May 16 Sessions
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Includes Credits
This fast-paced, engaging session will provide tips about free and low-cost technology relevant to the access to justice community. This will include advances in AI, new apps, remote work and collaboration tools, information security resources, add-ons for Gmail and Outlook, and more. Panelists will also explore how emerging technologies - such as artificial intelligence and machine learning - can be applied to the access to justice field in innovative, yet accessible ways. Technology leaders will emphasize practical, easy-to-use technology that helps legal professionals do their work more eff
- Participants will learn about simple, straightforward technology tips that will help them to do their jobs more effectively
- Participants will gain a broader understanding of the technology landscape - including emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning -- that can help them contribute to their program's technology planning process.
- Participants will have an opportunity to share their own technology tips and provide feedback about panelists' contributions.
This fast-paced, engaging session will provide tips about free and low-cost technology relevant to the access to justice community. This will include advances in AI, new apps, remote work and collaboration tools, information security resources, add-ons for Gmail and Outlook, and more. Panelists will also explore how emerging technologies - such as artificial intelligence and machine learning - can be applied to the access to justice field in innovative, yet accessible ways. Technology leaders will emphasize practical, easy-to-use technology that helps legal professionals do their work more eff
- Participants will learn about simple, straightforward technology tips that will help them to do their jobs more effectively
- Participants will gain a broader understanding of the technology landscape - including emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning -- that can help them contribute to their program's technology planning process.
- Participants will have an opportunity to share their own technology tips and provide feedback about panelists' contributions.
mj Smith
LaDierdre Johnson, JD
Program Officer for Technology
Legal Services Corporation
Jane Ribadeneyra
Senior Program Officer for Technology
Legal Services Corporation
Jane Ribadeneyra joined the Legal Services Corporation in 2009 and is a Senior Program Officer for Technology. She oversees technology initiative grants that improve access to high-quality legal assistance for low-income people throughout the United States and its territories. She works with grantee programs to strategically leverage technology in delivering legal services to the eligible population. Jane also leads TIG-related special projects, including LSC’s Innovations in Technology Conference and updates to the LSC Technology Baselines. Her expertise in advancing technology’s role in access to justice has made her a frequent presenter at national conferences, sharing her insights and knowledge on innovative technology solutions.
Angela Tripp
Program Counsel for Technology
LSC
Angela Tripp is the newest member of LSC's TIG team, joining as a Program Officer for Technology in March, 2024. Prior to this, she was Director of the Michigan Legal Help (MLH) Program, which is responsible for the statewide website for self-represented litigants (MichiganLegalHelp.org) and over 50 affiliated Self-Help Centers in Michigan. During her 18 year tenure at the Michigan Advocacy Program, she also served as Co-Director of Michigan Statewide Advocacy Services, which manages five statewide programs (including MLH). Ms. Tripp holds a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston and a B.A. from the University of Cincinnati.-
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This session provides practical strategies for attorneys and advocates working within LSC-funded organizations and pro bono initiatives to navigate restrictions on reproductive health assistance. Panelists will explore ways to support clients' legal rights, assist clients in accessing health care, and provide helpful referrals while addressing related civil legal matters such as family law, domestic violence, and housing stability.
- Identify key legal restrictions LSC-funded organizations face regarding reproductive health advocacy and their impact on service delivery
- Apply strategies for supporting clients with reproductive health issues while working within LSC guidelines and connecting them with appropriate resources.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of advocacy approaches in addressing the intersection of reproductive rights, family law, and housing stability for diverse and marginalized populations.
This session provides practical strategies for attorneys and advocates working within LSC-funded organizations and pro bono initiatives to navigate restrictions on reproductive health assistance. Panelists will explore ways to support clients' legal rights, assist clients in accessing health care, and provide helpful referrals while addressing related civil legal matters such as family law, domestic violence, and housing stability.
- Identify key legal restrictions LSC-funded organizations face regarding reproductive health advocacy and their impact on service delivery
- Apply strategies for supporting clients with reproductive health issues while working within LSC guidelines and connecting them with appropriate resources.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of advocacy approaches in addressing the intersection of reproductive rights, family law, and housing stability for diverse and marginalized populations.
