McKenna's Legal Advocates
About McKenna's Legal Advocates
McKenna’s Legal Advocates provides free legal services, including those listed below, to SOME clients and clients of other programs founded by Fr. Horace McKenna more than 50 years ago where they live, learn, and receive program services. For more information, or to volunteer, please call Dan Collopy at (202) 823-9302 or email him at dcollopy@some.org
McKenna’s Legal Advocates provides free legal assistance in the following areas:
- Child Custody, Child Support, Domestic Violence, Divorce, and Legal Separation
- Landlord/Tenant, Foreclosure, and Housing
- Criminal Expungements
- Wills, Medical Powers of Attorney, and Financial Powers of Attorney
- Consumer Debt and Bankruptcy
- Employment Discrimination, Wrongful Termination, and Public Benefits
- Identification Documents and Other Civil Issues
Program Overview for McKenna's Legal Advocates
- MLA volunteers currently work with clients who receive services from the four major non-profit service providers operating in D.C. established by Father Horace McKenna, S.J., our namesake, more than 50 years ago, SOME (So Others Might Eat), Martha’s Table, House of Ruth, and the McKenna Center, and also work with former residents of the Sursum Corda Cooperative founded by Fr. McKenna
- MLA volunteers provide legal advice, strategy, and focused referrals to area legal aid providers who specialize in their areas of concern, area law firms, as well as local and federal government departments, agencies, and other programs
- MLA volunteers can also, at their option, provide short- and long- term representation for the clients they meet volunteering at McKenna’s Legal Advocates
- MLA volunteers include active and retired federal government lawyers and paralegals from DOJ, HLS, NLRB, SBA, as well as D.C. law firms, law schools, and area universities
- Sponsored by SOME, and in just two years, MLA volunteers have spoken with or provided extensive consultations with more than 3,000 clients
Leadership
McKenna’s Legal Advocates is led by Dan Collopy, a former trial lawyer and manager with the National Labor Relations Board who litigated cases in federal court throughout the country for 30 years, including cases against CNN, Community Health Systems, and the airline industry, while building both his Agency’s and the Federal Government’s Pro Bono Program. Dan spent four years handling pro bono legal cases for Catholic Charities Legal Network in D.C. and Maryland before launching McKenna’s Legal Advocates in July 2022. Dan has also handled hundreds of pro bono legal cases over the years for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless and the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program’s Advocacy & Justice Clinic and Advice & Referral Clinic. Dan also served on the Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services of the D.C. Circuit Judicial Conference as well as the Family Law and Landlord Tenant committees of the D.C. Bar’s Pro Bono Task Force. In 2006, Dan was named the D.C. Bar’s Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year.
