Our History

The DC Volunteer Lawyers Project (DCVLP) was founded by Jenny Brody, Karen Barker Marcou and Marla Spindel to recruit, train and support at-home attorneys to help address the unmet civil legal needs of low-income women, children and families in Washington, DC. 

Brody, Marcou and Spindel are attorneys who left the practice of law to care for  their children.  Their desire to give back to their community led them to do pro bono civil legal work for indigent Washingtonians on an individual basis.  It soon became clear to them that it was difficult for an individual, who is not associated with a law firm, to handle pro bono cases on his or her own, due to a lack of resources, primarily, malpractice insurance, online legal research, and a place to meet privately with clients. 

Neither the DC Bar, nor existing legal services organizations, provide such support for volunteer attorneys.  Consequently, these three lawyers decided to create a nonprofit organization to recruit, train and support other at-home lawyers to provide pro bono civil legal services to needy families in DC.

The DCVLP was incorporated as a DC nonprofit corporation in September 2007, and received its 501(c)(3) charitable organization status in April 2008.   On a snowy Thursday morning in January 2008, the DCVLP held its first attorney recruitment meeting at Jenny Brody’s home.  The meeting was advertised on school listserves and through word of mouth.  Over 30 lawyers attended the meeting, exceeding expectations. Many more expressed an interest in working with the organization.

In the fall of 2007, Women Empowered Against Violence (“WEAVE”) received a private foundation grant to provide resources to DCVLP volunteer lawyers handling domestic violence cases.  The DCVLP held two training sessions in the spring of 2008, one with WEAVE on domestic violence issues, and one with the Foster and Adoptive Parents Advocacy Center (FAPAC), on representing foster parents.  The DCVLP also held a series of informal lunches and get-togethers in the spring of 2008.

By April of 2008, DCVLP had raised enough money to buy a malpractice insurance policy to cover the organization and its volunteer lawyers for its first year.  Most importantly, a key group of DCVLP volunteer lawyers were able to begin representing clients in family law cases.