Chris Buerger
Chris Buerger is NLADA’s Chief Counsel for Civil Legal Services. In this role, he advises programs on regulatory and compliance matters, particularly as they relate to LSC restrictions and requirements. He also assists members on emerging issues in legal aid related to technology. Prior to joining NLADA, Chris spent most of his career fighting on behalf of low-income parents in the family courts of New York City, first at The Center for Family Representation and then with The Bronx Defenders. Before that, he worked and interned in New York, Louisiana, Oregon, and Ghana. Chris is a graduate of Columbia Law School. During law school, he participated in the Human Rights Clinic and the Community Defense Externship. He received an M.P.P from Oregon State University, where his research focused on quantitative methods, rural communities, and child welfare policy. He also holds a B.A. from American University with a major in literature and a minor in chemistry.
Amy Chen, JD
Senior Attorney
National Health Law Program
Amy Chen is a Senior Attorney in the National Health Law Program’s California office, where she works on sexual and reproductive health law and policy. Her California work includes improving access to pregnancy coverage and services and supporting implementation of California’s doula Medi-Cal benefit. Her national work includes leading NHeLP’s efforts to reduce maternal health disparities and address systemic barriers to comprehensive pregnancy care. She also leads NHeLP’s Doula Medicaid Project, which works to expand access to full spectrum doula care for all pregnant, postpartum, and post-pregnancy people. Before joining NHeLP, Amy worked at Bay Area Legal Aid in Oakland, California for eight years, where she provided direct legal services to individuals and families across the San Francisco Bay Area and advocated on a wide range of issues including health care reform, Medi-Cal, Covered California, and private health insurance.
Jessie Campbell, JD
Supervising Attorney - Compliance / Private Attorney Involvement
Lone Star Legal Aid
Jessie G. Campbell is the Supervising Attorney for Compliance and Private Attorney Involvement with Lone Star Legal Aid. Jessie works primarily with pro bono attorneys, who volunteer their time to assist low-income clients on different legal matters, including estate planning, probate, family law, and consumer matters. She frequently presents to the community on estate planning matters; to pro bono attorneys on cultural competency, pro bono disaster response, and substantive legal topics handled by pro bono attorneys; as well as to her pro bono peers on pro bono management best practices. Prior to joining Lone Star Legal Aid, Jessie was the Pro Bono & Outreach Director with Houston Volunteers Lawyers, and a Managing Editor with O'Connor's, formerly Jones McClure Publishing. She earned her J.D. and M.A. in East European and Russian Studies from the University of Texas in Austin, and her B.A. in History from Tufts University.
Nell Brimmer, Esq
U.S. Manager, Global Pro Bono
Center for Reproductive Rights
Nell Brimmer serves as the U.S. Regional Manager of Global Pro Bono at the Center for Reproductive Rights, where she oversees the development and implementation of pro bono strategies and partnerships supporting the organization’s domestic litigation and advocacy work. With over 13 years of experience as an attorney, Nell brings a deep commitment to advancing justice through collaborative partnerships and innovative approaches to legal advocacy. Prior to joining the Center in 2023, Nell was the Managing Attorney for Client Access and Pro Bono at Legal Services Alabama, where she led statewide initiatives to expand access to justice and strengthen pro bono engagement. Earlier, as Managing Attorney at Disability Rights Maine, Nell led litigation and policy reform efforts, advocating for the rights of individuals with disabilities. She began her legal career at King & Spalding, where she contributed to complex litigation while dedicating significant time to pro bono work. Nell earned her J.D. from John Marshall Law School and her B.A. from Salem State University. Licensed to practice law in Alabama, Maine, and Georgia, she is passionate about community empowerment and promoting systemic change.-
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Learn about the new AI Co-Pilots that legal aid and court help groups are building to assist lawyers and paralegals with delivering high-quality and efficient services to more people.
- The session will discuss how, during the design and testing of our Co-Pilots, we integrated diverse voices from the community and planned to prevent or mitigate biases in the tech system.
- Participants will learn about working AI Co-Pilots that they might adapt for their own work
Learn about the new AI Co-Pilots that legal aid and court help groups are building to assist lawyers and paralegals with delivering high-quality and efficient services to more people.
- The session will discuss how, during the design and testing of our Co-Pilots, we integrated diverse voices from the community and planned to prevent or mitigate biases in the tech system.
