The Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) today launched a new, statewide portal for volunteer opportunities in partnership with Paladin, a leading pro bono management platform. The TBA Pro Bono Portal will play a crucial role in the TBA’s work engaging Tennessee attorneys in pro bono and public interest opportunities by centralizing events, cases and training resources in one place.

Over 1.2 million Tennesseans are eligible for legal aid, and only a few hundred attorneys statewide are employed to address their needs. Despite this enormous gap, the experienced and innovative teams at legal service organizations (LSOs) across the state provide life-changing legal services to those in need every day. But more needs to be done.

One way to address the barriers to access to justice for Tennesseans in need is to engage more volunteers from the legal community to provide direct support for LSOs. Using Paladin, the TBA will work with over 15 legal aid providers across the state as well as its own Young Lawyers Division and other bar leadership groups to aggregate pro bono opportunities in a real-time, statewide database that the legal community can access for free.

“The TBA is proud to be part of the collaborative efforts working for quality, accessible legal services for all in our state. Paladin is the perfect tool to remove barriers that keep lawyers from volunteering. It will amplify clinics, individual cases and other opportunities for TBA members and the larger legal community,” said TBA President and Knoxville lawyer Heidi Barcus. She also thanked World Within for funding the first year of the portal.

Paladin Co-Founder and CEO Kristen Sonday also touted the benefits of the platform. “Volunteer attorneys are a crucial part of helping low-income Tennesseans access the justice system. With the launch of this portal, and the TBA’s leadership, we are excited to be a small part of helping even more people in need,” Sonday said.

How It Works

LSOs across Tennessee can use their free Paladin accounts to post pro bono opportunities to the public portal, as well as directly to law firms and law schools in the Paladin network. Their referral dashboard then will allow pro bono coordinators to seamlessly track and manage volunteer activity as attorneys and law students sign up to help.

Volunteer lawyers then will be able to search for matters that align with their interests, skill sets and availability. Once they find an opportunity they want to work on, they will connect directly with the posting organization to get started. Opportunities available to volunteer attorneys will include stand alone and ongoing clinics as well as longer-term individual cases.

For the Public

The Paladin platform is not designed for members of the public to directly request legal help, but there are a number of existing resources available for those in need. Tennesseans seeking civil legal assistance can visit Help4TN.org or TN Free Legal Answers, both of which offer legal information and access to advice and referrals. A number of local bar associations also offer attorney referral programs that provide reduced cost services. And many legal organizations hold clinics across the state for those who cannot afford a lawyer. Learn more about these opportunities at the following websites:

For more information, visit the TBA’s website.

Kristen Sonday Pic Headshot

Kristen Sonday

Kristen is the Co-Founder and CEO at Paladin. As a first generation-college Princeton graduate, Kristen first witnessed how complicated our judicial system is to navigate while at the U.S. Department of Justice conducting international criminal work in Mexico and Central America. As one of the few Latinos on the team, she saw the immense value of having an advocate with you throughout the legal process, which inspired her to want to build something to increase access for those in diverse communities. After DOJ, she joined the Founding Team of YC-backed Grouper, where she learned how to build a startup from the ground up. In addition to Paladin, Kristen Co-Chairs the Legal Services Corporation’s Emerging Leaders Council and is a partner at LongJump, investing in overlooked founders in the Chicago area.

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