There is a very strong need in the Los Angeles area for paralegals to volunteer for pro bono activities. Every month, LAPA has information about the different organizations in Los Angeles that welcome our assistance and knowledge on a pro bono basis. One such organization is:

BET TZEDEK LEGAL SERVICES
The House of Justice
145 South Fairfax Avenue, Suite 200
Los Angeles, California 90036

Bet Tzedek is one of the nation's premier legal services organizations providing free assistance to more than 10,000 people of every racial and religious background at their offices in the Fairfax and North Hollywood districts of Los Angeles and at more than 30 senior centers throughout Los Angeles County. Bet Tzedek makes a crucial difference in the lives of the most vulnerable members of the community. Bet Tzedek's practice focuses primarily on Landlord/Tenant, Consumer Protection, Home Foreclosure, Employment Rights, Collection, Bankruptcy, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Supplemental Security Income issues.

Pro bono, volunteer, and internship opportunities are available at Bet Tzedek. In order to possibly perform pro bono, volunteer and/or internship services for Bet Tzedek, please e-mail your resume to humanresources@bettzedek.org to the attention of Ms. Robin Sommerstein. You may also fax your resume to (323) 939-1040. For additional information on pro bono, volunteer, and internship opportunities, please click on the below PDF flyers and/or visit Bet Tzedek's website, www.bettzedek.org.

Public Counsel Law Center
610 So. Ardmore Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90006
www.publiccounsel.org
(213) 385-2977

Public Counsel Law Center and the Los Angeles Paralegal Association have had a long and happy relationship. LAPA has been a critical engine behind Public Counsel's celebrated Adoptions Project by its members providing technical support at the law firms that arrange the adoptions and then event support at the joyous Saturday Adoption Day celebrations held twice a year at the Edelman Children’s Courthouse east of downtown Los Angeles.

LAPA volunteers have also led the way in critically needed interpreter and translation support for all seven of our law projects. LAPA volunteers have translated hundreds of documents. Assignments have included asylum declarations, victim testimony, adoption proceedings, and an enormous booklet on corporate governance that was forwarded to hundreds of nonprofit executive directors that serve Los Angeles’ vast Spanish-speaking communities in need.

Public Counsel is the largest pro bono public interest law firm in the world. Founded in 1970, Public Counsel is dedicated to advancing equal justice under law by delivering free legal and social services to the most vulnerable members of our community, including abused and abandoned children, homeless families and veterans, senior citizens, victims of consumer fraud and nonprofit organizations serving low-income communities.

Paralegals can help in Public Counsel’s work in many ways: remotely, as translators and researchers, or by working in the field, assisting their supervisors who have taken Public Counsel pro bono cases, or by volunteering at a legal clinic or at a special event. For more information about volunteering at Public Counsel, please visit their website at www.publiccounsel.org and/or contact Ted Zepeda at (213) 385-2977 x125 or at tzepeda@publiccounsel.org.

Another organization that offers pro bono opportunities for paralegals is:

The Beverly Hills Bar Association
300 South Beverly Drive
Beverly Hills, California 90212
(310) 553-6644

The Beverly Hills Bar Association is the largest voluntary bar association in Los Angeles' Westside and is committed to enhancing public access to justice and community outreach programs. The Beverly Hills Bar Association offers the following three opportunities for paralegals to assist the community:

(1) Every first Saturday of the month from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Roxbury Park (Olympic at Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills next to the Recreation Center) attorneys provide basic legal information to people who come on regular basis referred by friends, relatives or neighbors and answer questions about consumer rights, landlord-tenant issues, insurance problems, family law, and bankruptcy. Paralegals who work in the workers’ compensation and disability fields could be of great help.

(2) Law Day “Ask-A-Lawyer” program held each May (first Saturday from 9:00 a.m to 12:00 noon) in conjunction with the ABA’s National Law Day wherein volunteer lawyers provide brief legal consultations at two locations: Farmers Market on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles and at the Roxbury Park in Beverly Hills.

(3) The Seniors Legal Handbook, which covers income tax problems in general, consumer’s protection and probate issues.

NEIGHBORHOOD LEGAL CENTER ("NLC") is a non-profit, public interest legal organization that seeks paralegal volunteers. Established in the Koreatown district of Los Angeles, their mission is to provide legal services to individuals and families that would normally be shortchanged by the legal system because of financial difficulties or language barriers. They assist in juvenile matters, family law and landlord/tenant disputes. Some knowledge of the Korean language would be helpful. NLC's telephone number is (800) 433-6251.

THE LEGAL AID FOUNDATION BATTERED IMMIGRANT WOMEN’S PROJECT
The Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (“LAFLA”) provides free counsel, representation, advocacy and community education in the substantive areas of housing, government benefits, family, consumer, immigration and employment law, as well as community economic development to the working poor of Los Angeles. The family clinics are located in Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles, and the West District Court in Santa Monica. Paralegals can design their own project, which can include legal research and drafting correspondence. LAFLA is located at 1640 5th Street, Santa Monica, California 90401 and the contact person is David Ackerly who can be reached at (310) 899-6200.

HARRIETT BUHAI CENTER
3250 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite #710
Los Angeles, California 90010

The mission of the Harriett Buhai Center (“Center”) is to provide family law assistance to low income families in Los Angeles County through the efforts of volunteer attorneys, paralegals and law students assuring those families access to the courts, reducing poverty among children and single parents and stopping domestic violence directed toward women and children. For more detailed information regarding internship opportunities, please click on the below PDF letter.Volunteer_Paralegals