- Participants will learn about working AI Co-Pilots that they might adapt for their own work
Margaret Hagan, PhD, JD, MA
Executive Director
Legal Design Lab
Margaret Hagan is the executive director of the Legal Design Lab, an R&D lab for more accessible, intuitive, and engaging legal services at Stanford. She is a lecturer at Stanford Law School and Institute of Design (the d.school). She is a lawyer (JD, Stanford Law 2013) She teaches project-based classes, with interdisciplinary student groups tackling legal challenges through user-focused research and design of new legal products and services. Explore more about the Legal Design Lab http://legaltechdesign.com and see teh AI & Access to Justice Initiative at https://justiceinnovation.law.stanford.edu/projects/ai-access-to-justice/.Nora al Haider
Assistant Director
Stanford Legal Design Lab
Nóra Al Haider is the Assistant Director at the Stanford Legal Design Lab. Nóra is a multilingual lawyer and interdisciplinary researcher. She combines the fields of law, design, data and tech to increase access to justice and equity in the legal system. Nóra holds a Bachelor (honours) and Research Master in Law from Utrecht University in the Netherlands.-
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This session will highlight the importance of client stories in public messaging and explore practical strategies for identifying stories, communicating with clients, developing informed consent policies, and effectively elevating their voices. Done well, amplifying client stories is a mutually beneficial effort -- offering a platform to clients to share their lived experiences, and promoting the critical role legal aid plays in America.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to articulate why client stories are important to the future of civil legal aid.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to identify the markers of an effective client story.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to develop their own guiding principles for curating a client story library.
This session will highlight the importance of client stories in public messaging and explore practical strategies for identifying stories, communicating with clients, developing informed consent policies, and effectively elevating their voices. Done well, amplifying client stories is a mutually beneficial effort -- offering a platform to clients to share their lived experiences, and promoting the critical role legal aid plays in America.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to articulate why client stories are important to the future of civil legal aid.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to identify the markers of an effective client story.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to develop their own guiding principles for curating a client story library.
Kathryn Fanlund
Maria Duvuvuei
Patrick Maillet
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The session will provide an overview of best practices in immigration pro bono. Attendees will hear from practitioners in nonprofits and a large firm about their collaboration to provide pro bono services in immigration. The session will explore how to be ethical, creative, and efficient in building pro bono partnerships.
- Participants will be able to brainstorm how to collaborate with either nonprofit agencies or firms in pro bono immigration matters.
- Participants will be able to identify internal systems and resources that can be developed to collaborate in pro bono immigration matters.
- Participants if already collaborating with firms/nonprofits agencies will be able to identify additional tools that can improve the existing relationship in pro bono immigration matters.
The session will provide an overview of best practices in immigration pro bono. Attendees will hear from practitioners in nonprofits and a large firm about their collaboration to provide pro bono services in immigration. The session will explore how to be ethical, creative, and efficient in building pro bono partnerships.
- Participants will be able to brainstorm how to collaborate with either nonprofit agencies or firms in pro bono immigration matters.
- Participants will be able to identify internal systems and resources that can be developed to collaborate in pro bono immigration matters.
- Participants if already collaborating with firms/nonprofits agencies will be able to identify additional tools that can improve the existing relationship in pro bono immigration matters.
Jenna Gilbert
Pro Bono Immigration Counsel
Morrison Foerster LLP
Jenna Gilbert is Senior Director of Refugee Representation at Human Rights First, where she oversees Human Rights First’s pro bono legal representation program, which provides indigent asylum seekers with high quality legal representation in the New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles metropolitan areas. She previously served as the Managing Attorney of the Los Angeles office of Human Rights First, leading the Los Angeles team, overseeing the legal representation of indigent asylum seekers in the Los Angeles area, and training and mentoring pro bono volunteer lawyers. Prior to her role as Managing Attorney, Jenna was a Staff Attorney in both the New York and Los Angeles offices of Human Rights First. Before joining Human Rights First, Jenna was an associate attorney at an immigration law firm in Los Angeles, CA, where she managed a large caseload of defensive and affirmative immigration cases. Prior to that, Jenna received a public interest fellowship to work for Asylum Access Ecuador, where she provided legal services for refugees and led a prison advocacy project in an effort to ensure that detained migrants were guaranteed protection under the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol. Jenna has a dual degree in international relations and Spanish language and literature from the University of San Diego. She received her Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and is admitted to practice law in California. She is a frequent speaker on immigration-related topics affecting asylum seekers and is fluent in Spanish.
Stephanie Baez
Pro Bono Counsel
ABA Commission on Immigration
Stephanie Baez is the Director of Pro Bono for the ABA Commission on Immigration. In her role, Stephanie leads the Commission in its national pro bono work in supoprt of the Commission's mission of ensuring fair treatment and full due process rights for immigratns, asylum-seekers, and refugees within the United States. She develops and implements creative models to increase pro bono representation in immigration cases. Stephanie began her legal career as a litigation associate in the New York office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP where she was selected to spend one year as the Fried Frank Fellow to Her Justice, Inc., a nonprofit in New York that provides family law and immigration assistance to low-income women. After her fellowship, Stephanie was honored by Her Justice with the John Geiger Award for Commitment to Justice. Stephanie next served as a judicial clerk in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York. Following her clerkship, Stephanie moved to San Diego where she worked as a Supervising Attorney at the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program, before joining the Commission on Immigration team. Stephanie obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California, and received her Juris Doctorate from Fordham University School of Law, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude.
