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Help Now! Advocacy

First-Ever National Advocacy Hotline In Need of Volunteer Attorney Advocates

Help Now! Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that has been based in Oregon and was founded there in 2004, is in the process of establishing the first-ever national advocacy hotline to assist individuals and families through crisis situations.  Over the course of its 17 year existence, Help Now! volunteer advocates have assisted over 8600 individuals and families through a myriad of crises, all at no charge.   The services that Help Now! provides to people in crisis are nationally-unique, hence the importance of the hotline’s spreading the benefits of Help Now!’s services to people across the nation.  We are recruiting volunteer attorney advocates in all 51 jurisdictions to assist in our program and on the hotline. 

HelpNow!’s advocates serve to “level the playing field” with more powerful others—landlords,   merchants, creditors, government agencies, etc.—for those ill-equipped to speak up of themselves.  In doing so, Help Now!’s advocates create social justice “in the trenches” on a case-by-case basis.  The need for competent attorney advocates to staff the crisis advocacy hotline is acute right now because of repercussions from COVID and from various natural disasters which have befallen the country.

Volunteer attorney advocates can assist from their homes or offices.  All phone services for the hotline have already been donated by a national phone company.  Calls for assistance will be routed to home or office phone numbers at times the advocate chooses to be “on call” to assist.  Any call coming into the advocate’s phone will reflect the hotline number so he or she will know that it is a hotline call.  If the advocate is unable or does not wish to take the call when it comes in, it will pass to another advocate or go to voicemail, later to be distributed.

Unlike legal cases and litigated matters which can take months to years to resolve, the crises presented to Help Now! for assistance can frequently be resolved through a single telephone call immediately following client intake.  And the advocate will know, as a result of his or her effort, a result will have been accomplished for an individual or family that could not have been achieved without the advocate’s intervention.  Please consider giving a few hours a week to be “on call” as a Help Now! volunteer attorney advocate.

  • State(s) of Volunteer Opportunity: Oregon
  • Area of law: Civil Rights, Consumer, Debt/Credit/Bankruptcy, Disability, Disaster and Crisis Assistance, Education, Elder Law, Employment, Family & Juvenile, Foreclosure, Health, HIV/AIDS, Homeless, Housing, Immigration & Naturalization, Life Planning, Prisoners, Public Benefits, Taxes, Veterans
  • Populations Served: Communities of Color, Domestic Violence Victims, Elderly, Farm workers, General Public, HIV, Human Trafficking Survivors, Immigrants, Individuals who are not in legal immigration status, Individuals with criminal histories, Individuals with physical/mental disabilities, Juveniles, Lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender, Low Income, Micro-enterprises, Military/Veterans, Native Americans, Persons with Disabilities, Prisoners/Criminal Defendants, Women, Working poor and unemployed
  • Opportunities For: Interpreters, Law school clinic, Law Students, Lawyers, Nonlitigation Projects, Paralegals, Senior Lawyers, Small and medium law firm attorneys
  • Need for non-English services: Spanish
  • Hours for Pro Bono Opportunities: Flexible
  • Malpractice insurance is provided for volunteers: Yes
  • Training Provided: Yes
  • Training Required: Yes
  • CLE credit for trainings: No
  • CLE credit for pro bono: No
  • Mentoring or supervision offered: Yes
  • Volunteer lawyers need to meet a caseload or hours requirement: No
  • Types of projects in need of Pro Bono help: Alternative dispute resolution (ADR), Client counseling (e.g., brief advice), Client intake and screening, Draft legal documents (e.g., briefs), Hotline staffing, Litigation: Trial/Direct Representation, Mentor volunteer lawyers or law students, Transactional work, Translate legal documents
  • Long Distance Opportunities: Conduct Research, Draft or Translate Legal Documents, Form/document review, Hotline support, Mentor Volunteer Lawyers, Provide brief advice
  • Volunteers may participate long-distance: Yes
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