A Pro Bono Overview

LegalServer provides several tools that help you manage pro bono volunteers. This page provides an introduction to the most commonly used tools in the pro bono module.

Viewing the List of Pro Bono Advocates in LegalServer

To view the list of Pro Bono Advocates in LegalServer, follow these steps:

If your site has one, click the User tab at the top of the screen.
Under the Actions menu, select Pro Bono List. (In the classic version, the Actions links appear under Options on the right side of the screen.)

If your site does not have a User tab, click the Contacts tab instead.
Under the Actions menu, select User List. (In the classic version, the Actions links appear under Options on the right side of the screen.)

Under the Actions menu in the resulting page, select Pro Bono List.

The resulting screen provides a complete list of the Pro Bono Users in your system. To narrow down the list click Show/Hide Filters (or Show Filters in the classic version) on the right side of the screen.

Select the filters you want to use to limit the results in the Pro Bono Users list. You can set as many filters as you need.
When you are done selecting filters, click the Filter button in the lower right corner of the filter menu to apply the filters.

The filters menu will disappear and you will see the filtered list of Pro Bono Users.
To view and change your filters, click Show/Hide Filters again to bring up the filters menu.
To clear all of the filters and return to the full list of Pro Bono Users, click Reset.

Finding a Pro Bono Advocate in LegalServer

If you're looking for a specific Pro Bono Advocate, you can find that person a couple different ways:

Use the Search Tool

No matter where you are in LegalServer, you can always perform a search by hovering on Search in the taskbar just below the tabs. (In the classic version, you have to click on the Search link.)
In the Search menu, select Contacts as the type of search you want to run.

Enter as much of the Pro Bono Advocate's name as you know in the search form. Click the Continue button in the lower right corner of the form to perform the search.

The search results screen presents a list of contacts in your LegalServer system who match the search terms you entered. From this screen you can view the Pro Bono Advocate's contact profile or click directly on the Pro Bono Advocate's e-mail address to compose an e-mail.

To view the Pro Bono Advocate's user profile, select User Profile from the Actions menu. (NB: The User Profile link shown below is not yet available on dynamic contact profiles. Ref: 69136)

Use Filters in the Pro Bono List

Navigate to the Pro Bono List (see the Viewing the List of Pro Bono Advocates in LegalServer section of this page for instructions).
One way to find a Pro Bono Advocate in this list is to enter a name in the search box at top of the listview:

Another way is to filter the list by the first letter of the Pro Bono Advocate's last name:

One more way is to set a filter using the Pro Bono Advocate's last name.

Click Show/Hide Filters in the toolbar above the list.
Select the Last Name filter and enter any part of the Pro Bono Advocate's last name.
Click the Filter button in the lower right corner to apply the filter.

Adding a Pro Bono Advocate to LegalServer

If your site administrator has set your permissions to allow you to do so, you can add a Pro Bono Advocate to LegalServer by following these steps:

If your site has one, click the User tab at the top of the screen.
If your site does not have a User tab, click on the Contacts tab instead.
Under the Actions menu, select Create New User. (In the classic version, the Actions links appear under Options on the right side of the screen.)

Now you will complete a series of steps that make up the process of creating the new Pro Bono Advocate in your system. The order and number of the steps will vary depending on your system configuration, but the steps will be displayed on the left side of the screen. (In the classic version, the steps are displayed on the right side of the screen under the User Creation heading.)
Be sure to select "Pro Bono Advocate" in the Advocate/User Type field.
In the User Role field, select the option that reflects your organization's choice for the role Pro Bono Advocates play in your system.

Click the Continue button in the lower right corner of the screen to save what you've entered and move on to the next step.
Complete the remaining steps, making sure to complete the required fields in each one.
When you have successfully completed the process for creating the new Pro Bono Advocate, LegalServer will display the User Profile for the Pro Bono Advocate you just created.

Adding/Editing Extra Information About a Pro Bono Advocate

When you have found the Pro Bono Advocate you're looking for, you can add extra information to the Pro Bono Advocate's profile by following these steps:

Click on the Pro Bono Advocate's name to view the individual's profile.
Under the Actions menu, select Edit Extra Information. (In the classic version, you will find this link under the Options menu on the right side of the screen.)

In the Extra Information form, you can add information about the Pro Bono Advocate's language skills, practice areas, and notes that will appear when recommending this Pro Bono Advocate for a pro bono case assignment. Some fields in this form may be required, but it will depend on your system configuration.
Click Continue in the lower right corner to save your changes and view the information in the Pro Bono Advocate's profile.

Associating Pro Bono Advocates with Organizations

When you have found the Pro Bono Advocate you're looking for, you can associate (or affiliate) the advocate with an organization by following these steps:

Click on the Pro Bono Advocate's name to view the individual's profile.

Under the Actions menu, select Add Organization Affiliation. (In the classic version, Actions links appear under Options on the right side of the screen.)

In the Organization Affiliation form, you can select an organization, the Pro Bono Advocate's position with the organization, and set start and end dates.
- If this Pro Bono Advocate worked on a case during the time period of the affiliation with this organization, the case will be tied to the organization.

