Tag Archives: Justice

Justice Entrepreneurs Project’s Pricing Toolkit

Posted on by Faith Pincus
23 Oct

At Pincus Professional Education, we are committed to helping educate attorneys who work for legal aid firms and serve low-income populations. One of our partners in this effort is the Chicago Bar Association’s Foundation (Chicago Bar Foundation). Their Justice Entrepreneurs Project (JEP), is a small business incubator that helps newer lawyers start innovative, socially conscious law practices serving low and middle income Chicagoans. We wanted to share their Pricing Toolkit with you as they are continually providing good resources for attorneys.

From the Chicago Bar Association’s Foundation website: One of the core principles for the JEP program and JEP lawyers is to make legal assistance more affordable and transparent to low and moderate income people by offering fixed fees and flexible representation options to potential clients. The toolkit came about after the CBF discovered in the early stages of the JEP program there was a dearth of practical resources for lawyers serving the consumer market who seek to price their services by using arrangements other than the billable hour.

Thanks to a dedicated team effort of partners, volunteers, and staff, this toolkit is “Version 1.0” to help JEP lawyers and other lawyers who are interested in pricing their services to be more affordable and transparent. The toolkit also contains a two page summary matrix that provides a brief overview of various alternative pricing options that can be effective in the consumer market.

A more advanced version of the toolkit will include an appendix with sample forms and templates.

Access-to-Justice Donations You Should Be Making

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If you are making charitable donations this year, consider organizations that increase access to justice. Organizations that work to improve access to justice work with people to improve communication tools, transportation and more. From internet access, to transportation, to housing. There are many organizations out there doing great work and ensuring more people have access to the services they need.

This article from Lawyerist.com outlines many of the different options you have when making a charitable donation. You can read the full article here.

Their suggestions range from organizations helping with internet access such as Equitable Internet Initiative and Foundation for Rural Service, groups focusing on transportation like Neighbor Ride and Wheels of Success and groups who focus exclusively on keeping the doors of America’s Public Libraries open.

Even providing housing to individuals improves access to justice. If you don’t know where you are going to sleep, legal issues take a backseat. Government resources for housing are stretched thin and many private organizations have stepped in to fill the need for individuals with month-to-month or even day-to-day housing needs.