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History & Timeline

Brief Timeline
Celebrating 27 Years of Pro Bono Service

1981 – 1981 Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for Action Program is born.

1986 – Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for Action Program is renamed Philadelphia VIP, and recognized as the Philadelphia Bar Association's Pro Bono Program. Eve Klothen hired as first Executive Director, joining a staff of 2 paralegals and a secretary.

1987 – VIP implemented several new initiatives:

• Training Sessions for volunteers.
• Collaboration with Bar Sections and Law Firms to take certain number of cases a month.
• Volunteer Du Jour (Attorney for the Day) was started.
• Other funding sources identified
• Quarterly VIP Newsletter
• Awards Ceremony honoring volunteers and firms with 100% participation.
• Additional Staff hired

1988

• Tribute to Philadelphia VIP by Mayor W. Wilson Goode.
• "Nowhere Else to Turn" created to help with custody issues in Philadelphia.
• VIP holds first Custody Clinics.
• United Way Donor Campaign launched

1989

• First Bowling Fundraiser.
• Grant Awards to program increase.
• VIP received several National and Local awards for service to the community.
• VIP collaborates with Action AIDS and AIDS Law Project training volunteers to assist clients with legal matters.
• Strong emphasis on homelessness.
• Gilbert J. Marquez assists VIP with technological start up.

1990

• Homeless Advocacy Project formed. VIP and CLS donated office space and other support for the project.
• VIP received free software from Novell, Inc. for our new computers.
• VIP presents its first Business Participation Awards.
• Karen Forman becomes Associate Director.

1991

• First Volunteer Handbook drafted.
• 800 Cases referred.
• Computerized client and referral data.
• Staff continues to grow.

1992

• Haitian Children Refugee Project formed to help obtain political asylum status for newly arrived unaccompanied Haitian children.
• 1,111 cases were referred.
• "In the Child's Best Interest" was video-taped and narrated by reporter Trudy Haynes.

1993

• Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project formed by VIP and CLS.
• Golden Venture – Chinese Refugee Project organized.
• KidsCAP set up to help clients seeking to file custody.
• Sara Petrosky joins VIP as 2nd Executive Director
• Dress Down Days launched where firm staff contribute to VIP in order to dress down for a day.

1994

• VIP, CLS, HAP and CBAP moved from Sylvania House to 1424 Chestnut Street.
• VIP upgrades computer system.
• Sharon Liebhaber joins VIP as first Managing Attorney.

1995

• Margaret DeMarteleire becomes Executive Director
• In conjunction with the CLE Board, VIP initiated its CLE Program, providing CLE credit to volunteers who accept pro bono cases.
• First Year Associates Day, a VIP signature recruitment event, launched.

1996

• 15 year anniversary celebrated.
• Philadelphia Legal Assistance formed.
• Summer Associates Day, VIP's second signature recruitment event, started.
• Awarded Independence Fellow – Joseph Hohenstein
• Immigration Project formed.
• First Jesuit Volunteer (Ann Marie Cummins)

1997

• ALEC (A Lawyer for Every Child) Program begun to respond to changes in SSI regulations.
• Workshops at Congreso
• IOLTA funds received for the first time.

1998

• VIP Staff began organizing Spring and Fall Fundraisers.

1999

• Moved to new offices at 42 South 15th Street, 4th Floor.

2000 – 2001

• Wrapped up ALEC Project.
• Secured new computers and database to track cases.
• All other programs and projects continue.
• Direct intake pilot project results in a significant increase in requests for assistance.

2002

• Sharon Browning starts as VIP's Executive Director.
• Philadelphia Bar Association significantly reduces funding.
• Pepper Hamilton LLP steps in and gives VIP grant to cover the shortfall.
• VIP raises over $120,000 from firms, the most in VIP history.
• South Sudanese Project formed to respond to the "Lost Boys of Sudan."
• Appointment of Pro Bono Taskforce by Chancellor Allan Gordon and report completed.

