ECBA Volunteer Lawyers Project

VLP involves volunteer attorneys by recruiting, training, coordinating and assisting attorneys who volunteer to represent VLP's clients on a pro bono basis. We have been doing this work since 1983 when we were created as a joint project of the Erie County Bar Association and Neighborhood Legal Services. After 30 years, over 2000 local attorneys have represented over 27,000 clients on a pro bono basis. During that period, VLP (with its staff and volunteers) has represented over 55,000 clients and provided information and referral to approximately 72,000 more people. This work has had incredibly important consequences for our clients and their families. We have kept families from becoming homeless through defense of tax foreclosures and evictions. We helped unaccompanied minors and immigrant victims of human trafficking to receive fair treatment under the immigration law. The list could go on and on, but in each case you would see real impact on people's lives and their abilities to support their families and to keep them safe.