When you add a new organization affiliation to a Pro Bono Advocate who is already affiliated with an organization, the start date with the new organization will become the end date for the previous one.

If Bind Work Address to Organization was set to "Yes" during the creation of this Pro Bono Advocate, LegalServer will automatically use the affiliated organization's address as the Pro Bono Advocate's work address
- You can change this setting by selecting Edit Contact Information from the Actions menu on the Pro Bono Advocate's profile. (In the classic version, you will find this link under the Options menu).

Recommending Pro Bono Attorneys for Case Assignments

When Pro Bono Advocates are added to your system, it is possible to add information about the their practice areas (i.e., special problem codes), geographic location, etc. that LegalServer uses to recommend Pro Bono Advocates for cases based on how well the case matches up with the information in their profiles. You can find these recommendations and assign advocates to a case by following these steps:

Open the case profile by clicking on the Matter/Case ID# in the Cases listview.
Under the Actions menu, click Recommend Pro Bono/Other User. (In the classic version, Actions links appear under Options on the right side of the screen.)

Depending on your system configuration, the next screen will contain either two or three listviews stacked vertically:

Referral Attempts: This listview will only be present if your system administrator has enabled this feature in your system. For instructions on using this feature, see the Pro Bono Assignment Attempt Tracking section of this document.
ProBono Users: This listview displays all of the Pro Bono Advocates in your system whose profile information matches this case. You can assign this case to one of the advocates in this list by clicking Assign on the right side of the screen and completing the assignment form and any others that follow it, which will vary depending on your system configuration.
- If there are no Pro Bono Advocates listed (or too many), you can expand or narrow your results by clicking on Show/Hide Filters, changing the filters, and clicking Filter at the bottom right of the filters menu to change the contents of the ProBono Users list. The screenshot below highlights some of the filters you can choose from:

Assignments: This listview displays all of the current assignments for this case.
- You can also filter the contents of this list using Show/Hide Filters.

To edit or delete an assignment from this case, click Edit and change the fields in the Assignment Profile form or click Delete this assignment in the bottom right corner of the form to remove the assignment altogether.

Viewing Pro Bono User Case Assignments

You can quickly find the cases assigned to a Pro Bono Advocate by following these steps:

From the Pro Bono List, click on the name of the Pro Bono Advocate whose case assignments you would like to view.
Under the Actions menu, select Assignments. (In the classic version, Actions links appear under Options on the right side of the screen.)

In the resulting listview, you can do a number of things:
- Click Edit to view and make changes to the Assignment Profile for a particular case

Click on any of the headings to sort the list

Click on a Matter/Case ID# to view the case profile

Click on a Name to view the client profile

Expand or narrow your results by clicking on Show/Hide Filters (or Show Filters in the classic version), changing the filters, and clicking Filter at the bottom right of the filters menu to change the contents of the Assignments list for this Pro Bono Advocate.

Tracking Pro Bono Trainings and Non-Client Matters

To track Non-Client Matters (may be called 'Other Matters' or 'Outreach' in your system) for Pro Bono Advocates, just follow these steps:

Click on the Outreach tab (may also be called Non-Client Matters or Other Matters in your system). This will bring up a list of all non-client matters in your system.
Click Show/Hide Filters (or Show Filters in the classic version) on the right side of the screen.
To search for trainings, select Training from the Outreach Types list.
Click the Filter button in the lower right corner of the filter menu to apply the filter.

The filters menu will disappear and you will see the filtered list of Outreach items limited to trainings.
To view the details of a training, including the Pro Bono Advocates associated with it, click on the name or date of the training in the list.

Tracking Pro Bono Advocate Assignment Attempts

When you decide to assign a case to a Pro Bono Advocate, LegalServer provides you with a tool to track your attempts to assign the case. This is a feature that must be enabled by your site administrator (see instructions for enabling this feature below). To track referral attempts, just follow these steps:

From within a case profile, click on Recommend Pro Bono Attorney under the Actions menu. (In the classic version, Actions links appear under Options on the right side of the screen.)

If the assignment attempt tracking feature is enabled, you will see a listview called Referral Attempts at the top of the page. You will also see two columns on the right hand side of the Pro Bono Users listview under the heading Referral Attempts.
- The column directly beneath the heading shows the number of times each Pro Bono Advocate has been contacted regarding this assignment.

The column on the far right provides a link to Attempt Call.

To log an attempt to refer this case, click on the Attempt Call link in the row of the Pro Bono Advocate to whom you want to refer this case.
This will take you to a screen that allows you to record your referral attempt. The Contact Method and Outcome fields are customizable by your site administrator.
- If you choose E-mail from the Contact Method dropdown, the page will automatically expand to show you the e-mail address in the Pro Bono Advocate's profile and provide you with a space in which to compose your e-mail. You can e-mail the advocate directly from this screen.

NOTE: LegalServer will automatically insert a link to this case in the e-mail to the Pro Bono Advocate. However, if your organization has decided not to permit pro bono advocates to log in to LegalServer, the advocate will not be able to log in and view the case profile.