2003

• LawWorks is created as a Business Law Section project under VIP.
• Board of Directors change the Presidency term to two (2) years.
• Tangled Title Fund started to respond to Property Title issues.
• Russian Elderly Project formed with CLS' Elderly Law Project and VIP in response to PCA's cut in services to Russian elderly daycare services.
• Subsidized Permanent Legal Custody was developed in collaboration with Department of Human Services to educate clients in the Foster Care System.

2004

• LawWorks becomes a project of VIP with support of the Business Law Section, LawWorks Steering Committee, and staff of LawWorks and VIP Staff. Homeownership (Tangled Title project) integrated into LawWorks.
• VIP inaugurated a new event – A Family Fun Fest – designed to celebrate everyone who is part of Philadelphia's pro bono community. In lieu of a fundraiser, VIP planned a "friendraiser" – a picnic in the park. Two hundred people including attorneys, law students, clients and staff from many other public interest groups, many accompanied by their families, played, ate and got to know each other on a glorious fall Sunday in 2004.
• 2004 also saw the inauguration of a joint program with the HIAS and Council Migration Service of Philadelphia and Nationalities Service Center based on the 1994 "Violence Against Women Act" (VAWA). VIP trained volunteer attorneys in the requirements of VAWA and subsequently placed eight cases with volunteer attorneys who assisted in filing for asylum.
• VIP and the Delaware Valley Association of Corporate Counsel (DELVACCA) created "Corporate Pro Bono Day." This event was organized to recruit corporate counsel to train in nonprofit law and assist nonprofit organization and small businesses with legal issues.

2005

• Pro bono practice groups launched at Philadelphia firms to provide a reliable flow of volunteer attorneys for the homeownership prong of VIP's LawWorks project. Pepper Hamilton started the first group and remains one of the most successful.
• Adopt-A-Block created to expand VIP's homeownership efforts from assisting individual clients to stabilizing a neighborhood by helping multiple clients in a block.
• VIP's annual event "First Year Associates Day" name was changed to Pro Bono Opportunities Day to include all attorneys interested in learning more about pro bono services to low-income clients. This event includes CLE trainings and an opportunity to represent a VIP client.

2006

• After much planning, the joint Anniversary Party for VIP, CLS and PLA was held on November 1 at World Café Live. The event was a "smash hit" with attendance from staff of the 3 organizations and another 300 attendees from the private bar. Superb food, great music and a memorable slide show, reflecting the organizations' histories, resulted in an evening to remember.
• By the end of the year VIP's fundraising efforts yielded great results to ensure VIP's financial stability.

2007

• Sharon Browning leaves VIP to start "Just Listening," a project designed to seek out and intensely listen to people living on the social margins.
• Sara Woods becomes VIP Executive Director in May 2007.
• Corporate Pro Bono Day is a great success, with over 25 in house counsel from area corporations providing services to clients seeking advice about small businesses and non-profit formation.
• VIP welcomed the public to its first Open House on October 11, 2007. Over 80 volunteers, board members, community members and clients toured VIP's offices, met the staff and learned about VIP's new initiatives.
• VIP secures grants from the Philadelphia Foundation to begin a strategic planning process. Dorel Shanon engaged to lead the process with a committee of board and staff.

2008

• VIP launches new website.
• Pro Bono Opportunities Day, VIP's signature recruitment event, took place on October 25th, hosted by Montgomery McCracken. Sixty attorneys from 20 firms attended, the largest group in the past five years. After an introduction to the value of pro bono service by Chancellor-Elect Mike Pratt, Professor Lou Rulli and VIP volunteer Rashida Douglas, four substantive trainings were held on non-profit law, probate/homeownership, custody and public housing were held.
• The Samuel S. Fels Fund provides funding to VIP for its new marketing initiative, aimed at increasing awareness of VIP and the number of attorneys who volunteer with VIP.

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