Nareeneh Sohbatian, Esq.
Pro Bono Counsel - Immigration
Winston & Strawn LLP
Nareeneh Sohbatian is Winston & Strawn LLP’s Pro Bono Counsel - Immigration. Ms. Sohbatian identifies needs and creates and implements procedures to address these needs in over 200 active immigration cases nationwide and oversees Pro Bono efforts in the California. She provides training, substantive supervision, and in-house mentorship to the firm’s attorneys in their pro bono immigration matters. She provides representation to clients in affirmative and defensive immigration cases, amici briefs, federal litigation, research, and special projects. Ms. Sohbatian is the Vice Chair of the American Immigration Law Association’s (AILA) National Pro Bono Committee, she is a Southern California AILA Pro Bono liaison, and a Commissioner of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration. She has written and presented on pro bono and substantive immigration law. In 2019, Ms. Sohbatian was recognized as a National Law Review Immigration Trail Blazer. Before joining Winston & Strawn LLP in 2016, Ms. Sohbatian was the managing attorney at Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project, a non-profit law firm in Los Angeles, California. There, she developed a streamlining process to improve the management of hundreds of cases, trained and supervised attorneys and paralegals, and represented unaccompanied minors in immigration removal defense cases. From 2012 to 2020, Ms. Sohbatian was an adjunct at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles where she worked with the school’s Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court teams. Ms. Sohbatian was also a pro bono attorney with the school’s International Human Rights Clinic. Following law school, she was the second Dickran Tevrizian Fellow and subsequently a staff attorney at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, where she managed health, public benefits, expungement, and employment cases in English, Spanish, and Armenian. Ms. Sohbatian received a B.A., cum laude, from University of California, Los Angeles in 2006, and a J.D. from Loyola Law School in 2011.-
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Legal aid organizations in Texas, Iowa, and Oklahoma have long supported low-income clients affected by natural disasters. Their expertise is now crucial for addressing legal needs from crises like mass shootings, building collapses, and industrial accidents. This session explores how legal aid adapts strategies, develops scalable models, fosters collaborations, and provides holistic support to affected communities.
- Crisis Response Framework: Attendees will learn how legal aid organizations can adapt disaster response frameworks for non-weather-related crises, ensuring swift and comprehensive legal assistance for affected communities.
- Collaborative Partnerships: Explore how legal aid providers can strengthen relationships with government agencies, community organizations, and other stakeholders to better coordinate crisis response and ensure clients receive integrated, trauma-informed support.
- Client-Centered Advocacy: Understand how to tailor legal services to meet the unique needs of individuals impacted by crises, including navigating complex benefits systems, addressing housing and employment issues, and securing civil rights protections.
Legal aid organizations in Texas, Iowa, and Oklahoma have long supported low-income clients affected by natural disasters. Their expertise is now crucial for addressing legal needs from crises like mass shootings, building collapses, and industrial accidents. This session explores how legal aid adapts strategies, develops scalable models, fosters collaborations, and provides holistic support to affected communities.
- Crisis Response Framework: Attendees will learn how legal aid organizations can adapt disaster response frameworks for non-weather-related crises, ensuring swift and comprehensive legal assistance for affected communities.
- Collaborative Partnerships: Explore how legal aid providers can strengthen relationships with government agencies, community organizations, and other stakeholders to better coordinate crisis response and ensure clients receive integrated, trauma-informed support.
- Client-Centered Advocacy: Understand how to tailor legal services to meet the unique needs of individuals impacted by crises, including navigating complex benefits systems, addressing housing and employment issues, and securing civil rights protections.
