Do you hope to teach your summer associates practical skills and the importance of pro bono work?

They’ll learn both through the Homeless Advocacy Project’s (HAP) Summer Associates in Public Service Program.

At the same time, your firm will provide vital legal services to low-income and homeless San Francisco residents.

Registration is now open for the program. The summer associates’ training is on June 1. Then with HAP’s support and your firm’s supervision, summer associates will interview clients, draft and answer discovery, negotiate, draft memoranda and briefs, and possibly attend civil and/or administrative hearings.

Seven firms participated in 2015 and here are some highlights:

• O’Melveny & Myers defended a veteran facing eviction. After the firm began litigating and raised a habitability defense, the landlord dismissed the case, and the client was able to stay in his home.
• Both Holland & Knight and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius filed motions to vacate judgments of eviction against low-income tenants. Holland & Knight reached a settlement that enabled its client to move out on helpful terms. Morgan Lewis prevailed on its motion for a low-income, disabled tenant whose family forgot to pay just one month’s rent, and negotiated for her to pay rent and stay in her home.
• Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, as well as Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, worked to get clients federal disability benefits. The firms received case information and medical documentation from HAP, then filed briefs that secured benefits for their clients.

HAP hopes to work with your firm and summer associates this year. For information, contact JDC’s Pro Bono Manager, Gloria Chun, at gchun@sfbar.org.