PRO BONO | Veterans Legal Services

APPLY TO VOLUNTEER

For more information about
pro bono opportunities, email
VLS Pro Bono Director
Angie Vargas Martin at angie@veteranslegalservices.org

PRO BONO OPPORTUNITIES

Veterans Legal Services welcomes attorney volunteers interested in accepting pro bono case assignments and/or mentoring less experienced attorneys in their areas of specialization. Volunteer opportunities include:

Accept pro bono case assignments
Counsel veterans at Stand Down, Yellow Ribbon events, and other periodic legal aid events
Mentor other volunteer attorneys

VLS supports its volunteer attorneys in a number of ways:

Coverage through VLS's malpractice insurance
Mentorship and support on veterans' issues
Free access to trainings and networking events

VLS Pro Bono Director Angie Vargas Martin

Mia Frabotta

Partner, McCarter & English

" You will rarely have the opportunity to make such a critical difference in the life of another person as you will volunteering to provide legal services to help veterans. Working with VLS is one of the most rewarding volunteer experiences you can have as a lawyer."

VLS & the Boston Bar Association Present:

The Value of Volunteering to Help Our Military Veterans

For hundreds of Massachusetts veterans, civil legal aid is a catalyst for stability. Legal services rank among veterans’ top three unmet needs, according to the Institute for Veterans and Military Families. Legal assistance and representation are key to veterans securing adequate and permanent housing; accessing specialized benefits; capitalizing on their full economic potential; and facilitating their well-being.

VLS’s 255-member network of volunteer attorneys provides critical capacity in VLS’s fight to make access to justice more equitable and holistically support veterans in overcoming adversity and living the happy, healthy, and dignified lives they deserve. Answering VLS’s call to service is a meaningful and rewarding way to make a difference for individual veterans, families, and communities. It also affords multiple opportunities to gain pro bono service hours while developing rich advocacy expertise across a wide range of civil law practice areas.

Pro Bono Spotlight: Jared Spinelli

Jared Spinelli is a product of the times he grew up in. He has always wanted to serve others, and has carved out his own path in doing so.

Pro Bono Spotlight: James Gallagher

James Gallagher, of Davis Malm, is proud to carry on his family's tradition of service through the military and the law.

Pro Bono Spotlight: Stephanie Chesney

Stephanie Chesney, Esq., of MG+M in Boston, knows a thing or two about civilian support for the U.S. military.

Access to Justice Fellows

2022-2023: Michelle Wolf, Esq.

Veterans Disability Benefits

2019-2020: Pamela Meister, Esq.
Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (ret.)

2018-2019: Jonathan Feltner, Esq.
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (ret.); Crispin Birnbaum, Esq. Massachusetts Probation Service

2017-2018: Steve Parker, Esq.

Mintz (ret.)

2016-2017: Hon. Paul A. Chernoff (ret.)

2015-2016: Hon. John C. Cratsley (ret.)

2014-2015: Jordan Krasnow, Esq.
Goulston & Storrs (Of Counsel), and Richard Allen, Esq. Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (Board President) and Casner & Edwards (ret.)

2013-2014: Rosemary Allen, Esq.