Volunteer Opportunities and Trainings

Volunteers are critical to the legal services program’s ability to serve our high volume of clients and to carry out our fundraising efforts. More than 100 dedicated attorneys are on our roster, and many of them are active at any one time. The legal services program offers volunteer opportunities for attorneys, legal assistants and administrative assistants. If you would like to volunteer, please call 202-939-7627 and ask to speak with our pro bono coordinator.

We welcome volunteer participation in the following activities:

General Legal Clinics and Direct Case Placement: Volunteer attorneys provide pro bono legal services to clients in the areas of discrimination, employment, immigration, insurance, reasonable accommodations, and return to work matters. Legal services program staff conduct extensive intakes and case screening; provide advice and referrals when appropriate; and determine which cases appear to need more intensive investigation and legal representation. We then place those cases with appropriate volunteers, who can meet with their clients in their own offices, or in our main offices in northwest Washington – generally on the second and fourth Tuesday evenings of the month - or in our Northern Virginia office – generally on the first Wednesday evening of the month.

Public Benefits Clinics: Specially trained volunteers (attorneys and non-attorneys) help clients complete public benefit applications during our Public Benefits Clinics on the second and fourth Tuesday evenings of the month, by appointment only. Volunteers help clients determine eligibility and complete applications for various types of public entitlements, such as Social Security Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid.

Estate Planning Clinics: Clients requiring assistance with simple wills, powers of attorney and other planning documents and who live in D.C. or Maryland, are scheduled for appointments on the second and fourth Tuesday evenings of the month at 6:30 p.m. and at 7:15 p.m. at WWC’s 1701 14th St., N.W., office. We have an ongoing need for volunteers available to do wills and powers of attorney at the homes or hospital bedsides of clients who need this service and are unable to come to a clinic.

Trainings

Whitman-Walker Clinic legal services program anticipates that most volunteers interested in participating in one of our programs may not have the background or legal experience necessary to represent our clients who face such issues as employment or health care discrimination, insurance issues, debt and bankruptcy, immigration, confidentiality, public benefits termination and child custody. Therefore, we conduct several substantive trainings each year to train our volunteers to help clients with their legal needs.

AIDS Advocacy Training: New volunteers are encouraged (but not required) to attend our AIDS advocacy training, usually offered through the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program, where they receive an overview of the legal services program, HIV disease, and some of the areas in which we practice. From time to time, we offer “in-service” trainings for existing volunteers to brief them on relevant new developments in HIV treatments and other topics of interest. The one-day training is free (except for a $25 materials fee) if attendees agree to accept two (2) cases or their equivalent, pro bono, from Whitman-Walker legal services. The AIDS advocacy training is typically offered during March or April.

Public Benefits Training: We provide twice yearly public benefits trainings for volunteers (attorneys and non-attorneys) who want to help our clients determine eligibility and complete applications for various types of public entitlements, such as Social Security Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income, and Medicaid. Our next public benefits training will take place in the fall of 2006. We will post the specific date for the next training as soon as it is scheduled.