A Hungarian law firm is partnering with a Los Angeles legal tech company and a legal industry influencer to create an international database of pro bono attorneys willing to represent Ukrainian refugees in need of immigration or asylum aid, and they are looking for more attorneys to sign up.
As of Saturday, they had already signed up more than 500 attorneys. But they said there is an immense need for hundreds more lawyers and other volunteers to assist the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians faced with navigating the humanitarian crisis caused by Russia’s invasion.
Interested volunteers can sign up at ukrainelegalaid.org.
The effort has been organized by KNP LAW, a Budapest law firm; BigLawBoiz, an Instagram satirist of BigLaw; and HyperDraft AI, a document automation company, whose CEO Tony Thai runs BigLawBoiz.
The organizers are seeking:
- Individual attorneys who are willing to provide pro bono legal services to displaced Ukrainians. Attorneys who speak Russian, Ukrainian, Polish or Hungarian are in particularly high demand.
- Law firms, corporations and other organizations with resources to share. Firms can help in preparing
immigration forms or asylum claims. One international firm, Wilkie Farr & Gallagher, has already agreed to donate resources. - Paralegals, legal secretaries and law students are also needed as volunteers.
In an email, Thai said that, after attorneys have processed several of these cases, HyperDraft AI will work to automate as much of the documentation as it can. But even then, volunteers will be needed to help with intake and processing cases.
Questions may be addressed to support@ukrainelegalaid.org.