Christa Figgins
Brittanny Gomez, JD
Disaster Benefits Team Manager
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
Brittanny Perrigue Gomez is the Disaster Benefits Team Manager at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), the second-largest legal service provider in the nation and the largest in Texas. In this role, she advocates for low-income individuals affected by natural disasters, providing critical assistance with FEMA, SBA, and Texas Health and Human Services Other Needs Assistance programs. Her work also includes helping disaster survivors clear title to their homes, enabling them to access much-needed financial disaster relief..jpg "Speaker image")
Josh Gaul
Josh Gaul has worked for Iowa Legal Aid since August 10, 2009. He has served in the role of Staff Attorney, Senior Staff Attorney, and was promoted to Managing Attorney in 2020. He currently manages Iowa Legal Aid’s Disaster Project, Legal Hotline for Older Iowans, and Rural Justice Project for Older Iowans. Josh graduated from Drake University Law School with High Honors in May of 2009.-
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On the surface, it may not seem that a volunteer and their low-income client have a lot in common, but what simmers below the surface can define a successful attorney-client relationship. This session will identify factors that affect how volunteers assist clients and clients receive that assistance.
- Demonstrate how a busy, volunteer attorney and a low-income client in crisis have more in common than you might think.
- Demonstrate why cultural competency is essential to pro bono services and identify "other" factors outside of the core "standard" factors that could impact a client's ability to receive legal services, and how to differentiate between "Capital C" challenges and "lower c" challenges.
- Develop tools and training materials to address the factors and biases addressed in the session to promote best practice engagement and develop cultural competency for the clients they assist.
On the surface, it may not seem that a volunteer and their low-income client have a lot in common, but what simmers below the surface can define a successful attorney-client relationship. This session will identify factors that affect how volunteers assist clients and clients receive that assistance.
- Demonstrate how a busy, volunteer attorney and a low-income client in crisis have more in common than you might think.
- Demonstrate why cultural competency is essential to pro bono services and identify "other" factors outside of the core "standard" factors that could impact a client's ability to receive legal services, and how to differentiate between "Capital C" challenges and "lower c" challenges.
- Develop tools and training materials to address the factors and biases addressed in the session to promote best practice engagement and develop cultural competency for the clients they assist.
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Samantha Howell, JD
Pro Bono Director
Three Rivers Legal Services, Inc.
Samantha Howell (she/her) is the Pro Bono Director at Three Rivers Legal Services. She has over a decade of experience in creating and managing pro bono/volunteer programs, with experience at three statewide organizations, a law school, and LSC- and non-LSC funded programs. Samantha serves is the current president of the Florida Pro Bono Coordinators Association (FPBCA), serves on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Pro Bono Professionals, and is co-chair of the Jacksonville Bar Association's Pro Bono Committee. She also serves on: The Florida Bar's Public Interest Law Section's Advocacy and Civil Rights sub-committees; the Eighth Judicial Circuit Bar Assocation (and its Pro Bono Committee); the Pro Bono Committees of the 3rd, 4th, and 8th Judicial Circuits of Florida; and is a member of the Florida Association of Women Lawyers. She is admitted to practice in the state courts of Florida and New York, and in the Southern District federal courts of New York and Florida. Samantha has a B.A. in Political Sociology from Whitman College and obtained her J.D. from Albany Law School in 2010. She is the recipient of the 2022 Kay B. Meyers Pro Bono Coordinator Award from the FPBCA. She also received the 2014 Supervisor Award from the Albany Law School Pro Bono Program, and the 2017 Public Citizen of the Year Award from the New York State Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.
Ana Reynolds-Sprague, JD
Pro Bono Coordinator
Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, Inc.
Ana Reynolds-Sprague is the Pro Bono Coordinator for Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, Inc. (LASO) in their Oklahoma City office, where she works to expand LASO’s Pro Bono Program. While new to both the legal and pro bono world, Ana has been immersed in the Nonprofit world most of her life. Her mother was the director of her local Boys & Girls Club, where she spent most of her free time volunteering. Watching her mom work to rebuild the organization, and expand its reach inspired her to always work hard, and to lend a helping hand whenever possible. This mindset led her to volunteer at her local theatre where she did everything from selling tickets to lighting design of full productions. Originally from New Mexico, she obtained a B.A. in Government from New Mexico State University in 2018, graduating with honors. Upon graduation she moved to Oklahoma to attend Oklahoma City University School of Law (OCU). While at OCU, Ana was selected to be a member of the Oklahoma City University Law Review and serve as an Academic Fellow, tutoring students in Civil Procedure and Property Law. She also worked at the Oklahoma City University Law Library, where she assisted professors with research projects; including one that was published in The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology in 2023. Her last year of law school she worked for the Oklahoma Access to Justice Foundation where she made connections that led her to her current position. Ana obtained her J.D. from Oklahoma City University School of Law in 2022 and was admitted to practice law in Oklahoma. She is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, where she sits on the Oklahoma Access to Justice Committee, and she is a member of the National Association of Pro Bono Professionals (NAPBPRO).
