Volunteer Attorney Program

Since the ACLU of Hawaiʻi was founded in 1965, volunteer attorneys have been critical to our work. In our early years, we had no paid staff attorneys, meaning every lawsuit depended on volunteers.

With the launch of our Volunteer Attorney Program, we are formalizing how we work with volunteer attorneys. The program has two goals: to harness the talents, skills, and expertise of the Hawaiʻi legal community, and to translate that capacity into impact. Through the program, we anticipate taking on cases we otherwise could not, moving more effectively on the ones we have, and bringing deeper subject-matter expertise to all our work.

Everything starts with the interest form below. The form asks about your bar admissions, areas of experience, and how you would like to contribute. We will add you to our roster, and when an opportunity arises, we will reach out with details. Submitting the form does not obligate you to take on a project, nor does it guarantee your involvement. Information you share will be kept confidential and used only for internal matching.

There are many ways you can help, including with client intake interviews, case evaluation, legal research, subject-matter consultation, amicus brief drafting, moot participation, and co-counseling.

Even if you are not yet sure how you would like to contribute, the interest form is how you join the roster and how we will reach you when the right opportunity comes up. This is your chance to help shape the next phase of legal advocacy at the ACLU of Hawaiʻi.