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Categories Cohort and Executive Learning

Access the 2026 California Pro Bono Conference Agenda & Sessions

Description

Welcome to the 2026 California Pro Bono Conference Portal! Please register and log in to access materials and resources. Materials will be added as they become available.
 
We look forward to a productive day of conversations, collaboration, and strategic thinking. Thank you for being here!
 
At a glance conference agenda: 

Course Content

Agenda at a glance

  • Conference agenda

10:00 a.m. – 11:20 a.m. – Laurel – Eureka to Indio and Beyond: Building a Statewide Coordinated Pro Bono Ecosystem for All Californians, with an Emphasis on Serving Rural and Underserved Communities
Across California, legal services organizations, law firms, bar associations, law schools, support centers, and other partners are collaborating in new ways to expand access to justice, especially in rural and historically underserved communities. As community needs grow more complex and resources remain limited, coordinated statewide approaches to pro bono are increasingly essential. This interactive plenary will highlight how stakeholders are leveraging partnerships, technology, and shared infrastructure to build a more connected pro bono ecosystem. Join leaders from across the sector in discussing strategies for coordinating service delivery, engaging volunteers, scaling impact, and ensuring broader reach beyond traditional service models. Together, we will work to identify priority collaborations for collective focus and explore how to build and sustain a truly statewide pro bono network advancing meaningful access to justice for all Californians.

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Laurel – Immigration Pro Bono Innovations and Challenges
Join us for a discussion around immigration pro bono innovations and challenges in the face of Trump 2.0 and immigration enforcement. Topics will include scope of representation (full/limited scope), expanding representation to include habeas petitions, clinics, research, drafting and other opportunities in the immigration space.

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Uptown – Language Justice in California: What’s New, What’s Next
This session is a practical equity-centered overview of recent developments in language justice, language rights obligations, and the barriers that continue to affect linguistically marginalized communities. Participants will explore select federal, state, and local laws, including the federal rollback of language rights protections and critically examine technology’s promise of efficiency alongside the risk of exacerbating barriers to access. The session will highlight creative advocacy strategies and concrete tools for supporting clients who interact with government agencies, institutions, and adversaries.

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Eastmont – Disaster Recovery Efforts in the Wake of the LA Wildfires
Prior to the devastating 2025 LA wildfire disaster, our community had limited resources for providing disaster legal services.  Thankfully, with the help of experienced disaster legal aid providers and new funding, the Los Angeles legal aid and pro bono community was able to quickly pivot to meet the needs of wildfire survivors. Presenters will share lessons learned from the immediate response, collaborations, and ongoing efforts to help survivors navigate disaster recovery. They will discuss the role that law schools and law students can play in disaster legal aid. They will invite discussion on how we as a legal aid and pro bono community can best support the ongoing needs of the impacted community and how we can be better prepared to respond to future disasters and their environmental impacts.

1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. – Laurel – Limited Scope Pro Bono Immigration Services: A Practical Response to an Overwhelming Need
This session will explore innovative models for engaging pro bono attorneys in immigration work by breaking full cases into manageable, time-limited projects. Many firms hesitate to take on full representation due to years-long backlogs and the risk of attorney turnover, but discrete tasks, such as assisting clients in drafting asylum declarations, conducting country conditions research, or representing applicants at naturalization interviews, offer meaningful ways to contribute without long-term commitment. This session will highlight examples of successful project-based collaborations and discuss how these approaches expand access to justice while deepening attorney engagement.

1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. – Uptown – Housing Justice is Racial Justice: A Look At Innovative Programs To Combat Homelessness
Housing justice is one of today's key civil rights issues. Poll after poll show that California voters view homelessness as the single most crucial issue facing the state. The disproportionate impact on individuals and families of color is clear. California sits at the center of creative ways to tackle the problem. This session will explore unique programs to prevent homelessness in the first instance, highlight the efforts to combat criminalization attempts, discuss right to counsel programs, and examine a never-before-attempted project that catalogues, evaluates, and analyzes a wide array of regulations, laws, ordinances, plans, proposals to reduce the incidents of homelessness. This massive research project, originally presented at last year's Conference, is ready for further discussion, including how AI can be used to sift through thousands of sources to come up with plans that adapt to individual communities with individually certain circumstances. These efforts, unique in their approach, untried in collaboration, will be the basis of discussion focused on addressing this critical racial justice and housing justice issue.

1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. – Eastmont – Different Strokes for Different Folks: Differing Models of Pro Bono Support for Nonprofits
Nonprofits are facing increasing legal challenges due to a rapidly changing landscape that includes new executive orders, changes in federal policies, and related issues. Join us to discuss different models of pro bono engagement to support the varying needs of nonprofit clients.

1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. – Elmhurst – Building Generational Wealth through Pro Bono Workshops
This work started with an idea: we want low-income families to have the same access to estate planning as high-net-worth clients. This has always been a critical tool for building generational wealth, but it becomes even more important as fear grows in our communities. Learn how an idea became a reality that touched hundreds of lives in its first year through pro bono engagement at every level in the firm, from administrative staff to notaries to paralegals and attorneys.

2:40 p.m. – 3:40 p.m. – Laurel – Stronger Together: A Push for Increased Mental Health Collaboration
Pro bono work can be a powerful force for good. It creates meaningful impact for communities, expands services for both long-standing and emerging legal needs, and changes clients’ lives. Thoughtfully done, it can also enhance a lawyer’s personal well-being, purpose, satisfaction, and resilience. This session highlights how collaboration among law firms, mental health professionals, and legal aid organizations can strengthen both volunteer engagement and lawyer wellness. Participants will engage in rich, open conversation about integrating volunteerism into professional routines, building organizational systems that maximize both community impact and personal fulfillment, and meaningfully sharing resources. Examples include encouraging law firms with access to wellness resources to invite pro bono partner LSOs with more restricted budgets to participate in programs, fostering frank conversations that increase kindness and perspective, and treating wellness as a practical skill rather than just a buzzword.

2:40 p.m. – 3:40 p.m. – Uptown – Data with Balance: Captivating Without Becoming Captive
This session explores how legal aid organizations can use data to inspire funders and volunteers without losing sight of mission or community needs. Learn strategies for aligning grant deliverables with real-world impact, effectively communicating data to funders, and requesting modifications when needs shift. This session will examine how data can be misused or oversimplified - and how maintaining integrity in storytelling ensures continued trust, funding, and meaningful service to those who need it most.

2:40 p.m. – 3:40 p.m. – Eastmont – Beyond Pro Bono Legal Services: Firm-Wide Support for Access to Justice
Join us to examine how law firms can transform the landscape for legal aid organizations with limited budgets and resources by offering more than pro bono case partnerships. As a business, law firms have valuable expertise from IT professionals to operations support, administrative legal advice, and more. Learn from real-world examples of using a wrap-around services approach in supporting a legal aid organization with everything from office design to negotiating computer pricing.

3:45 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. – Laurel – Redefining Success in Challenging Times: Preserving Rights, Reimagining Justice

Free
Free access this course
  • Level
    All Levels
  • Total Enrolled
    72
  • Last Updated
    April 15, 2026

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