Aili Monahan, JD
Director, Pro Bono Partnerships Project
Northeast New Jersey Legal Services
Aili C. Monahan is the Director of the Pro Bono Partnerships Project at Northeast New Jersey Legal Services. In her role as Director, she manages a team of five full-time pro bono staff in their mission to provide access to justice to residents of Bergen, Hudson, and Passaic Counties in New Jersey. As a 2024 grantee of the Pro Bono Innovation Fund of the Legal Services Corporation, Aili also manages NNJLS’s Clean Record Initiative, which provides full scope legal representation to individuals seeking to clear their criminal history in New Jersey. Currently, Aili serves on the Pro Bono Committee for the New Jersey State Bar Association and is a member of the National Assocation of Pro Bono Professionals. Prior to joining NNJLS in 2023, Aili managed a solo law firm where she concentrated her legal practice on providing specialized in-house litigation services to multi-state insurance companies. Aili also worked as a Pool Attorney for the Office of the Law Guardian, where she represented children who were involved in the child welfare system. Earlier in her career, Aili served as a Case Supervisor at Hudson County Court-Appointment Special Advocates (CASA), where, as one of the only attorneys on staff, she supervised CASA volunteers in their work to advocate for CASA’s goals of securing safe, permanent homes for children whose families were involved in the child welfare system. Aili started her legal career as a commercial litigation attorney at a large firm in New Jersey and previously clerked in the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey. Aili earned a B.A. in mathematics from Bryn Mawr College and a J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law. She is admitted to practice law in New Jersey, New York, and the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.-
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Effective research partnerships between civil justice researchers, practitioners and policymakers are critical for building evidence-based policies and programs. This session will explore diverse perspectives, including from legal aid, courts, and researchers, on how to build and sustain effective research partnerships to advance access to justice.
- Participants will learn about how to identify research questions and clear evaluation goals.
- Participants will learn about how to find and engage with researchers and research institutions.
- Particpants will learn about how to sustain effective research partnerships.
Effective research partnerships between civil justice researchers, practitioners and policymakers are critical for building evidence-based policies and programs. This session will explore diverse perspectives, including from legal aid, courts, and researchers, on how to build and sustain effective research partnerships to advance access to justice.
- Participants will learn about how to identify research questions and clear evaluation goals.
- Participants will learn about how to find and engage with researchers and research institutions.
- Particpants will learn about how to sustain effective research partnerships.
Samantha DiDomenico
Matthew Burnett
Matthew Burnett is Senior Program Officer for the Access to Justice Research Initiative at the American Bar Foundation (ABF) and visiting scholar for Justice Futures at Arizona State University. Prior to joining the ABF, Matthew was Senior Policy Officer at Open Society Foundations (OSF), where he worked to advance access to justice and legal empowerment through research, advocacy, litigation, and grantmaking in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the United States. Earlier in his career he co-founded and led the Immigration Advocates Network and served as law clerk to Justice Z.M. Yacoob of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Matthew’s writing on access to justice and legal empowerment has appeared in more than 20 publications, and he has given more than 80 presentations and workshops around the world. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the World Bank, the US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the International Development Research Centre (Canada). Matthew currently serves as an advisor to the National Center for Access to Justice and is co-founder, with Rebecca Sandefur, of Frontline Justice.
Rebecca Sandefur
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Program Description: This session explores how strategic partnerships among legal services organizations, law firms, companies, and expert consultants enhance legal services. Participants will learn from real-world examples, discuss overcoming barriers, and gain practical tools to forge impactful alliances, ultimately improving access to justice for underserved communities.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to identify common challenges faced by pro bono lawyers and their clients, as well as experience opportunities for networking and collaboration across various sectors.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to describe a successful partnership model that demonstrates effective collaboration among law firms, corporate legal departments, and expert service providers.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to explain how integrating expert services--such as e-discovery, forensic accounting, and translation/interpretation--into pro bono work can enhance case outcomes and expand access to justice.
Program Description: This session explores how strategic partnerships among legal services organizations, law firms, companies, and expert consultants enhance legal services. Participants will learn from real-world examples, discuss overcoming barriers, and gain practical tools to forge impactful alliances, ultimately improving access to justice for underserved communities.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to identify common challenges faced by pro bono lawyers and their clients, as well as experience opportunities for networking and collaboration across various sectors.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to describe a successful partnership model that demonstrates effective collaboration among law firms, corporate legal departments, and expert service providers.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to explain how integrating expert services--such as e-discovery, forensic accounting, and translation/interpretation--into pro bono work can enhance case outcomes and expand access to justice.
