What is the Ukrainian Pro Bono Portal?

The Ukrainian Relief Portal is being launched in partnership with the Legal Development Network (LDN), LinGo, and Paladin to assist with Ukrainian relief efforts. Through the experience, clients who need legal assistance will be able to connect with the LDN team and relevant resources through their online chat box and chatbot, Pravoman. If the client qualifies for pro bono assistance, the LinGo team will match them up with a pro bono lawyer through Paladin to facilitate the work directly. Lawyers and business professionals interested in volunteering can sign up here to assist with refugee/immigration applications; housing; labor rights; access to public services (medicine, education, social protection); business related issues, and translation assistance. There is an urgent need for volunteer lawyers who are licensed to practice across Europe, particularly in Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Moldova.

What is the Legal Development Network (LDN), and how is the organization supporting the people of Ukraine?

The Legal Development Network (LDN), based in Kyiv, is a group of Ukrainian community-based organizations that promotes people-centered justice through legal aid, legal education, strategic advocacy, and other empowerment tools. More information can be found at https://ldn.org.ua/en/about/.

According to UNHCR, as of March 24, more than 4 million Ukrainians had fled abroad searching for security. In the past few weeks, LDN has helped relocate their staff and families from hotspots to other areas in Ukraine; prepared and disseminated legal and humanitarian information across the country; built out humanitarian centers to provide clothing, medicine, food, and equipment to those in need; and served nearly 2,500 individuals with legal assistance in person and through remote tools.

What is LinGo, and how are they supporting the people of Ukraine?

LinGo is a non-profit social enterprise that focuses on addressing public interests through legal innovations in Ukraine. More information can be found at https://legalinnovations.in.ua/en.

LinGo will be managing the network to help coordinate connections between clients who need help and attorneys who are well-suited to assist, as well as continuing to build out tech tools to help.

What types of help are needed?

Areas of need are evolving over time, but currently, they include issues related to refugee/immigration applications; housing; labor rights; access to public services (medicine, education, social protection); business related issues, and translation assistance. More specifically, LDN is receiving questions related to how individuals can recover lost documents; conditions for immigrating abroad (especially with children); information on labor-related rights in martial law; how to move a business to a safer location; destinations for evacuation and migration; and general support for socially vulnerable groups, including social benefits, pensions, utility bills, etc.

In what countries or jurisdictions is help needed?

There is an urgent need for volunteer lawyers who are licensed to practice across Europe, particularly in Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Moldova.

Is there a way for professionals, beyond lawyers, to assist?

Yes! There will be support needed for translation (available on the portal) and humanitarian efforts. In addition, LDN is taking donations at https://ldn.org.ua/en/support/.

How do lawyers across Paladin partner firms access the portal? Is accessing the portal different for lawyers who already have a Paladin account versus those who don’t have an account?

We created the Ukrainian pro bono portal separate from the Paladin client portal to ensure the broadest reach in terms of connecting to potential volunteers. For our clients, this means that your lawyers and business professionals do not need to have a Paladin account in order to volunteer.

The process for “expressing interest” in an opportunity is similar to the current process on Paladin, with the caveat that the user will need to enter his/her contact and jurisdiction details. Upon request, the Paladin’s Client Experience Team will be able to provide you with a bi-weekly or monthly export of members of your firm who volunteer via the portal. Please make this request by sending an email to support@joinpaladin.com.

Can I share information and a link to the portal with others across my network?

Yes, the wider spread communication of the portal, the more individuals we can collectively help! Thank you for that!


Ukraine Pro Bono Portal: FAQ was originally published in Paladin on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.