If you choose Phone from the Contact Method dropdown, the page will automatically expand to show the phone numbers in the Pro Bono Advocate's profile.

After you complete your attempt and record your notes and the outcome of the attempt, click the Continue button in the lower right corner of the screen.
In the Referral Attempts listview, you will now see the record of your attempt to contact the Pro Bono Advocate about taking the case.
- To make changes to a recorded referral attempt, click on the Edit link on the right side of the listview.

To delete a recorded referral attempt altogether, click on the Delete link on the right side of the listview.

If you click on the Pro Bono Advocate's name, you will be taken to the advocate's profile, which lists all of the referral attempts associated with the advocate.

Information about referral attempts can be pulled into reports as needed for your organization.

Enabling Assignment Attempt Tracking

Site administrators can enable the assignment attempt tracking tool in LegalServer by following these steps:

Click the Admin tab at the top of the page.
From the menu on the left side of the screen, select Pro Bono Management.
In the resulting list, select Pro-Bono Settings.

Optionally, you can type "pro bono" in the Search Admin Options box and select Pro-Bono Settings from the list of results. (This feature is only available in the new interface.)

Near the top of the page you will see Use Probono Assignment Attempt Tracking. Select "Yes" to enable this feature for your site.

Click the Continue button in the lower right corner of the screen.

Generating a Referral Packet when Assigning a Case to a Pro Bono Advocate

LegalServer provides a default process for recommending a Pro Bono Advocate for a case (see Recommending Pro Bono Attorneys for Case Assignments ), but site administrators can create a custom process in order to add more functionality to the process. In particular, site administrators can enable a feature that produces a "referral packet" containing information about a case for Pro Bono Advocates when they are recommended for a case. Site administrators can enable this feature by following these steps:

Click the Admin tab at the top of the page.
From the menu on the left side of the screen, select Process Management.
In the resulting list, select Processes, Forms, and Profiles.

Optionally, you can type "process" in the Search Admin Options box and select Processes, Forms, and Profiles from the list of results. (This feature is only available in the new interface.)

Select "Case/Matter" from the Select Module dropdown.
Create a new auxiliary form called "Recommend Pro Bono Advocate". This is the form that will replace the form in the static process.

Add a header, field, and block as shown in the screenshot below.
The Case Status field is optional but can be set, for example, to "Referred to Pro Bono Advocate". (See Lookup Lists for instructions on setting the values in the Case Status lookup.)
Click the Continue button in the lower right corner of the screen to save the new form.

Create another new auxiliary form called "Create Pro Bono Referral Packet". This form will allow users to select the documents they want to include in the referral packet.
- Add a header, instruction, and the Document Selection block as shown in the screenshot below.

TIP: If you do not see the Document Selection block in your list of blocks, you need to enable it in the Pro Bono Settings page.

Click the Continue button in the lower right corner of the screen to save the new form.

Create a third new auxiliary form called "Download Pro Bono Referral Packet". This form will allow users to download the referral packet for printing or e-mailing.
- Add a header, instruction, and the Generated Packet Link block as shown in the screenshot below.

Click the Continue button in the lower right corner of the screen to save the new form.

Create a new auxiliary process called "Recommend Pro Bono Advocate" (or whatever your organization chooses to call it). This is the process that will use the forms you just created to assign a case to an advocate and generate a referral packet.

Set the Link Category to N/A. In this instance, you do not want a link to this process to appear directly on a menu. You will access this process from the Assign link in the static Recommend Pro Bono/Other User screen, which appears by default when you click Recommend Pro Bono/Other Advocate in the Actions menu in a case profile.
Select each of the three forms you just created by dragging them up from "Disabled Forms" and dropping them into the "Enabled Forms" list as shown in the screenshot below.
Click the Continue button in the lower right corner of the screen to save the new process.

You can easily create a referral packet for the client by copying the "Pro Bono Referral Packet Creation" and "Pro Bono Referral Packet Link" forms, making some minor edits, and adding them to your new process. Here's how to do it:
- Locate the "Pro Bono Referral Packet Creation" form in the Primary Forms list in the Case/Matter module and click the Copy icon.

TIP: You can find the form quickly by entering part or all of the form's name in the search box, as shown in the screesnhot

The resulting screen is a copy of the form settings with the name field left blank.
Name the new form "Create Pro Bono Referral Packet - Client" and edit the header, instruction, and block as appropriate

Click the Continue button in the lower right corner of the screen to save the new form.
Repeat this process for the "Download Pro Bono Referral Packet - Client" form.
Add the client versions of the forms to the Recommend Pro Bono/Other Advocate process as shown above.
The final step is to replace the default static process with this new dynamic process as follows:
- In the Admin tab, locate the Process Settings page.

Scroll down the page to the Probono Referral Assignment Process, click on the dropdown and select Recommend Pro Bono/Other Advocate (or whatever name you chose for the dynamic process) from the list of dynamic processes
Click the Continue button in the lower right corner of the screen to save the new settings.