The Domestic Violence Project: An intersection of Art and Work

By Jessica Caldas, Project Coordinator, Domestic Violence and Guardian ad Litem Programs

I first began working for Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation doing six hours per week of data entry per week for the Domestic Violence Project.  When I asked to volunteer at the Safe Families Office, where the primary work of the project is done, I honestly had no idea what was in store.  I had no background in the law or with domestic violence, but I felt like I was seeing only a small piece of a large and confusing puzzle that was the Domestic Violence Project.  In order to be really effective I needed to understand the entire program. 

The walk-in Safe Families Office is a far cry from the quiet, all-to-myself office where I quietly updated a database with client information.  It is unpredictable, often hectic.  A box of tissues sits upon every surface.  I sit and talk face-to-face with client after client, hearing their stories of abuse and confusion and fear, while their children color in our children’s corner, or tug on mom’s sleeve to show the toy they just discovered.   In this office, the numbers and letters I enter into that database acquire names and faces and stories, and the weight of those stories bears down on me. 

Outside of AVLF, I am an artist.  My art helped me process and begin to make sense of the struggle of families I see each week at the Safe Families Office.   In my work I tried to express the powerlessness of our clients’ experiences, the utter lack of control.  Within the context of violent relationships, I have watched the objects we use every day become twisted into tools of fear, control, and cruelty - the major theme of my work.  I look forward to expanding this body of work to include the more wonderful side of these stories-the side that contains the hope and the recovery and the ability to heal.  Although I have been frustrated and angered by the things our clients go through, I know I will never be able to fully comprehend the journey survivors must travel and the depth and range of feelings that they must manage.

View Jessica's Artwork Below:

Celebrating Service: Pro Bono Awards

AVLF offers congratulations again to the winners of the annual AVLF Pro Bono Awards, announced by Michael Lucas at the recent Celebrating Service Luncheon.

The S. Phillip Heiner Award was given this year to a law firm that is a champion of private volunteer legal service to the poor - the law firm of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan.

The first “Outstanding Paralegal Service” award was given to to a dedicated and deserving group. Corey Lyles, Eveth McPherson, and Keli Jones have served hundreds of low-income clients, as collectively they have volunteered over 40 Saturdays in the first year of this initiative. 

Madison Burnett  received the 2012 AVLF Volunteer of the Year. Few in our legal community have demonstrated a deeper commitment to the legal rights of women and girls than Madison and her colleagues Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi L.L.P., offering passionate direct representation of our clients who would otherwise face the legal process without information or counsel. 

King & Spalding attorney Jason Edgecombe was awarded the Excellence in Pro Bono Service Award. Jason has represented dozens of low-income tenants during his 9 years at the firm, including 7 clients in the last year alone!  And since 2005, Jason has coordinated all of K&S’s pro bono efforts for this Program – providing training for his colleagues; recruiting volunteers and mentoring new attorneys through their first cases.

The Domestic Violence Project’s Volunteer of the Year was given to Kevin Linder, who since he began volunteering with AVLF's Domestic Violence Project has represented victims of violence in an unheard-of twelve protective order cases. 

Congratulations and thanks to our esteemed group of volunteer champions!

A Lesson from My First Year of Practice: A dishonest client is not necessarily an undeserving client

by Lindsey Siegel, AVLF Staff Attorney and Skadden Fellow

A few months ago, a client lied to me when she was on the verge of losing her housing.  Luckily, she admitted the truth relatively early in my representation of her, and we were able to explain her actions honestly and still prevent her from becoming homeless.  Though the vast majority of my clients are honest, in the past year I have had more than one client be less than honest or fail to give me key information during an interview.  When I discovered the dishonesty, my first reaction was to question everything she’d told me and, occasionally, to lose enthusiasm in representing her.  Since then, I’ve thought about why it can feel so disappointing when my clients lie, how it impacts my work, and why clients are sometimes dishonest in the first place.

Because at my core I believe in the righteousness of the work we do at AVLF, I can get fairly emotionally involved in my clients’ cases.  When I encounter a client who has lied, it is hard to shake that initial feeling of betrayal.  It can also be difficult to represent someone when a harmful fact arises for the first time in the middle of a hearing.  In fact, I can attribute at least one negative case outcome to this scenario, even though my client had a genuine need for assistance.  Despite lies or omissions, I continue to be concerned about my clients’ abilities to maintain stable housing and employment, secure government benefits, and most importantly, obtain physical safety.  Like many poverty lawyers, I sometimes obsess about the significant effect losing one of these cases has on my clients’ and their families’ lives.

