Natalie Hansen drove near the berry farms of her hometown outside Portland, Ore., captivated as the rising sun illuminated migrant farm-workers already hard at work in the fields.

It was a world she knew little about, as if they were hiding in plain sight. “My parents, the community, and the school never talked about these workers,” Hansen reflected. Curious about their lives, Hansen volunteered to teach the workers English. “They told me stories of how they came to the United States and why they were here,” Hansen said. “This had a profound effect on me; their stories piqued my interest in social justice issues and power imbalances.”

Hansen studied law in Seattle, and then spent two years working at the innovative worker’s law organization Centro de los Derechos del Migrante in Mexico City. She then moved to Austin, continuing on the journey that led to her current position as director of pro bono programs and staff attorney at American Gateways.

“One of the reasons I was attracted to American Gateways was the provision of legal services to immigrants in detention facilities – the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall for men, and the T. Don Hutto detention center for women,” Hansen said. “When my pro bono hat is off, my staff attorney hat is on – I am the attorney responsible for serving the women at Hutto, many of whom are asylum seekers.”

Hansen’s favorite part about being director of pro bono programs is working with the overwhelming number of attorneys who want to volunteer their time and expertise to an immigrant who cannot afford to hire a private attorney. “We see a lot of ugly things in our office – a lot of stories of abuse, rape, torture, domestic violence – and sometimes the world starts looking pretty grim,” Hansen said. “My contact with the pro bono attorneys brings a balance back for me and I am floored by their generosity.”

Hansen says there are many moving pieces to a good pro bono program – and a director has the responsibility to make those pieces work together in a way that results in quality legal services to the most clients.

“I love making a phone call to the client to tell them we’ve found them an attorney. Most times that is the difference for them winning or losing their case.”

As part of her pro bono duties, Hansen was on the hunt for an efficient way to upload training resources that her pro bono attorneys could easily access. The Texas Access to Justice Commission put Hansen in contact with the administrators of the statewide website TexasLawyersHelp.org, a free service provided for pro bono attorneys and funded by leading access to justice organizations in Texas.  Excited by the resource, Hansen and American Gateways “adopted” the Immigration folder on TexasLawyersHelp.org and began uploading important immigration case documents. “By uploading training materials to TexasLawyersHelp.org, I did not have to spend resources on manufacturing the training guides for the pro bono attorneys, nor did I have to waste time sending resources out every time an individual pro bono attorney needed them.”

She organized the resources in the folder from the perspective of someone taking an immigration case for the first time. “I devised step-by-step instructions that provides detailed planning of the actions required by pro bono attorneys,” Hansen said.

In the future, Hansen hopes to upload video of training sessions to the TexasLawyersHelp.org “I can update the videos when necessary and upload the new training session to be viewed by pro bono attorneys at their convenience.”

Hansen encourages other legal aid providers to adopt other folders on TexasLawyersHelp.org website. “Pro bono work is so important and having a website dedicated to the availability of legal resources like TexasLawyersHelp.org is vital to ensuring successful pro bono practice in Texas for years to come.”

American Gateways offers safety and hope for a new life to hundreds of men, women and children every year, from approximately 75 countries around the world. Today, immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers continue to benefit from legal representation—and so much more. American Gateways empowers immigrants to advocate for themselves and their families and keeps them informed about their rights and responsibilities. American Gateways educates law enforcement, the legal community, and other advocates on how to use social and legal resources to uphold the law and make Central Texas a safe place to build a new life. If you wish to learn more about American Gateways, you can visit their website at http://www.americangateways.org/.

TexasLawyersHelp.org is a free site that contains resources for pro bono and legal services attorneys, law professionals, and law students to assist in the representation of low-income and disadvantaged clients. The website features a Volunteer Clearinghouse that lists pro bono programs in Texas; a Calendar that lists training, events and clinics; an extensive resource Library; Group Email Lists that provide access to listservs dedicated to specific practice areas; and, the New Cases feature, where legal aid providers may post cases that need pro bono representation.