You can sign up to help in advance of a disaster, for just 20 hours a year, and be a part of the difference!
You may want to consider signing up for our LEGAL FIRST RESPONDERS sm program. Commit to 20 hours over the course of each year, and be part of the initial team staffing hotlines and centralized resource centers.
- Of the 20 hours, 10 is spent getting trained, watching online MCLE programs in areas ranging from landlord-tenant, consumer, and employment to FEMA and insurance
- The other 10 will be spent as a volunteer on a disaster legal hotline (which can be staffed remotely, from your desk, with expert advice available) or in a Disaster Resource Center created by FEMA or the California Office of Emergency Services in the first three weeks after a disaster.
- Unfortunately, we are quite likely to have multiple disasters each year, so if you are out of town or crazy busy at work for one, you will be able to volunteer for others.
- After the first few weeks, we will begin to host legal clinics for survivors, and you can also sign up to staff those; we hope to begin offering remote clinics, as well.
- LEGAL FIRST RESPONDERS sm will go through a refresher training every year, to ensure that volunteers are updated on changes in the law, and that the training remains fresh.
- For now LEGAL FIRST RESPONDERS sm is limited to attorneys in Northern California. We hope to expand beyond that soon.
For more information about becoming a LEGAL FIRST RESPONDERS sm, contact Tiela Chalmers at tiela@acbanet.org or 510.302.2208.
