Q: I'm trying to find a pro bono lawyer to help with my eviction, even if it's via email only.

A: You are not likely to find a pro bono attorney frankly - landlord-tenant is not a lucrative area of the law for attorneys to practice in to begin with, and we have to pay our bills as well as everyone else. That said, while an Answer or other appearance was required to be filed by 5 p.m. today, that Answer can be amended up until the time of trial so you are not necessarily out of options, assuming you are indeed talking about a lawsuit in Oregon (you have posted in Oregon but are listed as being in Renton, WA). While time is short, you can still make an appointment and review everything with an attorney if you want. Doing so will likely be able to tell you whether you really have a viable case or if your chances of winning are poor and you should focus on both getting out now and seeing if the landlord will let you out without charging you their court costs and attorneys fees. A single visit to an attorney will likely answer all your questions (even if you may not like the answers - but better to know now than later) and if it appears that you DO have a viable case, the attorney may be willing to represent you on a contingency basis, meaning you don't have to pay the attorney anything for their time beyond the cost of the initial interview but rather the attorney would collect his/her fees from the landlord upon winning the case. If, for any reason, you don't win, then your attorney simply would not get paid since you would still not owe them IF they are willing to take your case on a contingency. So consider reviewing everything with a landlord-tenant attorney in the area where you are in court.

Good luck.