Arkansas Access to Justice

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ARprobono.org Makes Finding the Right Pro Bono Opportunities Easier

By Keeli Wallace

Finding pro bono and volunteer opportunities for attorneys, law students, and legal professionals in Arkansas is about to get a whole lot easier! Arkansas Access to Justice and The Rose Law Firm have teamed up to connect legal aid providers and attorneys all over the state. The Rose Law Firm has fully funded the first two years of an innovative web-based platform created by Paladin designed to streamline the process of finding pro bono opportunities throughout Arkansas. The site, located at www.ARprobono.org, is scheduled to launch in October of 2022.

Arkansans are severely underserved in many areas of the law, specifically family, probate, and debt cases. Residents living in rural communities and those experiencing poverty are the most affected. Rural counties are disproportionately affected due to a shortage of attorneys in Arkansas. According to the American Bar Association’s 2021 Profile of the Legal Profession, an overwhelming majority of attorneys are located in just a few counties in Northwest and Central Arkansas, with over 3,000 of the state’s 6,808 active attorneys in Pulaski County alone! Some counties have no private practitioners while others have only one or a handful who are rapidly approaching retirement age. ARprobono.org aims to bring legal access to even the most remote counties in Arkansas by connecting the need for pro bono in rural areas with the supply of lawyers in our urban counties.

Financial hardship is another barrier for many Arkansans seeking legal advice. A family of four earning $34,687 or less qualifies for legal aid. At that threshold, over 658,000 Arkansans qualify for legal aid. Meanwhile, there are just 59 legal aid attorneys across the state working to serve this community. This means that pro bono work by private practitioners and law students is critical to help to narrow the justice gap. ARprobono.org is a direct response to the needs of low-income Arkansans.

Students, paralegals, and attorneys will be able to locate pro bono opportunities in a variety of areas, including: family law, probate, record sealing, immigration, civil rights, disability rights, and more. Website users will also have the ability to filter pro bono opportunities by a variety of factors, such as: time commitment, scope of representation (full service or limited scope), location, and legal aid provider. The platform will also facilitate remote service options, such as Zoom clinics, allowing attorneys from anywhere in the state to connect with pro bono clients.

The website will feature volunteer opportunities from many partners, including: The Center for Arkansas Legal Services, Legal Aid of Arkansas, the U.S District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, Arkansas Immigrant Defense, Disability Rights Arkansas, the Mock Trial Committee, and AR Free Legal Answers.

We're just getting started! As the platform grows, attorneys, law students, and legal professionals are likely to have even more opportunities to serve Arkansans all over the state. Check out the current opportunities by visiting www.ARprobono.org today. If you are involved with a pro bono organization or a court interested in listing pro bono opportunities, please contact the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission at contact@ arkansasjustice.org or 501.492.7175. ■

Keeli Wallace is a student at the Bowen School of Law. She is interning with the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission where she is helping to launch ARprobono.org and improve language access in the courts.