In these uncertain economic times, many people who are looking for work can benefit from taking on volunteer positions, while looking for full-time paying jobs. While most volunteer positions are unpaid, they do offer multitudes of experience in various areas of interest. For those people who are interested in pursuing a career in the law, I have had extremely rewarding experiences volunteering for the following organizations.
Neighborhood Legal Services
Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS) is a non-profit organization in the Los Angeles area that assists low-income litigants with legal services. NLS is located at the main courthouses around Los Angeles and assists litigants in areas such as family law, landlord-tenant law, civil harassments and contractual disputes.
In 2004, I started working for AmeriCorps-JusticeCorps at the Van Nuys Self-Help Legal Access Center through NLS. This experience changed my life and inspired me to attend law school in order to continue helping people who needed legal representation. In my year of working there, I saw tenants being evicted from illegally converted garages, apartments with unhabitable premises, and unfortunate people being discriminated against because of various reasons, which caused them to be evicted. Of course, there were others who simply did not pay rent and had no affirmative defenses. But, all in all, through this experience, I assisted people who would not have stood a chance on their own in court without our help.
NLS is currently looking for more volunteers to assist with this self-help process. Please visit http://www.nls-la.org/employment.php for more information.
Bet Tzedek Legal Services
Bet Tzedek is another one of those great organizations that assists litigants in filling out court forms and the legal process. There are a number of different types of projects to get involved in, and an assortment of areas in the law to check out.
In 2009, I volunteered for Bet Tzedek’s Conservatorship Clinic located at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Downtown L.A. It was a short, but great experience connecting with the elderly and assisting them with conservatorships.
For more information on this, please visit http://www.bettzedek.org/volunteer.html.
Hopefully, more people will be inspired to get involved in helping the lives of others and educating the public about their rights. It is truly a wonderful thing to ensure that people have a chance to obtain equal footing when appearing in court.