Mission and History

The Pro Bono Center is a program of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation, whose mission is to be a driving force in promoting justice for all and to improve the community through public service law-related programs as the charitable and educational arm of the Allegheny County Bar Association. The Pro Bono Center implements this mission by providing legal services to individuals with low incomes and by creating, managing, and supporting programs that match volunteers with thousands of individuals in need of free legal help. Its efforts are guided by Rule 6.1 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct, which says: “A lawyer should render public interest legal service.”

Formerly known as the Center for Volunteer Legal Resources, the Pro Bono Center in its current form was launched In October 2005. It manages and supports over 40 programs that provide a wide variety of civil (non-criminal) legal services. Volunteers include attorneys, law students, paralegals, notaries public, court reporters, and other members of Allegheny County’s legal community. The Center supports volunteers with a variety of resources including free or reduced fee continuing legal education, training, free online research, mentoring, and professional liability coverage.