Equal Justice Works connects law students, law school professionals, lawyers and advocates with fellowships at legal services organizations and other opportunities in public interest law. Each year, Equal Justice Works mobilizes over 300 Fellows across the country to address a wide range of unmet legal needs. Fellows work to ensure equal access to justice for underserved communities across the country.

Equal Justice Works’ Disaster Resilience Program is a standing disaster response, recovery, and resilience program that mobilizes attorney Fellows and law students across the country to provide free legal aid to people in low-income communities in disaster-prone areas. The program, a member of the National Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD), helps people and communities recover from and prepare for disasters. The program model addresses the understanding that responding to disasters only after they occur is insufficient and it is critical to provide a continuum of legal services before, during, and after disasters.

Click here to learn more about the program and how to bring Disaster Resilience Fellows to your organization. Click here to see where Disaster Resilience Fellows are currently located and learn more about their projects.

Resources from Equal Justice Works Disaster Resilience Program

• Disaster Resilience Symposium Playlist (2023): View the entire series of sessions from EJW’s 2023 Disaster Resilience Symposium. The Symposium was created in a partnership with the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Disaster Response and Preparedness, the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Disaster Legal Services, and Stetson University College of Law. The two-day Symposium convened more than 100 legal, academic, and community members instrumental in disaster law to share their experiences, expertise, and delivery strategies for advocating on behalf of people affected by disasters. 

• National Disaster Attorney Guidebook (2022): The first National Disaster Attorney Guidebook is a joint project of Equal Justice Works and ABA YLD Disaster Legal Services.  This guidebook serves as an overview of disaster assistance available under various state and federal laws, the steps that an attorney advocate should take to help ensure that this assistance reaches low-income disaster survivors, and practice pointers to guide the advocate in representing clients.
  • National Disaster Attorney Guidebook: Text Only Version  
  • Guía Nacional sobre Desastres para Abogados

• ​Disaster Resilience Awareness Month Series (2021): View the entire series of EJW Disaster Resilience Awareness Month trainings created by Disaster Resilience Fellows. Disaster Resilience Awareness Month is observed every March as a collaborative effort to spread awareness about disaster related challenges, provide resources for survivors and advocates, and highlight the important role that legal professionals play in disaster preparedness, recovery, and resilience efforts.  This series includes trainings on applying for disaster housing assistance, consumer scams, SBA loans, clearing title, and more.

• Disaster Recovery Sessions (2019): A series of training videos for advocates who are providing legal assistance to disaster survivors. This series includes sessions such as community lawyering, immigration 101, pro bono 101, disability issues in disaster recovery and more.