Over the past year, the legal landscape has shifted rapidly. As longstanding systems of legal advocacy faced new challenges, one thing has become increasingly clear: committed lawyers standing together can make an extraordinary difference. However, amidst this chaos, it’s clear that committed lawyers standing together are a force to be reckoned with. That is exactly why we are taking a moment to celebrate a milestone: this July marks the one-year anniversary of L4GG's Pro Bono Litigation Corps (PBLC).
Back in 2025, the administration’s executive orders targeting major law firms placed unprecedented pressure on the traditional big-firm pro bono model, the backbone of so much impact litigation for decades. As new challenges emerged almost daily, it became clear that experienced attorneys outside of large firms could play a critical role in helping meet the growing need for public interest litigation. Someone had to help fill that gap, and so we did. Traditional big-firm pro bono models, the backbone of so much impact litigation for decades, were suddenly under siege. As new attacks from the administration emerged every day, someone had to step into that gap – so we did.
In July 2025, L4GG launched the Pro Bono Litigation Corps with a straightforward goal: mobilize experienced attorneys – retired litigators, independent practitioners, and lawyers from small firms – who wanted to take on high-impact litigation but lacked the infrastructure to do it alone. The PBLC exists to remove every barrier that typically keeps unaffiliated attorneys on the sidelines. We provide malpractice coverage, paralegal support, and case management, so this deep pool of seasoned talent can represent clients who otherwise cannot secure counsel.
The PBLC didn't emerge from nothing. It builds directly on L4GG's long track record of mobilizing attorneys quickly in the face of new pressures and gaps. Since our founding in 2016, we have mobilized over $165 million in pro bono legal services from a network of more than 125,000 attorneys, and we're on pace to mobilize $60 million in 2026 alone.
Hitting the ground running
Within weeks of launch, the PBLC drew coverage from the New York Times and MSNBC. One volunteer attorney reflected on the growing community of independent litigators stepping forward:
“I don’t know if the administration knew how many little guys are out there.”
That characterization captures the essence of this program. The PBLC isn't one large firm with one set strategy. It's a nimble, distributed army of independent litigators, each bringing decades of experience, now organized and equipped to move wherever it’s needed most.
The PBLC’s early cases tracked some of the most urgent constitutional threats of the moment, and grew out of the coalitions we have been working with for nearly a decade. We co-counseled in a putative class action challenging the termination of the $3 billion Environmental and Climate Justice block grant program. We took on the EPA's termination of the $7 billion Solar for All program. And we stepped in to represent ten EPA and FEMA whistleblowers who were retaliated against after submitting scientifically grounded dissent letters warning of mismanagement and danger to the public. In each of these cases, our goal was to ensure that constitutional principles prevail over an executive branch determined to shirk the rule of law and expand its own power.
Where we stand today
A year in, the PBLC’s growth speaks for itself. We now have a staff of four full-time litigators, a litigation paralegal, and a Senior Manager of Pro Bono Initiatives, with hiring for two additional Counsel positions underway. More than 135 volunteer attorneys are actively engaged in matters right now, having already provided more than $4.6 million in pro bono legal services. We have filed 42 matters, with new matters opening every week.
That growth has let us sharpen our focus. As the PBLC has grown, several early areas of focus have emerged: Environmental Justice & Climate Litigation, Democracy & Constitutional Rights, and Whistleblower Protection & Federal Employee Rights. A few cases from the docket illustrate what that looks like in practice.
This spring, PBLC volunteer attorneys filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the Underground Railroad Education Center in Albany, New York, after the administration canceled the museum's $250,000 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant, just one casualty in a sweeping executive order that eliminated 98% of federal humanities grants focused on Black history and culture. Our suit argues the cancellation was racially discriminatory, violated the Center's free speech rights, and contradicted the NEH's own statutory mandate to support underrepresented communities. We're seeking both restored funding and invalidation of the directive that made the mass terminations possible in the first place.
More recently, we filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Center for Open Science, and the Environmental Protection Network in a challenge to a Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) ruling that declared the Civil Service Reform Act unconstitutional as applied to federal employees with policymaking responsibilities. The MSPB's theory – that the president needs at-will firing power over these employees to faithfully execute the laws – gets things exactly backwards. Congress has repeatedly required federal agencies to base decisions on the best available science, and that is only possible when career scientists are shielded from political interference, not exposed to it.
And through Project Corazón and the Detention Bridge Project, we continue organizing habeas petitions with lawyers able to serve as local counsel, file necessary documents, and appear in person in court. Beyond the pro se proceedings we’ve supported, we have filed eight habeas petitions of our own, securing the release of four people from detention. Building on a strong volunteer base in Texas, we’re now expanding throughout New Mexico, Georgia, the Washington, DC area, and more.
What comes next
The PBLC began in a moment of crisis for the country and legal community, and during its first year, it has grown into a true firewall against executive overreach. At a moment when wins for basic freedoms and constitutional principles feel increasingly rare, the PBLC is proof that few things are more powerful than lawyers standing together and making the government answer for the true cost of its actions.