Everyone should have
equal access to
equal justice under the law
What Do We Do?
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Access to Justice
First and foremost, we are a veteran-owned legal aid nonprofit, helping connect people with pro bono or low-cost legal services.
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Giveaways
Even with legal aid, access to justice can be out of reach if you lack resources, so we sponsor giveaways and financial aid to those in need.
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Community Support
Many crimes result from people who were struggling with food insecurity, so we partner with local organizations to sponsor community fridges full of free, healthy food.
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Advocacy Skills
To help people cultivate advocacy skills, we regularly sponsor free or low-cost events and webinars to teach the public great advocacy skills.
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Legal Education
To help boost people’s familiarity with the law and their legal issues, we routinely sponsor free or low-cost legal education events.
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Events
Lastly, we also sponsor and help plan fun community events in general, to help build stronger communities and bring people together!
An “amicus curiae” is a neutral, trustworthy person or group who helps the justice system and expects nothing in return.
The Amicus Curiae Foundation is here to help bridge the gap in access to justice, one step at a time.
Past Events
Our Celebration of Life Events
Since October 2019, we’ve hosted frequent Celebration of Life events that connect estate planning attorneys with people who need a will but cannot afford one.
Legal Education
During the pandemic, we shifted focus away from in-person events and focused instead on webinars, by leading dozens of free Zoom classes on topics covering many areas of law and advocacy topics.
Mock Trial / Moot Court
The best way to practice advocacy is by jumping right into a real case. A mock trial or moot court is a fictitious case, usually based on current events, and students in high school, college, or law school play a role as a mock attorney or witness. To that end, we plan on hosting annual mock trials and moot courts for students!
Community Fridge
This year, with the help of a generous ChangeX grant, we were able to partner with a San Antonio church and serve the community with a community fridge, full of free, nutritious food.
Access to Justice Hotline
We are currently running a 24/7 hotline, staffed by a growing network of experienced attorneys, to connect people with legal questions to attorneys who are willing to give them support and guidance at significantly reduced nonprofit rate.
Workshops
For 2024, we plan on hosting some great workshops, structured around the topic of advocacy skills, negotiation skills, and critical thinking skills, taught by experienced trial lawyers who use these skills every day in court. None of this is free for us, however, so your contribution is immensely appreciated.
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Gurney F. Pearsall III
FOUNDER + BOARD PRESIDENT
As a law student, Gurney discovered a passion for volunteer work, and volunteered 1,000 hours of pro bono work by the time he graduated. As a new attorney, he decided to centralize his pro bono work through a new legal aid nonprofit, the Amicus Curiae Foundation.
Gurney has handled cases free of charge, including divorces for battered women and criminal defense cases for the homeless. He’s also about to complete his 1,000th hour of volunteer work as a crisis counselor at Crisis Text Line.
As a captain in the US Army Reserves JAG Corps, Gurney serves his country by serving its Soldiers, taking care of their legal problems and taking that enormous weight off their shoulders. For his volunteer work in and out of the military, CPT Pearsall has earned three Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medals.
But there is only so much that one person can afford to do on their own. The Foundation and its volunteer services have been able to thrive over the past four years because its board members are willing to work for free, and even pay out of pocket for nonprofit expenses, until the Foundation has the resources to support an operating budget.
To that end, we are kicking off our next big initiative: The Access to Justice Hotline! This nonprofit Hotline will connect Americans to attorneys who can answer their questions with depth, with compassion, and with expert guidance - anywhere, anytime, within minutes. And most importantly, we'll offer a 100% refund guarantee if our attorney network can't answer your question quickly enough.