A network for good, not for pro t

Volunteer legal group gives lawyers a good name

By JESSIC A MACKINNON Contributing Reporter

Lawyers are not always portrayed par ticularly altruistic in movies and vision, but Oak Park-based Pro Bono work is defying that often misguided reotype by connecting attor neys interested in volunteering their le gal exper tise individuals who need assistance the most — and can af ford the least.

Pro Bono Network (PBN) was founded in 2011 by a small group of local attor who were taking career breaks to be at-home moms. Gathered around the kitchen table of Oak Park attor ney Donna P the women were interested in using their le gal exper tise to give back to their community but didn’t know how to go about doing it. PBN was launched to create infrastructure to support attor neys want to donate their services to help nerable clients, including low-income niors, survivors of domestic violence, the disabled, veterans and children.

The need for pro bono attor neys is great. According to a 2022 re port by the Le gal Services Cor poration, low-income Americans do not get le gal assistance for 92% of their non-criminal le gal problems, a statistic driven by growing income and racial disparities in our country

“Pro Bono Network provides the training, malpractice insurance, project management and subject matter exper ts that allows us to leverage the untapped resources of volunteer attor neys. It’s really a win/ win situation — for the attor neys as well as the clients,” said Linda Rio, PBN executive director

Since 2011, PBN has worked with 20 partner agencies, including Le gal Aid Chicago, Prairie State Le gal Services, Sarah’s Inn, and Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, on cases involving domestic violence, divorce, immigration and the expungement of criminal record s.

“We partner with overstretched legal aid agencies to identify service gaps and then we develop projects to help close those gaps in le gal re presentation,” said Rio, a for mer attor ney with the Chicago Bar Association and Foundation.

In 12 short years, PBN has swelled to 450 attor neys, providing more than 29,000 vol- unteer hours and serving more than 5,000 clients. Their work re presents almost $7.5 million in free le gal services. The organization’s volunteers now include retired attor neys and those working part-time as well as those, like the founders, who are on career breaks to raise families. There is no minimum commitment for the participating attor neys, so they can work around other responsibilities

River Forest resident Marisa Green was drawn to PBN’s mission as well as its flexibility. She left DLA Piper, one of the largest law fir ms in the world, where she worked on commercial litigation and medical malpractice, when she had her second child.

“It became increasingly dif ficult to manage a busy trial schedule with family responsibilities. You can’t tell a client that you can’t make a court date because you’ve got to pick up a kid,” Green said.

She stayed home with her children for several years and was active in the PTOs at Roosevelt Middle School and Willard Elementary. Once her children were in high school, she was looking for ways to use her le gal background to help others when she heard about PBN She eventually became project manager for PBN’s Senior Le gal Clinic.

The clinic, which par tners with the Center for Disability & Elder Law (CDEL), provides assistance on a range of le gal issues, including drafting advanced health-care directives, property powers of attor ney, simple wills and other end-of-life documents

Judy Smith recently took over from Green as project manager for the clinic A for mer corporate attor ney specializing in finance, security fraud, and mergers and acquisitions, Smith’s work with the clinic motivated her to get a master’s de gree in gerontology from Concordia University.

“I witnessed my dad struggle as he got older and I saw firsthand the big disconnect between the resources that are available for seniors and their knowledge of them, especially in a crisis situation. It’s impor tant to advocate for those who can’t advocate for themselves. The seniors are so dee ply appreciative of our assistance,” Smith said.

Patti Marino has been involved with PBN since 2012. A retired teacher and lawyer, Marino has spent much of her life advocating for at-risk children and their mothers. She served for many years as a teacher at youth residential facilities operated by the De par tment of Children and Family Services (DCFS). As an attor ney, she also re presented incarcerated mothers needing help maintaining contact with their children. She also has served as a hearing of ficer for the Illinois State Board of Education and a mediator for the nonprofit Center for Conflict Resolution.

“It’s a rare occasion when someone can make a living doing what they love Helping kids has been my passion. And by helping their mothers, I felt that I was helping kids,” said Marino, a proud grandmother of eight.

One of Marino’s favorite projects is Lawyers in the Classroom, which brings attor neys into underserved schools to teach students about the U.S. Constitution, the American le gal system and careers in law. Marino has been discussing with students at St. Catherine-St. Lucy (SCSL) School such issues as the First Amendment, hate speech, the Fourth Amendment, and search and seizure cases, as well as how jurists are selected for specific trials

“The Pro Bono Network attor neys are very well prepared and enthusiastic and engaged with kids The kids pick up on that and it makes them enthusiastic too. The lawyers see how bright our kids are and they challenge them,” said Mike Kennedy, a seventh-grade social studies and language ar ts teacher at SCSL

“The first time I visited the class,” Marino said, “the kids all told me they wanted to be lawyers and make a lot of money because that’s what they saw on TV. I told them that the lawyers who make a lot of money work more than 80 hours a week. It’s impor tant that they know the reality of the le gal profession — the good and the bad — and that it’s very dif ferent from what they see on TV.”

PBN is primarily suppor ted by individual donations. Its annual fundraiser will be held on June 1 at Katherine Le gge Memorial Lodge in Hinsdale, with music provided by the Oak Park-based band, “The Island of Misfit Toys.” For more information, visit pro-bono-network.org.