Volunteers are important members of the Advancing Justice-LA family. Last year, over 700 individuals graciously donated nearly 25,000 hours, to help our staff fulfill our mission to advocate for civil rights, provide legal services and education, and build coalitions to improve the lives of our clients and empower our communities.
We have pro bono opportunities for attorneys; volunteer opportunities for all community members, and internships for students seeking professional experience. Please check this page often for the latest ways to get involved with Advancing Justice - LA! To be added to Advancing Justice-LA's volunteer database, and to receive periodic emails regarding volunteer opportunities, please complete this form.
Volunteer Opportunities
***Update as of 6/25/20: Because of our ongoing office closure due to COVID-19, we have been providing services to the community virtually, and currently do not have any in-person volunteer needs. Watch this space for updates with any virtual volunteer needs during this time!***
Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles seeks volunteer and pro bono assistance in various program areas. Interested volunteers and pro bono attorneys must sign up as indicated below. Please note that Advancing Justice receives a large volume of email from volunteers, and therefore you will not receive an individualized email response upon signing up.
You will receive a final email confirmation regarding volunteering approximately 24-48 hours before a specific clinic/workshop/event, as clients typically sign up during that time, and Advancing Justice can then confirm volunteer needs. Thank you for your understanding! Please contact Individual Giving Associate Michi Lew with any questions.
Citizenship/Naturalization Workshops and Clinics
What: Citizenship Workshop volunteers help individuals complete the Application for Naturalization (Form N-400), assess eligibility for various waivers, and provide in-language resources on the naturalization process. Advancing Justice will provide training in advance, and supervision. General volunteers will assist clients with preparation of the applications, while attorney volunteers will assist with legal review as the applications are completed.
Please note that you must be trained prior to volunteering at an upcoming citizenship workshop. Please contact Pro Bono Director Christina Yang, Esq. to receive details on how to complete online webinar training.
Volunteer Sign-Up Procedures:
Because client needs are not finalized until 1-2 days before each clinic, interested volunteers will be asked to indicate their anticipated availability, and volunteers will be contacted approximately 1-2 days in advance to confirm assignments. In other words, if you are NOT contacted a few days before a workshop by our staff, please assume you do NOT need to volunteer for that workshop.
Once you receive your confirmation email from our staff, you MUST RESPOND within 24 hours to confirm your availability. Otherwise we will reassign your slot to another volunteer. Thank you for your understanding of our efforts to combat last-minute volunteer cancellations!
Interpreters
Advancing Justice-LA provides services to diverse communities, and is committed to helping them overcome language-access barriers to education, legal, healthcare, and other institutions. Help us create access by donating your interpretation and translation skills! We maintain a volunteer interpreter corps that our staff reaches out to on an as-needed basis, and have particular need for Asian and Pacific Islander languages, including but not limited to Bengali, Cantonese, Hmong, Khmer, Korean, Mandarin, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese, as well as Spanish.
To offer interpreter services, please contact Michi Lew with your language proficiency and availability.
Pro Bono
Pro Bono Advisory Council: This Council is the first of its kind at Advancing Justice-LA, and is complementary to the existing Board of Directors and Executive Advisory Council. Advancing Justice-LA relies on the Pro Bono Advisory Council for guidance in the development of its pro bono programs, and members maintain ongoing relationships with the organization. Advancing Justice-LA turns to Council members first as a resource in assisting with pro bono matters and issues. The Pro Bono Advisory Council also helps raise vital funds and resources needed to support and expand Advancing Justice-LA’s pro bono programs. Members include attorneys from major national and international law firms, as well as in-house counsel at Fortune 100 companies.
For a full list of the members of the Pro Bono Advisory Council, please click here.
Pro Bono Spotlights: The Pro Bono Spotlight is a regular feature honoring Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles’ dedicated volunteers and the important work they do to help us fulfill our mission.
Most recently, Advancing Justice-LA’s Pro Bono Spotlight featured Ariel Tu, for her work on communications and development programs.
Past Pro Bono Spotlights have featured:
- Irene Quach, for her work on communications, development, and litigation programs
- I-Hsuan Lin, for her work with our Citizenship Project
- Silhan Jin, for his work with SAFE
- Angelique Nguyen-Le, for her work with our litigation unit
- Pomona College student Vy Doan
- Shirley Wei, an immigration attorney
- Shang Liu, a USC doctoral student
- Eric Fanchiang, a UC Irvine School of Law 3L who volunteered remotely with our Survivor and Family Empowerment (SAFE) Project.
- Eileen Ma, volunteer attorney with our impact litigation unit.
- Ashuka Xue, volunteer with the Advancing Justice-LA Health Access Project
- Ayano Wolff, longtime volunteer turned temporary staff attorney with the Advancing Justice-LA Survivor and Family Empowerment (SAFE) Project
- Elaine Hang, Arroyo High School graduate and Dickinson College incoming freshman
- USC’s Shelley Siying Wang
- Holland & Knight LLP’s Cheryl Kang
- Duane Morris LLP’s Cyndie M. Chang
- Bird Marella’s Nilay Vora
- Gibson Dunn LLP’s Todd Truitt
We have also featured our summer interns:
Internships & Clerkships
Advancing Justice-LA offers internships and law clerkships for undergraduate, graduate, and law students seeking occupational and work experience. More information available here.
