Advice & Referral Clinic
It is estimated that about 70 percent of individuals requesting free legal assistance require only brief services—not full representation—to solve their legal problems. The D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center Advice & Referral Clinic offers pro se individuals the opportunity to discuss with volunteer attorneys certain kinds of matters governed by D.C. or federal law, including bankruptcy/debt collection, consumer law, employment law, family law, health law, housing law, personal injury, probate, public benefits, and tax law. All services are provided free of charge.
The clinic is limited to providing general information, advice, and brief services, and does not provide representation.
Providing “brief services” may not always be achievable by the end of the clinic session. For example, calling a third party or government agency to ascertain information about a client’s matter, writing a demand letter to a landlord or a judgment-proof letter to a creditor, or reviewing a contract or settlement agreement may require some of the volunteer attorney’s time after the clinic. However, clinic volunteers do not appear in court or otherwise establish an extended attorney-client relationship unless they wish to do so.
If brief service is not enough to resolve the problem or if a different type of service is required, clinic volunteers attempt to refer individuals to, or provide information about, a legal or social service provider appropriately suited to handle the case.
Local legal service providers also benefit from the Advice & Referral Clinic, since it lessens the number of individuals walking into their organizations, allowing those practitioners to spend more of their resources representing clients instead of providing general information, advice, and brief services.
For more information, please contact [email protected].
Advice & Referral Clinic volunteers must be associated with a participating organization. Please refer to the list of clinic participants. If you are associated with a clinic participant, please contact that organization’s pro bono or volunteer coordinator to arrange to volunteer for the clinic. If you are not an employee or member of a participating organization, ask your employer, Bar Community, voluntary bar association, or other organization to become a clinic participant.
Download our 2024 Advice & Referral Clinic Flyer:
2024 Clinic Dates
In 2024, the clinic will take place monthly at either Bread for the City 1700 Marion Barry Ave SE, Washington, DC 20020 or the D.C. Bar 901 4th Street NW, Washington, DC 20001.
The next clinic will take place on March 23 at the D.C. Bar.
March 23, 2024 (D.C. Bar)
April 20, 2024 (Bread for the City)
May 18, 2024 (D.C. Bar)
June 29, 2024 (Bread for the City)
July 27, 2024 (D.C. Bar)
September 28, 2024 (Bread for the City)
October 19, 2024 (D.C. Bar)
November 23, 2024 (Bread for the City)
Ain & Bank, P.C.
Alden Law Group
Arent Fox Schiff LLP
Bertram & Murphy
Blackboard, Inc.
Blank Rome LLP
Bread for the City
Bredhoff & Kaiser PLLC
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC
Burch Law Firm, PLLC
Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Crowell & Moring LLP
D Nichol Law
D.C. Bar John Payton Leadership Academy
Del Cuadro-Zimmerman PLLC
Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Communications Commission
Federal Reserve Board
Finnegan
Frost Brown Todd LLP
Greater Washington Bar Association, Women Lawyers Division, National Bar Association
Holland & Knight
Honigman LLP
Ivins, Phillips & Barker, Chartered
J Williams Law, LLC
J. Reuben Clark Society, Local Chapter
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Pavuk
Jones Day
Kass Legal Group, PLLC
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
Keller and Heckman LLP
Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick PLLC
Khoobchandani Law
King & Spalding LLP
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Law Office of Andrea J. Sloan
Law Office of K. Lawson Wellington
Leadership Council for Legal Diversity
Markham Law Firm
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
National Association of State Treasurers
National Credit Union Administration
Nixon Peabody LLP
Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Patrick Malone & Associates
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Regan Zambri Long PLLC
Samek | Werther | Mills, LLC
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
The SJS Law Firm, PLLC
Trombly & Singer, PLLC
Tzedek DC
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Access to Justice
U.S. Department of Labor
U.S. Department of Transportation
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
U.S. Small Business Administration
Venable LLP
Washington Bar Association
Washington Council of Lawyers
Whitman-Walker Health
WilmerHale
