Association of Corporate Counsel offices. Courtesy photo.

The Association of Corporate Counsel's Nevada chapter has partnered with the Las Vegas-based Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada Inc. for pro bono work to help seal misdemeanor convictions for marijuana possession and the misdemeanor records for victims of sex trafficking.

The Legal Aid Center will be hosting a workshop to interested members of ACC Nevada to teach the basics of record sealing. ACC Nevada members who complete the workshop will be assigned two to three cases to work on from the Legal Aid Center.

Krystal Saab, the past immediate president of ACC Nevada who most recently served as the general counsel of Las Vegas-based Nevada Organic Remedies, said she hopes to have 30 attorneys from ACC Nevada sign up for the workshop.

"The goal of this project partnering Legal Aid Center and ACC Nevada is to help vulnerable populations in Nevada regain dignity and employment in their lives," Saab said in an email to Corporate Counsel.

The record-sealing process is a civil matter. The attorneys who go through the workshop do not need to have a background in criminal law to participate.

Noah Malgeri, director of the Pro Bono Project at Legal Aid Center, said in an email that record sealing is not a large part of the center's work but "it has been and remains an important way to help eligible Nevadans overcome legal obstacles to achieve a more fulfilling and productive life."

ACC Nevada is one of five ACC chapters that were awarded funding from the ACC Foundation's Pro Bono Jumpstart Fund. The fund awards a total of up to $50,000 to ACC chapters with programs that "jump-start" pro bono and diversity and inclusion efforts.

"In-house counsel are eager to contribute their knowledge and time to this important cause, even in a period of shrinking budgets and organizational uncertainty," Jennifer Chen, director of the ACC Foundation, said in a statement.

The other awardees the ACC Foundation recognized were ACC Wisconsin with the Milwaukee Bar Association and Marquette University Law School; ACC Southwest Ohio and the Pro Bono Partnership of Ohio; ACC New England and the Street Law Campaign; and ACC Tampa Bay, who also partnered with the Street Law Campaign.