online resource for lawyers, law students, paralegals, and other professionals who want to give their time to meet the legal needs of people of limited means. Through this website you can find pro bono opportunities that fit your interests and schedule, and find resources – a library, training opportunities – to support your pro bono work.
MassProBono is also a forum where pro bono organizations and programs that serve low-income people can highlight their work, their need for volunteers, and the great contributions of their volunteers.
Above all, MassProBono is a vehicle for fulfilling the promise of access to justice for all through pro bono legal aid.
History
MassProBono was developed by the Volunteer Lawyers Project in the early 2010s through a Legal Services Corporation Technology Initiative Grant, contracting with Pro Bono Net, a nonprofit that hosts legal aid and pro bono websites throughout the U.S. and Canada, and the Massachusetts Legal Aid Websites Project at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.
To create the Pro Bono Opportunities Guide, MassProBono partnered with the Massachusetts Bar Association, which had built an extensive statewide listing of pro bono opportunities. The Pro Bono Opportunities Guide on this website builds on the MBA’s pro bono catalog and incorporates the interactive functions of the Pro Bono Net platform to create a robust new tool to facilitate pro bono matching. MassProBono now lists over 70 organizations offering Pro Bono opportunities and has over 2000 members.
MassProBono has undergone many changes over the years to best fit the changing needs of those who use it, including building out mobile app capacity and generating a series of guides and checklists for common pro bono areas of law. In 2020, in partnership with the Access to Justice Commission’s COVID-19 Task Force, MassProBono launched the Massachusetts COVID-19 Pro Bono Portal which supported organizations in listing projects related to the pandemic, designing remote pro bono opportunities, and recruiting volunteers during this time of urgent and great need. As a result of this work, several remote clinics and programs remain as ways to get involved with pro bono work across the state.
The creation of MassProBono came out of decades of work to envision technology which could comprehensively support access to justice for low-income and vulnerable populations. As of June 2023, MassProBono is operated by the Legal Aid Websites Project at Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, which houses a comprehensive suite of websites geared toward making legal information accessible to different audiences, including MassLegalServices.org to support legal aid advocates and MassLegalHelp to provide understandable legal information to the public. These statewide websites offer a network of resources for legal aid and nonprofit advocates, the private bar, law students and others engaged in pro bono, self-represented litigants, and members of the public seeking legal information.
Mission and Aspirations
The mission of MassProBono.org is to facilitate and enhance the delivery of pro bono civil legal aid to persons of limited means in Massachusetts.
Our hope is that MassProBono.org will serve as a vehicle to:
1. Expand the pool of volunteer attorneys, law students, paralegals, interpreters, and experts available to provide pro bono assistance in legal matters to persons of limited means.
2. Provide a means for pro bono programs, including those in the courts, to efficiently and effectively publicize their needs to a large audience of potential volunteers and thereby expand their capacity to refer cases and staff projects.
3. Foster cooperation, coordination, and communication among pro bono programs in order to minimize duplication of effort and equalize the distribution of pro bono resources across the Commonwealth.
4. Create a clearinghouse where prospective volunteers can see the range of available pro bono opportunities and find specific opportunities that fit their interests and experience.
5. Enable volunteers to easily find resources to support their pro bono work including a library of legal and practice materials, forums for discussion and mentoring, and a calendar of trainings and events.
6. Strengthen the pro bono culture and the commitment to access to justice within the Massachusetts legal community by acknowledging the pro bono contributions of volunteers, sharing the successes and valuable experiences of volunteers, and highlighting the impact of pro bono work on clients and the justice system.
7. Foster professional development and networking among volunteers, particularly those in search of legal employment.
Support MassProBono
The original funding for MassProBono came from a Technology Initiative Grant (TIG) awarded by the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) to the Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association (VLP). VLP contracted with Pro Bono Net, a nonprofit that hosts legal aid and pro bono websites throughout the U.S. and Canada, and the Massachusetts Legal Aid Websites Project, which is housed at the MA Law Reform Institute and coordinates MassLegalServices and MassLegalHelp.
MassProBono is free to individual volunteers and to pro bono organizations and programs. As you might expect, there are ongoing expenses involved in operating MassProBono. If you wish to contribute toward these expenses, please email us.