It is also difficult to navigate the various ethical issues that arise when representing a client who has been dishonest about some fact, especially when that fact is central to our case.  If I come to believe prior to a hearing that a client has lied to me, I worry about proffering false testimony.  Of course, if I insist that the client admit the truth under oath, we may lose the case.  Withdrawing from the case is another option, though it is unappealing to leave a client unrepresented (as they almost always will remain) when the stakes are so high.  Though I memorized the rules of professional conduct in preparation for my practice of law, implementing them with real clients who need assistance has been much more challenging than I would have guessed it would be.

At AVLF, the vast majority of our clients have very few resources, despite working or looking for work to support their families.  Often their basic needs—safety, housing, food—are not being met, and they are doing what they can for their and their children’s survival.  I have learned that sometimes a client is going to say what she thinks we want to hear in order to obtain assistance.  Other clients believe we will judge them if they admit to making certain decisions; and past experiences with government or social service agencies may have taught them this lesson.  My clients’ past experiences and economic realities have influenced my impression of their occasional dishonesty.

Practicing this type of law involves recognizing that even our clients who have experienced abuse and injustice aren’t perfect, just as we are not perfect in our representation of them.  The best we can do is try to discover the truth, recognize the potential complications in our representation, and understand the barriers our clients face.  And if we imagine stepping into their shoes, we may wonder what we would do in a similarly desperate situation.

A GAWL FOUNDATION GRANT SPREADS GOOD NEWS

Theresa is 34. She is married and has a six year old son and a three year old daughter. She has family; she has friends; she is employed; her colleagues think she is happy. In fact, she is terrified that her husband, again tonight, will drink and beat her, perhaps with the belt he has begun using more regularly. Her deepest fear is that he will also hurt their children.

Theresa is not alone, but she and other victims of intimate partner violence do not always know of the array of services that may be available to them. In particular, she may not be aware of the Safe Families Office, a partnership among the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, Partnership Against Domestic Violence and the Family Division of the Superior Court of Fulton County. The Safe Families Office is the only courthouse-based free legal support program of its kind in Georgia, serving survivors of domestic violence and stalking. This court-based clinic assists every person in Fulton County seeking legal protection from intimate partner violence, including elder abuse and stalking, which numbers close to 2,500 people each year.  The clinic also assists victims from outside the County seeking protection from abusers residing inside the county - serving women from 17 Georgia counties last year.  The clinic is located in a reconfigured courtroom dedicated solely to this project.  In this space, the Safe Families Office is able to serve as many people as need help; it has a Children’s Center and enough space for confidential conversations with several different clients to happen simultaneously.

But how do victims who need the services offered by the Safe Families Office learn of its existence?  To help address this question, AVLF turned to the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers (GAWL) Foundation, and earlier this year AVLF was the fortunate recipient of a generous GAWL Foundation grant.  The grant allowed AVLF to print postcards and related written materials in Spanish and in English, which have been and continue to be widely disseminated through community events, libraries, clerks’ offices, and partner organizations to help increase the number of victims who know about the Safe Families Office.

Founded in 1928, the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers serves the diverse interests of women lawyers in Georgia. The mission of the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers Foundation is to encourage philanthropy by women lawyers in Georgia for the benefit of the greater community.  As part of fulfilling its mission, the GAWL Foundation gives out grants to other non-profit organizations that provide direct services to those in need in our local communities.  Grants typically range from $500 to $2,000 and are awarded three times a year in the fall, winter, and spring.  Recipients are selected using the following guidelines:

1.        Organizations that provide free legal services to disadvantaged women and girls;
2.        Organizations that provide free services to disadvantaged women and girls in the legal system; and
3.        Organizations that provide free services to disadvantaged women and girls.

The GAWL Foundation is accepting applications for the fall cycle through October 12, 2012.  Feel free to contact Diana Cohen at GAWL.grants@gmail.com with specific questions regarding the grant application process.  Please contact Christina Baugh at GAWL.foundation@gmail.com with other questions about the GAWL Foundation.   

