Volunteer Positions
There are many ways to serve in our ministry. No law license is required for most volunteer positions.
If you would like to be a part of what we are doing, please review the following volunteer positions. If you think you see a good fit, submit the form at the bottom of this page so that we can follow up with you and try to get you plugged in.
Clinic Attorney
Law License Required
Must be available to attend some of our periodic legal clinics, typically scheduled on Mondays, Thursdays, or Saturdays.
A clinic attorney will meet with 1-5 individuals/families participating in our free legal clinics. Because our clinics are by appointment only, the clinic attorney should receive notice at least 1-2 days before the clinic of the names of and legal issues involved for everyone with whom he or she will be meeting. Typically, a clinic attorney will arrive approximately 15 minutes before the advertised clinic start time, participate in the pre-clinic team meeting, and stay until his or her appointments have completed, no more than two hours after the clinic began.
The clinic attorney conducts the legal equivalent of triage. Although the clinic attorney is perfectly welcome to take on any clinic participants as their own clients outside of the clinic setting, no further representation beyond the clinic session is expected or required. The goal of the clinic attorney is not to resolve every legal problem, but to identify them, and provide general direction to the clinic participant as to what his or her next steps should be. The clinic attorney is not expected to be an expert on every legal issue. It is perfectly acceptable for the clinic attorney to simply identify the legal issues involved in a case and relay that to the Clinic Coordinator so that Compassionate Counsel can follow up with a referral.
More importantly, the clinic attorney should demonstrate the love and compassion of Jesus by listening to the participant’s story and looking at him or her as a person loved by God. The clinic attorney should offer to pray with each clinic participant who comes through his room and offer hope by addressing not just legal needs, but spiritual needs as well.
Referral Attorney
Law License Required
A referral attorney is an attorney who is willing to consider accepting referrals to work with low-income individuals who reach out to our ministry. The referral attorney is expected to provide pro bono or low bono legal representation as appropriate according to the income of the individual/family referred. The referral attorney can register to receive referrals based on specific legal areas of practice and/or jurisdictions.
Clinic Coordinator
Previous volunteer experience required
The clinic coordinator is the supervisor and manager of a clinic site on a given day. The clinic coordinator should have experience volunteering with one of our legal clinics or otherwise receive specific training relating to the extensive duties and responsibilities involved with the position.
Clinic Intake Specialist
A friendly face
The clinic intake specialist is usually the first point of contact for clinic participants when they arrive at our legal clinics. He or she should be warm and inviting and promote a positive atmosphere from the moment people walk through the doors. The clinic intake specialist greets the clinic participant and provides him or her with a clinic participant folder, the clinic participation agreement and intake form. At some clinic sites, the Clinic Intake Specialist may also be asked to perform the role of Data Entry Assistant (described below).
Clinic Counselor
Experience with social work, counseling preferred but not required
The clinic counselor is assigned to 1-2 clinic participants at a time. From the moment the clinic intake specialist completes the initial welcome to the clinic, a clinic counselor should be ready to escort the participant to the appropriate waiting area, offer snacks and/or beverages, and assist as needed in completing forms. The clinic counselor should be prepared to initiate conversations with participants in the waiting area and continue to make the participants feel welcome and cared for.
The clinic counselor is also responsible for escorting the clinic participants to their assigned volunteer attorney once the attorney is available and all appropriate forms have been completed. When the participant’s session with the attorney has completed, the volunteer attorney will either personally escort the participant back to the same counselor or instruct the participant to find his or her counselor. This is one of the most important moments of the entire clinic for each participant. The counselor should discuss with the participant how the session with the volunteer attorney went and make sure that he or she seems clear as to what his or her next steps are. The counselor should further ask if there are any other needs the participant may have beyond the legal issues discussed with the attorney. Do they have adequate shelter, clothing, and food? Do they seem to have other needs for which we may be able to direct them to some other local ministry? We want to be as holistic as possible in our approach to helping the people who come through our clinic doors and clinic counselors are a big part in accomplishing that goal.
Moreover, clinic counselors should be intentional in initiating Gospel-centered conversations. We don’t want to force a scripted presentation on anybody but where the opportunity is there to discuss the saving grace of Jesus Christ, clinic counselors should be ready, willing, and able to seize the opportunity.
Hospitality Team
Great spot for someone who enjoys cooking and/or entertaining children
The clinic hospitality team consists of volunteers who will bring snacks, drinks, toys (for the children of clinic participants), and other items to ensure that all clinic volunteers and participants are cared for and comfortable. Although it is possible to be a part of the clinic hospitality team by bringing items without staying for the clinic itself, members of the clinic hospitality team are encouraged to stay and provide additional support to the clinic counselors in the clinic waiting area. When clinic participants bring their children with them, the clinic hospitality team might offer to watch/play with the children while the clinic participant is filling out forms and in their attorney session.
Prayer Warrior
Anyone who can pray can be a prayer warrior
The prayer warriors are tasked with praying over our clinics and each individual volunteer and participant. At each clinic, participants will be given the opportunity to present specific prayer requests on a prayer card that will be handed over to our team of prayer warriors. We will also provide our prayer warriors with the opportunity and resources to send a postcard to clinic participants in the weeks following the clinic just letting the participant know they have been prayed for.
Interpreter
Fluency in foreign language required, Spanish preferred
At some of our clinic sites, we may encounter clinic participants who are not fluent in English. In those situations, we will likely need someone to serve as an interpreter for those participants, walking through the clinic with them, sitting in on their meetings with the Clinic Attorney and Clinic Counselor. Because our clinics generally require an appointment, we should be able to provide advance notice of any clinics at which an interpreter will be required. We have a need, though, to have interpreters for various languages on call so that we know who to reach out to when the situation arises.
Clinic Legal Assistants
Paralegals or law students preferred
Law students and paralegals are encouraged to volunteer at our clinics and will be able to sit in with practicing attorneys during clinic sessions, listen to participant stories, assist attorneys with on-site legal research, and sometimes pray with clinic participants. This is a great way for law students to connect with practicing attorneys, get a feel for real-life legal issues, and see first-hand how to incorporate faith in your legal practice.
Law students and paralegals are also invited to serve the ministry through some of our other volunteer roles, especially as Clinic Intake Specialists, Data Entry Assistants, and Aftercare Representatives.
Data Entry Assistant
Computer proficiency preferred
In between clinics, as individuals register for upcoming clinics, it is often necessary to input data from forms into our secure online database so that our volunteer attorneys can access all the information they need about clinic participants they are scheduled to meet with prior to their clinic appointments. Data entry assistants ensure that the information is properly input into that system.
Aftercare Representative
Must be able to make phone calls, customer service experience preferred
Aftercare Representatives are responsible for following up with clinic participants 2-3 weeks after a clinic has occurred. The goal of the follow up is to see if the clinic participant has been successfully able to execute the plan of action from his or her clinic session. If there are additional questions and/or needs, the Aftercare Representative can see if the participant needs to be scheduled to return to another clinic. The Aftercare Representative is also tasked with ensuring that any commitments made by clinic volunteers have been carried through with and that nothing has fallen through the cracks (e.g., if the clinic participant was told he or she would be given the contact information of an attorney to contact about his or her problem, the Aftercare Representative should make sure that he or she has received that information).