Standing Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel
The ABA Standing Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel (LAMP) manages the ABA Military Pro Bono Project, which provides access to justice for junior-enlisted, active-duty military personnel facing civil legal issues by connecting them with pro bono attorneys.
Your Gift Matters
Civil
legal issues can be uniquely challenging for military members who cannot afford
to hire attorneys, especially when these issues can distract them from their
critical missions. They often face barriers with accessing the civil justice
system due to frequent relocations that take them far from the jurisdictions of
their legal problems. Meanwhile, military attorneys can only provide limited
services that typically prevent in-court representation. The ABA Military Pro
Bono Project is the only national legal program that works to address this
access-to-justice gap for military families.
Our Impact
Through
its website, www.MilitaryProBono.org, the Project accepts civil legal case
referrals directly from military attorneys worldwide, and then works to connect
the referred servicemember clients with pro bono attorneys where representation
is needed in the United States.
Each service branch of the U.S. military—the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard—utilize the Project. Since its launch in 2008, over 5,000 cases have been referred to the Project, and about 20 percent of the placed cases were referred from military legal assistance offices abroad, including war zones. After screened, over 2,500 cases have been placed with volunteer attorneys who donated more than $20.3 million in billable hours to our servicemembers and their families.