Volunteer Project

Indiana Legal Services - 030177

Abstract Number: 030177

December 2003

Indiana Legal Services (ILS) implemented a volunteer pilot project in its South Bend office to recruit, retain, and effectively use volunteer non-attorney, attorney and technological staff. The South Bend office has devoted one full-time paid staff member to the primary task of recruitment, training, and recognition of non-attorney volunteers. ILS has another staff member who spends approximately 50% of her time doing the same work with pro bono attorneys. As a result, the South Bend Office has 269 pro bono attorneys and has drastically increased its use of student and community volunteers. The South Bend office currently has 50 volunteer intake specialists, 4 volunteer administrative clerical staff, 3 volunteer attorney assistants, 3 volunteer Spanish language translators, and 3 volunteer law students.

ILS has experimented with a number of approaches to working with volunteers and has found they are most successful when they dedicate a full-time staff member to coordinating and training volunteers. ILS has attempted a number of arrangements such as placing a paralegal or an attorney with supervisory responsibilities over volunteers but found that the pull of their legal work resulted in a less effective use of volunteers. Each ILS office uses volunteers and now has a designated person who recruits, trains, praises, and coordinates volunteers. ILS intake and attorney assistant volunteers undergo an extensive training program consisting of 15 hours of formal training with 7 to 10 additional hours of work under close supervision.

ILS works with a number of different types of volunteers such as students, Americorps volunteers, community volunteers, and Pro Bono attorneys. For programs launching a volunteer project, ILS has found that student volunteers are fairly easy to integrate into the program's work and are quick learners and typically possess a degree of familiarity with technology that allows them to quickly learn how to use, navigate, and understand a program's case management and intake systems. ILS' South Bend office has benefited from working with eight local colleges and two law schools to develop formal internship programs. In addition, ILS also has worked with student social justice and paralegal clubs to provide enriching volunteer opportunities for their members. ILS trains most students to perform intake although some have worked on special projects such as surveying program applicants to determine how the intake process might be improved. Volunteer law student services are offered not only to staff but also to pro bono attorneys for cases referred to support pro bono efforts. In addition to recruiting students who are studying law or have an interest in social services, ILS has also recruited computer science graduate students who are used for technology support staff statewide. This use of computer science students as technology support staff has been detailed on LRI at: http://www.lri.lsc.gov/abstracts/030012/tech_030012.htm.

While students may be the easiest to recruit, some organizations have found that the transience of student volunteers lead to high turnover as well as erratic scheduling. ILS has found that Community volunteers, on the other hand, tend to provide more long term stability to a volunteer program but tend to be more difficult to recruit. To recruit community volunteers, ILS partnered with three social service agencies that serve as volunteer clearinghouses. ILS' Volunteer Coordinator works closely with these agencies on volunteer recruitment and recognition events. ILS had two volunteers receive "Volunteer of the Year" awards from two such agencies for their work with our program. ILS also works with the faith community to recruit volunteers and has pursued Americorps grants as well. Finally, ILS has made inroads in recruiting volunteers through the private sector. ILS has had local attorneys allow their staff to spend a half day a week to volunteer with us. The local newspaper advertises volunteer opportunities for ILS at no charge. ILS is currently attempting to expand into creating a volunteer partnership with other local businesses as well.

ILS' close ties with local pro bono committees have led to the effective recruitment of pro bono attorneys. Each committee has representatives from the judiciary, the local bar, social service agencies, and all legal services providers and law schools in its district. ILS participates in each district to develop a local pro bono recruitment plan. Plans are reviewed by a State Pro Bono Commission which also includes representatives from the judiciary, the state bar, legal service providers, and law schools. The State Pro Bono Commission makes IOLTA funding recommendations for the various district committees. This collaboration with the justice community has resulted in the increased availability of pro bono attorneys, increasing representation to clients.

By more effectively recruiting and using volunteers, the South Bend Office has been able to provide evening intake hours, do intake offsite at various shelters and facilities throughout the community, and provide in-house translation services for persons not fluent in English. In addition to increasing program resources, a community volunteer project has the added benefit of augmenting community support for the program and its services. ILS has found that volunteers become individual "ambassadors" for the program which sometimes results in writing laudatory letters to local newspapers, having their work profiled in other local media, and recruiting other volunteers.

Contact Information:

Norman P. Metzger
Executive Director
Indiana Legal Services, Inc.
Market Square Center, Suite 1640
151 North Delaware Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Phone: (317) 631-1395
Fax: (317) 631-9773
Email

Angelika Mueller
Indiana Legal Services
105 E. Jefferson Blvd, Suite 600
South Bend, IN 46601
Phone: (219) 234-8121
Fax: (219) 239-2185
Email

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