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Erin Palmer, JD, MA
Associate Director, Corporate Pro Bono
Pro Bono Institute
Erin Palmer joined PBI in 2024 as the Associate Director of the Corporate Pro Bono project. Previously, Erin served as an ethics lawyer for the federal Judiciary, where she specialized in workplace accountability. She has also worked as a litigation associate at Clifford Chance US LLP, where she focused heavily on pro bono matters including winning asylum for an individual fleeing state violence due to their political beliefs, representing a child with disabilities at a local school to ensure they received needed educational supports, and filing briefs with the United States Supreme Court on the science regarding youth brain development to end the use of life without parole sentences for youth offenders, as well as served as Supervising Attorney of a human rights litigation clinic at American University Washington College of Law and a law clerk at the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Erin invests heavily in local community and public service. She served from 2019 through 2024 as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, a non-partisan, volunteer neighborhood-level elected official. Erin graduated from the University of Pennsylvania where she majored in Politics, Philosophy & Economics and Spanish (with distinction) and from American University Washington College of Law (JD), cum laude, and American University School of International Service (MA), with a specialization in international peace and conflict resolution..jpg "Speaker image")
Lisa Dane, MA Criminal Justice
Vice President
Charles River Associates
Lisa Dane Vice President Charles River Associates Ms. Dane is a vice president in the Risk, Investigations & Analytics Practice at Charles River Associates ("CRA"). She has over 25 years of experience conducting white collar investigations for law firms and multi-national businesses. Working closely with attorneys, forensic accountants, data analytics experts, and computer forensics specialists, Ms. Dane has led numerous large-scale, global investigations involving fraud, internal corruption, Ponzi schemes, IP theft, FCPA matters and activist issues. She also routinely assists clients in conducting reputational due diligence on individuals and entities in sensitive pre-transaction matters, and she has extensive experience in global asset tracing matters for financial institutions and corporate clients. Prior to joining CRA, Ms. Dane was a Senior Managing Director and Co-Leader of a business advisory firm’s Global Risk & Investigations Practice, as well as a senior leader of an international professional services firm’s Business Intelligence Services practice. In addition to serving as co-chair of CRA’s Pro Bono Committee, Lisa leads CRA’s pro bono efforts for Sanctuary for Families, New York’s leading service provider and advocate for survivors of domestic violence, sex trafficking, and related forms of gender violence, where she serves as a member of their Legal Advisory Council and the Narkis Golan International Child Abduction Initiative focusing on Hague-related matters.
Lesley Johannsen, JD
Senior Staff Attorney
Sanctuary for Families
Lesley Johannsen is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Narkis Golan International Child Abduction Initiative (the “NGI”) at Sanctuary for Families, a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting survivors of domestic violence, sex trafficking, and other forms of gender-based violence. The NGI’s work focuses on assisting domestic violence survivors who fled across international borders with their children, and face litigation that falls under the 1980 Hague Convention on International Child Abduction. The Initiative provides trainings, consultations, and technical assistance; secures pro bono representation for clients; files amicus briefs; and advocates with governmental agencies to increase access to justice for these survivors. Prior to her move to Sanctuary for Families, Lesley worked for the New York State Office of Court Administration for over a decade, most recently as a Court-Attorney Referee in Bronx Family Court, where she presided over custody, visitation, order of protection, guardianship, and SIJS matters. She also previously served as a court attorney to judges in the Supreme Matrimonial Part; the Integrated Domestic Violence Part; and the Child Protection Part in Family Court. Lesley is a current member of the City Bar’s Pro Bono and Legal Services Committee. Lesley graduated from Brooklyn Law School, where she was awarded the Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Fellowship. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Trinity College.
Dara Sheinfeld, JD
Counsel, Head of Pro Bono Litigation
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Dara Sheinfeld is Counsel and Head of Pro Bono Litigation at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. In this role, she helps manage the firm’s pro bono practice and supervises many pro bono matters, including federal Hague litigation, custody/visitation, abuse/neglect, child support, family offense, and matrimonial matters, criminal and family law appeals, criminal resentencing motions, clemency matters, and civil litigation. Given her vast trial experience, Ms. Sheinfeld plays an integral role in supervising associates on pro bono trials and developing the firm’s pro bono trial program. Since 2017, Ms. Sheinfeld has handled or advised on successful New York State clemency campaigns for three survivors of domestic violence, cumulatively removing decades from their terms of incarceration. Ms. Sheinfeld also provides monthly family law advice at three separate clinics – at the New York City Family Courts, through the Family Court Volunteer Lawyers Project; at the Manhattan Family Justice Center, through a collaboration with Sanctuary for Families; and at Taconic Correctional Facility, through the Incarcerated Mothers Law Project, facilitated by Volunteers of Legal Services. Ms. Sheinfeld previously worked as a Family Law Director at Sanctuary for Families, where she oversaw the practices in the Bronx and Manhattan Family Justice Centers. Prior to working at Sanctuary for Families, Ms. Sheinfeld was a litigation associate at Davis Polk. Early in her legal career, Ms. Sheinfeld also clerked for the Honorable Harold Baer, Jr. in the Southern District of New York. In 2006, Ms. Sheinfeld created a law curriculum for elementary and middle school students, and has been teaching weekly since that time. She also pioneered the expansion of this law program to a middle school in the Bronx. Ms. Sheinfeld graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University and cum laude from New York University School of Law.
