VOLS Mission
The mission of Volunteers of Legal Service (VOLS) is to develop projects to provide pro bono civil legal services to benefit poor people in New York City. We identify areas of legal need, create projects to meet these needs, and recruit and train volunteer lawyers to provide the needed legal services. By providing pro bono legal services to poor people in our city, we strive to fulfill the highest aspirations of the legal profession.
VOLS projects serve these vulnerable New York City populations: Children, the elderly poor, claimants denied unemployment insurance, incarcerated mothers, and persons with HIV/AIDS. Legal services also are provided to low-income microentrepreneurs, and we conduct active outreach to the New York City legal community to encourage pro bono work by lawyers.
2009 marks our 25th anniversary, VOLS having been founded on Law Day, May 1, 1984.
VOLS Projects in 2009 |
Through the work of VOLS, it is hoped that many more lawyers will join the ranks of those who perform pro bono legal services. May all members of our profession heed the words of Hippocrates, writing of the obligations of another of the great professions: "Sometimes give your services for nothing, calling to mind a previous benefaction or present satisfaction. And if there be an opportunity of serving one who is a stranger in financial straits, give full assistance to all such....For where there is love of man, there is also love of the art." |
