"We hope to galvanize as a profession to show this community we intend to discharge to the best of our responsibility an obligation we feel we owe." The legal profession is "a branch of the administration of justice and not a mere money-getting trade."
~Donald Giacomini, Founding Member
Metro Volunteer Lawyers ("MVL") is a department of the Denver Bar Association. MVL recruits and coordinates volunteer lawyers to perform free and low-cost legal services for poor and near-poor persons who live and work in Adams, Broomfield, Arapahoe, Denver, Douglas, Elbert, Gilpin, and Jefferson Counties.
Need Pro Bono Legal Assistance? Call: (303)837-1313
MVL History
MVL was established in 1966 by a group of young Denver Bar Association lawyers. It was known then as the "Thursday Night Bar Program," because the founding volunteer attorneys met with clients each Thursday evening at Legal Aid offices in northwest Denver or in the Five Points neighborhood. The attorneys provided what help and advice they could in person on Thursday nights, then met the next morning to discuss the clients' matters and assign themselves or other lawyers they recruited to carry on with the numerous matters that could not be completed during the Thursday night sessions.
Approximately twenty attorneys volunteered in the first year. The efforts of these original lawyer participants continued and strengthened a long tradition of volunteerism and public service by lawyers all across Colorado. TNB was renamed Metro Volunteer Lawyers in 1998, to reflect the program's growth and expansion.
MVL is now a free-standing program open for business from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each weekday. It serves poor and near-poor citizens of seven Metro Denver Counties via 1) funding and volunteer lawyers supplied through the efforts of five Metro Denver local bar associations, and 2) a staff of one full-time Executive Director (who is a lawyer), two full-time Legal Services Coordinators, and one half-time Administrative Assistant.
MVL's Governing Board
The Metro Volunteer Lawyers Governing Board oversees MVL's operations. The Governing Board has 18 volunteer lawyer members, six from the Denver Bar Association (which employs MVL's staff and funds a majority of its operating costs), and three from each of the other four metro Denver bar associations in the counties MVL serves.
These bar associations also help fund the program, and provide attorney volunteers to assist clients.
- Adams/Broomfield Bar Association
- Arapahoe County Bar Association
- Douglas/Elbert County Bar Association
- First Judicial District Bar Association
(whose lawyer members practice in Jefferson and Gilpin counties) |