Beth Hofmeister, JD
Supervising Attorney
The Legal Aid Society
Beth Hofmeister is a Supervising Attorney in the Pro Bono Practice of The Legal Aid Society, the nation’s oldest and largest social justice law firm. Whether through individual representation, community-directed projects and clinics, or bringing significant civil rights litigation, each year the Pro Bono Practice provides over two thousand volunteers from New York City law firms and in-house corporate legal departments with training, supervision, and mentorship. These volunteers help Legal Aid staff deliver life-changing assistance to a multitude of clients each year. Prior to her move into the Pro Bono Practice, Beth was an attorney in the Law Reform Unit of LAS’ Civil Practice where she provided individual and class representation to homeless New Yorkers for almost a decade with the Homeless Rights Project. In addition to notable pandemic-related litigation, Beth monitored and enforced right to shelter litigation in New York City, including a ground-breaking settlement on behalf of homeless youth. Beth began her legal career as an attorney in Legal Aid’s Juvenile Rights Practice where she represented children in both child welfare and juvenile justice proceedings, and on various class action cases in their Special Litigation and Law Reform Unit. Beth is a current member of the City Bar’s Pro Bono and Legal Services Committee, the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Legal Aid and Pro Bono Coordinators Network, and is a Co-Chair of the Public Interest Pro Bono Association (PIPBA). Beth serves on the board of the Coalition for Homeless Youth and previously Beth served as a union officer for the Association of Legal Aid Attorney, UAW Local 2325 for over twelve years. Beth graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law as a Civitas Child Law Fellow. As an undergraduate she received a B.A. in Child Development and a Certificate in Community Health from Tufts University.Samantha DiDomenico
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Includes CreditsThis session will explore how efforts to foster civic culture are strengthened by engaged and deliberate civil justice strategies that center cultural organizing. Panelists will present emerging consensus about practices that shape community well-being and foster engagement that enables sustainable legal empowerment projects. Central to the conversation is arts and culture work supported by the East Boston Spatial Lab, a collaboration among community organizations in East Boston and the NuLawLab at Northeastern University. Hear from the project’s researchers that will discuss their transdisciplinary methodology and community outreach efforts.This session will explore how efforts to foster civic culture are strengthened by engaged and deliberate civil justice strategies that center cultural organizing. Panelists will present emerging consensus about practices that shape community well-being and foster engagement that enables sustainable legal empowerment projects. Central to the conversation is arts and culture work supported by the East Boston Spatial Lab, a collaboration among community organizations in East Boston and the NuLawLab at Northeastern University. Hear from the project’s researchers that will discuss their transdisciplinary methodology and community outreach efforts.
Jules Sievert
William Pattern
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Eduardo Gonzalez
Award recipient recognized as a civil justice strategist and field builder. Network connector, cross-disciplinary coordinator, and effective steward of multi-stakeholder collaboration across complex justice issues. With a proven record of bridging together frontline and grassroots approaches with national initiatives and thought leaders, Eduardo serves as a vital connector across the civil justice field. Eduardo currently serves as the interim Executive Director for the NuLawLab at Northeastern University, working with the East Boston community to develop resources and connections to empower residents and tenants through community organizing and arts and culture programming. As the Program Officer for Civil Justice at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Academy), he led an implementation effort of recommendations from the Academy's Civil Justice for All Report. With deep knowledge about the access to justice ecosystem, Eduardo unlocks collaborative potential between civil justice organizations, legal professionals and specialists, and the initiatives they lead to achieve access to justice for all. By cultivating a collegial network of professionals and serving as a steward for these efforts, Eduardo expands awareness of emerging best practices, innovative technology tools, and critical civil justice research.-
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