Operation Stand-By: Seek Attorney-to-Attorney Advice from a Civilian Attorney

Contact civilian attorneys registered with Operation Stand-By with legal questions relating to their geographic areas and substantive areas of expertise for attorney-to-attorney advice, so you can receive guidance that will allow you to further assist your servicemember clients.

Volunteer Attorneys List


  • How can Operation Stand-By help me to assist my clients?

While working with your clients in the delivery of military legal assistance, there may be times when you need state-specific legal information, or perhaps a deeper analysis of a legal area with which you are less familiar. For example, due to your client’s unique facts, you may have questions about the proper jurisdiction for your client’s case, whether there is a potential legal remedy for your client’s issue in a certain state, or how a particular remedy in an unfamiliar legal area can be pursued. Through Operation Stand-By, you may connect with civilian attorneys who can advise you on these issues through short phone conversations or emails.

Civilian attorneys who register to join Operation Stand-By agree to be available to receive periodic calls or emails from military legal assistance attorneys who need consultation on state-specific legal information relating to the civilian attorneys’ areas of expertise. This state-specific advice also may help you determine if a case has fully developed legal foundations before making a case referral to the ABA Military Pro Bono Project. The Operation Stand-By lists of attorneys do not reflect the ABA Military Pro Bono Project’s network of attorneys.

  • What legal areas are included with Operation Stand-By?

Volunteer attorneys throughout the country have registered with Operation Stand-By to provide state-specific legal guidance to military attorneys in the following areas: bankruptcy, consumer, criminal, employment, expungements, family law, guardianship, housing/landlord-tenant, immigration, personal injury, public benefits, special education, tax, trusts and estates/probate, military discharge upgrades, and veterans benefits.

  • May I use Operation Stand-By to find pro bono representation for my client?

No. You may not contact these attorneys to seek pro bono representation for your clients. There is no expectation that volunteer attorneys registered with Operation Stand-By will provide pro bono representation for your client. Attorneys registered with Operation Stand-By only agree to attorney-to-attorney consultations. If you would like to seek pro bono representation for a client, please consider completing an ABA Military Pro Bono Project referral form on behalf of your client, or visiting ABA Home Front for information about local legal programs.

The list of Operation Stand-By volunteer attorneys is accessible by military legal assistance attorneys and pro bono attorneys who are registered with the ABA Military Pro Bono Project. You may only use the list to seek attorney-to-attorney advice from the attorneys on the Operation Stand-By lists when you need guidance so you can further assist your servicemember clients. Clients should not communicate directly with an Operation Stand-By volunteer. You may not provide any information on the Operation Stand-By lists to your clients or other individuals, unless a volunteer attorney explicitly provides you with permission to pass on his or her contact information.


After registering with and logging onto this website, you can access the Operation Stand-By lists of attorneys who have volunteered to receive calls or emails from military attorneys and pro bono attorneys who are registered with the ABA Military Pro Bono Project. Before contacting an attorney, please read and follow the information on the first page of the Operation Stand-By state list.

When you contact these attorneys, please inform them that you are a military attorney or pro bono attorney registered with the ABA Military Pro Bono Project and obtained their names and contact information from Operation Stand-By’s password-secured list.

Please send any comments or feedback about your experience using Operation Stand-By to militaryprobono@americanbar.org.

Last Updated 2/24/2024


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