Tennessee’s 2015 Celebrate Pro Bono Month kicks off tomorrow with five events, including three legal advice clinics and a fundraiser for the Community Legal Center in Memphis. Events continue on Friday with a legal clinic in Knoxville and a Wills for Heroes clinic sponsored by the TBA Young Lawyers Division in Nashville. See the full list of Celebrate Pro Bono Month events.

The 2015 Celebrate Pro Bono Initiative kicks off this week with more than 50 events planned across the state during the month of October. Tennessee lawyers help thousands of clients throughout the year by providing free legal advice, but this assistance is especially celebrated and emphasized during the month of October as part of a nationwide celebration. Now in its seventh year, the Tennessee initiative brings together bar associations, law schools, law firms, legal services providers and individual lawyers to offer free services to those unable to afford a lawyer. This year's celebration is expected to involve more than 300 volunteers -- including lawyers, law students, paralegals and language interpreters. A summary of events is posted online and will be updated throughout the month.

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Two attorneys with the Murfreesboro office of the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands will be giving a presentation on Living Wills tomorrow. Andrae Crismon, managing attorney of the office, and Aimee Luna will be at the Smyrna Senior Center, 100 Raikes Street, at 10 a.m. for this public program. See the list of all remaining pro bono events at https://www.tba.org/info/celebrate-pro-bono-month-2014

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee & the Cumberlands and the Nashville Bar Association YLD are co-sponsoring a legal clinic at Casa Azafran Friday from 2:30 to 5 p.m. The clinic is hosted the third Friday of every month and walk-in clients are welcome. Volunteers should contact Lucinda Smith for more information. See a list of all events taking place around the state this month as part of Celebrate Pro Bono.

Memphis Area Legal Services (MALS) will hold a legal clinic this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Benjamin Hooks Central Library at 3030 Poplar Ave. Clinic co-sponsors include the Memphis Bar Association, Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs and the legal department at International Paper. Following the clinic there will be a free CLE on working with clients and caregivers dealing with dementia. In exchange for the free credit, attendees must agree to handle a pro bono case or work at a legal clinic. For more information about either of these events contact Linda Seely. Learn about other Celebrate Pro Bono events across the state.

Volunteers are still needed for the veteran's legal clinic at Operation Stand Down (OSD) this Saturday in Knoxville at the National Guard Armory, 3330 Sutherland Avenue. OSD Tennessee provides a wide-range of free support service for honorably discharged vets and their families. Lawyers and law students will work together to provide free legal assistance to clients on a variety of civil legal issues. Contact Brad Morgan for more information at rmorgan2@utk.edu. Learn about other Celebrate Pro Bono events.

To commemorate "Celebrate Pro Bono Month" in the October Tennessee Bar Journal, Russell Fowler details Alexander Hamilton's upbringing and career. Hamilton is the first known American lawyer who performed pro bono on a wide and systematic scale -- he was a pro bono rock star! Also in this issue, Nashville lawyer James G. Thomas reviews Joel Cohen's book Blindfolds Off: Judges on How They Decide.

Celebrate Pro Bono Month 2014 is in full swing. Now in its sixth year, the initiative brings together bar associations, law schools, law firms, legal services providers and individual lawyers to offer free services to those unable to afford a lawyer. This year's celebration is expected to involve more than 300 volunteers – including lawyers, law students, paralegals and language interpreters – in dozens of events and activities across the state. Information about events will be updated and promoted throughout the month. Find an event near you.

October is “Celebrate Pro Bono Month.” So let us take a brief look at Alexander Hamilton, who was the first American lawyer we know of who performed pro bono work on a wide and systematic scale. This free legal work was not limited to what we refer to today as “impact cases” or “cause lawyering” or “high profile litigation.” His pro bono cases included help for the poor with their individual, everyday problems.[1] Considering that Hamilton was not wealthy like many of the other Founding Fathers, his volunteer legal activities were a real sacrifice.