Attorneys/Volunteers

Email [email protected] to sign up to receive email alerts with volunteer opportunities. In your email, please include your contact information (including address and phone number), the name of your corporate legal department or law firm, practice area(s), state(s) in which you are licensed to practice law, and year(s) of admittance. Once you are on our mailing list, you will receive our emails with volunteer opportunities.

Yes. L.A.W. 501(c)(3) requires its volunteer lawyers to be admitted in Wisconsin or be registered with the Wisconsin Board of Bar Examiners as a registered in-house lawyer.

L.A.W. 501(c)(3)’s clients are Wisconsin-based nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations that serve low-income or disadvantaged people, seek to secure or protect civil rights, civil liberties or public rights or are unable to pay legal fees without significantly impairing their resources, programming or otherwise being inappropriate.

L.A.W. 501(c)(3) looks to assist its nonprofit clients on a wide range of transactional legal matters including contracts, corporate governance, intellectual property, employment, general corporate, privacy, nonprofit, real estate, and technology. We also look to offer articles and webcasts on legal issues impacting nonprofit organizations, and welcome volunteer attorneys to prepare and present those materials.

The matters L.A.W. 501(c)(3) hopes to assist in will range in complexity and time commitment, but most are discrete, manageable (requiring 6-10 hours) and generally not time-sensitive. We will work with you to find an opportunity that is a good fit.

You are only expected to handle the specific matter for which you initially volunteer. If the nonprofit client contacts you directly about additional matters, please refer all such requests back to L.A.W. 501(c)(3). If you would like to work with a specific nonprofit client again, we are happy to facilitate your request but ask that all requests for legal assistance be directed through L.A.W. 501(c)(3) by the nonprofit client. If the nonprofit needs assistance with additional legal matters, please ask them to contact L.A.W. 501(c)(3) directly.

That’s up to you! You may volunteer for matters as often or as little as you like. We just ask that you complete any matter for which you volunteer. On average, typical projects are expected to take between 6-10 hours to complete. If you are unable to complete a matter for any reason, please contact L.A.W. 501(c)(3) as soon as possible and we will find another volunteer.

Yes. All L.A.W. 501(c)(3) volunteer attorneys are covered through L.A.W. 501(c)(3)’s lawyers professional liability insurance policy for the volunteer legal work provided to L.A.W. 501(c)(3) clients.

Yes. However, L.A.W. 501(c)(3) does not supervise attorneys on projects, so all volunteers must have the expertise sufficient to handle the matter(s) for which they volunteer or should be supervised by a more senior attorney from within their own legal department or law firm.

At this time, L.A.W. 501(c)(3)’s volunteer opportunities are not available to law students unless they are actively supervised by a licensed attorney in an employment setting (such as a summer associate program) or law school clinic.

Paralegals are welcome to assist on L.A.W. 501(c)(3) projects but they must first find an attorney from their law firm or legal department to volunteer for, and actively supervise, the project.

• Once you let L.A.W. 501(c)(3) know that you are interested in any of the volunteer opportunities on our website or in one of our emails, we will send you basic information about the client to run a conflicts check.
• Verify that you have no conflicts of interest and have all necessary department or firm approvals.
• L.A.W. 501(c)(3) will facilitate scheduling an initial conference call for you and the client. You may then consult with your client directly.
• L.A.W. 501(c)(3) may contact you periodically for updates on the progress of the matter(s) for which volunteer. If at any point you have trouble reaching your client, if you find that you cannot devote sufficient attention to your matter, or if any other questions or problems arise in the course of your representation, please immediately advise L.A.W. 501(c)(3).
• If you determine the matter you are volunteering on would benefit from additional assistance from another lawyer due to its complexity or timeliness, please contact L.A.W. 501(c)(3) to discuss possible collaboration and joint representation.
• When the matter is complete, inform L.A.W. 501(c)(3) and provide an estimate of the number of volunteer hours you spent on the matter. L.A.W. 501(c)(3) will then send a closing letter to the client.
• Please send L.A.W. 501(c)(3) copies of any significant memoranda or other documents prepared in the course of your representation.
• If your nonprofit client contacts you directly about assistance on additional matters, please refer their request back to L.A.W. 501(c)(3). If you would like to work with your client again, we are happy to accommodate your request but ask that all requests for assistance be directed through L.A.W. 501(c)(3).

The nonprofit client will be responsible for paying any filing fees and third party costs, but please do not incur any such costs until you receive the appropriate approval from the client. It is recommended that the nonprofit client be asked to pay all fees up front, before you make any filings.

Yes! The Wisconsin Board of Bar Examiners approved L.A.W. 501(c)(3) as a “qualified pro bono program” pursuant to SCR 31.01(12)(d). Attorneys may claim 1 general CLE hour for every 5 hours of pro bono legal services provided through L.A.W. 501(c)(3) up to a maximum of 6 credits.

Absolutely! Please direct any nonprofit organization looking for legal help to L.AW. 501(c)(3).