Aili C. Monahan

Aili C. Monahan is the Director of the Pro Bono Partnerships Project (PBPP) at Northeast New Jersey Legal Services (NNJLS). In this role, Aili collaborates with PBPP staff and external legal partners to develop and deliver legal services to low-income clients residing in Hudson, Bergen and Passaic Counties. Through partnerships with local law firms, law schools, corporate legal in-house attorneys, and community organizations, PBPP offers legal services through both volunteer attorney representation and pro se clinic models.  As a recipient of a Pro Bono Innovation Fund grant from Legal Services Corporation, NNJLS’s PBPP is currently developing volunteer attorney training modules. These modules are designed to support and train attorneys in high-demand legal areas and will create client-facing modules that will empower clients to self-advocate.   

Prior to joining NNJLS in April 2023, Aili managed a solo law firm where she concentrated her legal practice on providing specialized in-house litigation services to the General Counsel’s offices of multi-state insurance companies.  As part of her solo practice, Aili also worked as a Pool Attorney for the Office of the Public Defender, Office of the Law Guardian, where she represented children who were in the foster care system in New Jersey.  Earlier in her career, Aili served as a Case Supervisor at Hudson County Court-Appointment Special Advocates (CASA), where she supervised CASA volunteers in their work to advocate for CASA’s goals of securing safe, permanent homes.  As a Case Supervisor, and one of the only attorneys on staff, Aili provided legal guidance to the staff and volunteers at Hudson County CASA, and assisted with program management.

Aili started her legal career as a commercial litigation attorney at a large firm in New Jersey and previously clerked for the Honorable Donald S. Coburn, P.J.A.D., in the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey. Aili earned a B.A. in mathematics from Bryn Mawr College and a J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law.