Making a nationwide impact

Since 2017, 50,000 lawyers have joined the We The Action community to provide volunteer legal support to our 675 nonprofit partners. Together, we are making a positive impact, one project at a time.

  • 300,000+

    Hours of legal services donated

  • $140M+

    Donated in volunteer services

  • 75,000+

    Volunteer connections to date

Fighting for today’s important causes

Help When It’s Needed Most

It’s not a theoretical problem. It’s mothers she met.

A Gateway to Activism

A Big Impact in Little Time

Making a difference during the pandemic
A uniquely powerful project
One lawyer who refused to sit on the sidelines
A few hours can make a big difference
Making a difference during the pandemic
A uniquely powerful project
One lawyer who refused to sit on the sidelines
A few hours can make a big difference
  • Help When It’s Needed Most
  • It’s not a theoretical problem. It’s mothers she met.
  • A Gateway to Activism
  • A Big Impact in Little Time
Making a difference during the pandemic

Kristi’s story

A lawyer from Georgia, Kristi volunteered with Project N95, a national organization distributing 9 million pieces of PPE to health care workers, essential workers, and other vulnerable communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortly after signing up, Project N95 asked her to join the team as volunteer General Counsel, where she tackled the legal challenges of distributing PPE nationwide.

Rising to the occasion

“When I started volunteering, I really thought COVID was going to be a short term thing,” Kristi says. “We were just going to lock the country down for a couple of weeks — maybe a couple of months — then we would go back to our regular lives.” But as the COVID pandemic spiraled out of control and our understanding of the virus evolved, Kristi quickly realized the impact her work was having and dedicated more time to helping Project N95.

Using legal skills to save lives

“Kristi decided to donate a lot of time to Project N95, but We The Action has projects for any lawyer regardless of availability, from a few free hours a month or a longer-term project. “It’s not an all-or-nothing proposition,” Kristi says. “Even if you do small things, they add up to be quite a lot.“

A uniquely powerful project

Monica’s story

After the Trump administration announced immigration policies that made reuniting separated families and seeking asylum harder, Monica Carmean couldn’t ignore We The Action’s email calling for lawyers to help. The Chicago-based lawyer was one of 143 lawyers who signed up with the American Immigration Lawyers Association at We The Action to assist asylum seekers at the height of the family separation crisis. For one week, Monica volunteered at the nation’s largest detention center in Dilley, Texas, seeing the opportunity as a “uniquely powerful way to contribute to a pressing need.“

All lawyers can help

On-site immigration law experts trained the volunteer lawyers, making it possible for even those without relevant experience to use their skills to address the life-or-death legal needs at the Southern border. Through hours-long interviews, volunteers like Monica helped women—most escaping threats of violence or death—understand what parts of their personal stories constituted grounds for asylum so that the women had a better chance at successfully conveying them to asylum officers.

Using legal skills to save lives

“We’re not doctors—lawyers don’t get the opportunity to save lives,” Monica says. “But in this situation, that’s exactly what we’re doing.” During her week in Dilley, Monica helped nearly 20 women and their children. “When the president is trying to demonize asylum seekers, it’s no longer a theoretical problem that exists—it’s moms that I met.“

One lawyer who refused to sit on the sidelines

Zara’s story

For weeks following the 2016 election, Washington, D.C.-based lawyer Zara Day called dozens of nonprofits offering free legal help. All her calls went unreturned. Since joining We The Action, Zara has used the platform to connect and volunteer with several nonprofits, including staffing the Election Protection Coalition nonpartisan voter hotline to answer voter questions.

Protecting the rights of voters

Zara is one of more than 15,000 We The Action lawyers who have volunteered with Election Protection—the nation’s largest nonpartisan voter protection coalition—to staff the voter hotline, which operates year-round to ensure voters have an equal opportunity to vote and have that vote count. At We The Action, we believe that lawyers play a critical role in defending our democracy, and we’re always posting new opportunities for lawyers to help protect the right to vote.

Using your law degree for causes you care about

“Not every lawyer leaves law school and gets a job on the frontlines doing the practice they read about in books,” Zara says. “We The Action allows you to tap into the reasons you went to law school. As lawyers, we use our training in many different ways, so it stands to reason that we can use those skills to volunteer for things we’re passionate about, too.“

A few hours can make a big difference

Debbie’s story

A lawyer from New York, Debbie volunteered with the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC) to help medically-vulnerable detained immigrants seek release after mismanagement at U.S. Customs and Enforcement (ICE) facilities led to preventable outbreaks of COVID-19.

Lawyers’ skills can make a difference

Throughout her career, Debbie always wanted to do something to help immigrants in detention, but she struggled to find an opportunity as a solo practitioner. But once she found We The Action, she was able to volunteer with CREEC, which offered training and support to volunteer lawyers representing detained immigrants seeking release. “You really feel like you’re doing something good with your education and helping the world,” Debbie says. “The only thing bad about it is that I want to do every project!”

A few hours can make an enormous impact

Elizabeth Jordan, Director of CREEC’s Immigration Detention Accountability Project, says volunteer lawyers make a huge difference in their effort to help detained immigrants secure their release. “Sometimes people say things are life or death, but it’s literally true for people in detention,“ Elizabeth says. “Volunteer lawyers make the difference between deciding if someone could go home to their families.“

Nationwide Legal Support

Lawyers taking action across the country.

We The Action lawyers hail from every state and are bound together by a common desire to advance the social good.

There when it matters

When nonprofits need legal support, the We The Action community responds in force.

From immigration to voter rights and everything in between.

From protecting voting rights and defending democracy, to fighting for racial justice, to defending immigrant communities, We The Action lawyers show up when it counts.

From immigration to voter rights and everything in between.
A nationwide pool of talent

Our lawyers have a breadth of experience enabling them to tackle a broad range of issues.

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