AVLF by Any Other Name

by: Martin Ellin, AVLF, Executive Director

We have been the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation for 32 years, and we are not going to change a name that is widely known and respected. But our name does not fully convey who we are, and if we were starting again, perhaps we should attempt to be more descriptive…

We are the Atlanta Domestic Violence Prevention Foundation (ADVPF), established to give victims of intimate partner violence access to the civil legal representation that has the most impact on a survivor’s ability to make a permanent break from her abuser. We exist because such help is not otherwise easily and at no cost available to victims, and therefore in 2009 we opened our DV Project’s Safe Families Office, the only courthouse-based free legal support program of its kind in Georgia. The Safe Families Office serves survivors of domestic violence, dating violence and stalking, and since its opening in early 2009 more than 4,500 women have visited the Office. In that time, volunteer attorneys recruited, trained and supervised by the Atlanta Domestic Violence Prevention Foundation have secured not only critical Twelve-Month protective orders but also financial awards for their victim-clients in the amount of $147, 109.27. Because our partner, the Fulton County Superior Court, has dedicated distinct space with protective support from Fulton County Sheriffs, because our Safe Families Office colleague Partnership Against Domestic Violence (PADV) staffs the Office to offer safety planning to victims , and because ADVPF coordinates the provision of quality, free legal support, the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence last year designated the Safe Families Office as a national model for the delivery of these services.

We are the Atlanta Tenant Support Center (ATSC), founded to coordinate the delivery of legal services to those who need help to encourage or if necessary force their landlord to honor the provisions of any lease and/or the jurisdiction’s Housing Code. In Fulton County alone last year, there were more than 51,000 dispossessory warrants sworn out by landlords: more than 18,000 of them were answered by tenants seeking to contest the landlord’s effort to expel them from their home. Perhaps because the legal process demands that the tenant’s answer be filed within seven days of being serves an eviction warrant, and that trial be held not more than 14 days after the filing of an answer- and certainly because poor tenants cannot pay for legal assistance, and there are far too few free legal service providers for this population- far less than 1 out of every 100 tenants is represented by counsel at the contested hearing. The ATSC attacks the problem in three major ways:

1) The Housing Advocacy Resource Center places an attorney in the Fulton County Self-Help Center four days each week. That attorney counsels low-income tenants as they consider how best to respond to a Proceeding Against Tenant Holding Over, or discusses with tenants how to prepare as well as possible for an upcoming mediation or trial. Having a lawyer to whom to speak is a tremendous benefit to a tenant uncertain about the legal process and the law that will determine their right to remain in the premises, their ability to force a landlord to make demanded repair, their obligation to continue to pay full rent to a defaulting landlord etc.

2) The Eviction Defense Program offers direct representation by an ATSC-trained private attorney at the contested trial on the merits of the landlord’s claim and any tenant set-off or counterclaim.


3) The federal Protecting Tenants in Foreclosure Act offers real assistance to tenants being illegally pushed to leave their home by a foreclosing entity. ATSC lawyers not only have been working to educate the Courts and the tenant population about their legal rights in these circumstances vis a vis the old owner/landlord and the new owner/landlord, they have also partnered with a local law school to craft and promote legislation to confirm and to expand the rights of tenants in this state pursuant to that Act.

4) Many tenants are frustrated by their landlord’s refusal to make repair to their home or to otherwise honor an existing lease. These tenants have not received a dispossessory warrant, but need legal assistance nonetheless to force compliance with the law. Other tenants are constructively evicted by their landlord’s termination of utilities or changing of locks, and need help to address these illegal activities and to return them to their homes and their status. For these tenants who have a legal claim that may be furthered by meeting with a lawyer, we offer our Saturday Lawyer Program, where volunteer attorneys from private firms meet with clients to assess their concerns, to offer brief advice and counsel and, as necessary and appropriate, agree to serve as counsel for the full, direct representation of the claim.


We are the Atlanta Children’s Law programs (ACLP). Children whose parents are engaged in high conflict custody litigation, or whose lives are in limbo while their parents are in addiction treatment programs, need an advocate focused on the child's best interests. ACLP coordinates the provision of legal support to these children through two specific programs:

1) The Guardian ad Litem Program: ACLP recruits volunteer attorneys to serve as Guardians of the children of low-income divorcing parents who are engaged in high conflict custody disputes in the Fulton County Superior Court Family Division: Guardians ad Litem represent the best interests of the child in the litigation. The ACLP-trained volunteer Guardian conducts an extensive investigation of the child's interests and needs, and based on that inquiry and assessment makes recommendations to the parents prior to trial, encouraging the parents to mediate their differences. The volunteer Guardian often participates in the mediation of the case, and when the matter can be resolved informally, the child is spared the increased hostility between the parents that often results from a trial in court. If the case does go to trial before a judge, the volunteer Guardian provides the court with a full report of the child's needs and makes a recommendation concerning the parents' abilities to meet the child's needs. Therefore, the judges are better able to make decisions of custody and parenting plans that provide the child with the most stable and nurturing home available.

2) The One Child One Lawyer Program- Statistics suggest that as much as 80% of the time that abused or deprived children are removed from their home by the Department of Family and Children’s Services, the parents are involved in drug use. In Fulton County, these parents may be subject to a termination of their parental rights, but in certain circumstances may retain those rights if they participate in and successfully complete the County’s Juvenile Court’s Drug Treatment Program. While the parents are in the program, the children are the responsibility of DFACS, subject to the supervision of the Juvenile Court, and each child must have counsel during the process whose only responsibility is to the best interest of that child.

The Program Director and Program staff conduct an initial assessment of the child and the child's legal position and make a recommendation regarding the acceptance of the case into the Family Drug Court Program. The volunteer attorney representing the child then works with Program staff to conduct a more thorough assessment of the child and the child's safety, well being, and permanency plan. Fulton County's Family Drug Court operates on a collaborative basis, and as a member of the Family Drug Court team, the Program Director works with DFCS, other service providers, CASA, and the lawyers for the parents to ensure that the families are receiving a comprehensive array of supports and services. Furthermore, the volunteer attorneys representing the children attend IEPs and citizen panel reviews to advocate for their child clients.

The Program Director, an experienced child welfare attorney, is always present at Family Drug Court staffings and hearings, and the volunteer attorneys are present at the permanency hearings, disposition hearings, and any hearings considering the extension of custody or modification of custody. Based on the comprehensive assessment described above, the attorneys advocate for the child’s position and best interests. If the child's parent does not successfully complete the Family Drug Court program and it is apparent that reunification will not be achieved in a timely manner, the One Child, One Lawyer Program continues to represent the child as the court considers the alternate permanency options for that child.
The One Child, One Lawyer Program represents the child client until the child attains permanency. Attorneys maintain on-going regular contact with the child to monitor the child's well-being and to ensure that the attorney is able to advocate for the child's safety and well-being and to ensure that the child attains timely permanency.

We are the Atlanta Consumer and Wage Claim Foundation (ACWCF). …We are the Atlanta Probate Information Foundation….We are the Atlanta Wills and Advance Directives for Seniors and Emergency Service Personnel Project….

Well, you get the idea. The Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation is all of these, and more. And come to think of it, a name that speaks to only one aspect of the Foundation’s work may well be too limiting. So we will keep the all-encompassing moniker, for now, and continue to coordinate the provision of the breadth of free civil legal services to the poor of our community through the volunteer efforts of private lawyers just like you.

Please visit our website for additional information on AVLF's programs and services.