Session #32: Serving the Community in Observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 6, 2026
12 – 1 p.m. Virtual Zoom Presentation Free – online Zoom
The Detroit Bar Pro Bono/Access to Justice Committee invites you to join us for a webinar featuring several ways you can serve your community in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Presenters:
The ACLU of Michigan and the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center are seeking volunteer attorneys to help challenge the unlawful detention of immigrants who are being denied access to bond hearings in violation of longstanding constitutional and legal protections. Without bond hearings, individuals may be held for months or years away from their families while their immigration cases proceed. Volunteers are needed to file habeas petitions in the Eastern and Western District of Michigan and handle the subsequent bond hearings in Detroit Immigration Court to secure their clients’ release. We offer a listserv for new case alerts, open office hours with a habeas expert, mentoring with an immigration attorney, and a resource folder with templates and recordings of prior trainings.
TeamAbad and Julisa Abad host name change clinics for low income transgender community members, covering Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. TeamAbad seeks new attorney volunteers to accept case referrals. Cases generally take 5-10 hours from initial meeting to hearing over a 4-6 month period and although the newly updated name change laws allow relief to be granted without a hearing, attorneys should be prepared to handle the nonadversarial hearing. Additionally, Although most clients qualify for fee waivers and should be able to avoid publication fees upon request, volunteer firms & attorneys should expect to cover any filing fees if a fee waiver or waiver of publication is not granted. Training a 90 minute live or on demand training is offered by Dykema.
Driver license restoration services are incredibly valuable to residents who need to restore driving privileges to get to work, school, medical care, and take care of loved ones. The clinics bring resources from the public and private sectors together, with onsite Secretary of State staff and services, corporate and attorney volunteers, court administrators, and philanthropy. Similarly, expungement services help residents remove eligible convictions from their record, which can enable them to find better employment and housing opportunities. Volunteers are needed at intake and at the hearings.
Moderator:
Attend and receive a Certificate of Completion. Approved for State Bar of Michigan Pro Bono Honor Roll hours. Training hours can be put toward the Detroit Bar Pro Bono award with recognition at the annual Archer Award Gala in November. For full details, please visit https://www.detroitlawyer.org/probonoaward/
For questions, contact Sheena Law-Killinger at slawkillinger@detroitlawyer.org.
Brought to you by:
DETROIT BAR PRO BONO/ACCESS TO JUSTICE COMMITTEE
The information provided in this programming does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available are for general informational purposes only.