AVLF is proud to report that the American Bar Association’s Commission on Domestic Violence has called the Safe Families Office a national Best Practices model.  We are proud that our work has confirmed that access to civil legal representation has the most impact on a survivor’s ability to make a permanent break from her abuser. And we are proud of and grateful for our affiliation with GAWL and the GAWL Foundation; because of their gift, the Theresa's of the world may yet be safe.  

AVLF Domestic Violence Project – First Impressions of Our Newest Volunteers

By Jane Warring, AVLF Junior Board Member 

Two months ago, AVLF’s Domestic Violence Team - Liz Whipple, along with Lindsey Siegel and Jessica Caldas - visited the Atlanta office of Robins, Kaplan, Miller, & Ciresi, LLP—a law firm specializing in IP, business, and insurance litigation—to train partners, associates, paralegals, and staff members to take temporary protective order cases.  The AVLF Team explained that the advocate fills three main roles:  First, the advocate works with the victim to determine his/her goals and needs, including needs related to protection, child custody, divisions of property and financial issues.  Second, the advocate organizes the victim’s evidence so his/her story can be quickly and effectively relayed to the Court.  Third, the advocate negotiates with the respondent to obtain an order by consent or, if the respondent does not consent, presents the evidence to the judge to obtain an order directly from the Court.  Since this training session, RKMC has worked with over fifteen clients, and attorneys are taking new cases every week.

I have taken four cases since the training.  From a volunteer perspective, these are perfect pro bono cases.  The clients have a true, immediate need, the evidence is overwhelmingly in your favor, and the matter generally takes less than one week from start to finish.

“Although many of these cases share the same basic formula in the courtroom, the unique facts of each petitioner’s situation provides the opportunity for volunteers to think and work creatively,” says RKMC associate Brandon Arnold.  Brandon Arnold and Eric Swartz have dealt with child visitation and support issues in their cases.  In granting protective orders, the law gives the court discretion to order specific visitation and support arrangements agreed to by the parties or requested by one party, provided that the Court determines that such arrangements are in the child’s “best interest.”  As such, where the mother approves of some visitation rights for the father, the hearing may involve both negotiating these issues with the respondent and convincing the judge that a particular arrangement is appropriate. 

In addition, volunteers have noticed that these cases sometimes involve interesting types of evidence, such as text messages or camera phone photos.   RKMC partner Bill Stanhope recently used a camera phone photo of the respondent with large amounts of cash to rebut the respondent’s contention that he could not afford child support. The more relaxed courtroom environment makes presenting these items easier than in some other courts. 

Bill Stanhope says that “the key is to make sure you understand why the client has gone to court to obtain a temporary order and figure out how much practical relief the Court can provide given the circumstances and scope of the law.”  In one of Jane Warring’s cases, the client had been living with the respondent for over 5 years—she paid the rent and he paid the utilities.  “When you’re getting the protective order, you need to think about things like—Do we need to help get her assistance for the next few months while she adapts to paying rent and utilities?  The goal is to send these victims out into the world with legal protection, but also with the ability to start over and break from an abusive past,” says Jane Warring.

In the end, these cases keep RKMC attorneys, and volunteer attorneys around Atlanta, coming back for more.  “The volunteer experience is both exciting and gratifying.  You are able to assist clients with immediate personal needs and provide them with a means to protect themselves both emotionally and physically, all while gaining practical legal experience.  It is truly a win-win situation!” says RKMC associate Elizabeth Thomas, who has assisted four clients obtain 12-month protective orders.

Email Jessica Caldas at jcaldas@avlf.org  if you are interested in volunteering.

Fighting Fire in the Community

By: Tamara Serwer Caldas, Deputy Directror

One afternoon earlier this summer I found myself in the meeting room of the Atlanta Fire Department’s Station 4 speaking with about 20 firefighters from Squad 6.  Daytime TV was playing on a flatscreen television, and a couple of the firefighters were relaxing on worn-out couches joking good-naturedly, but obviously tired after eight hours on duty.  I had come to talk about end of life legal documents such as a Last Will & Testament and Advance Directive for Health Care in support of an ambitious and wonderfully generous initiative led by Troutman Sanders, LLP, in partnership with AVLF and Georgia Power.  Through this pro bono project, all Atlanta firefighters and their partners may secure a will and all related legal documents free of charge. 

The firefighters of Squad 6, all of whom happened to be men (there are a number of women in the Department as well) are among the elite of the fire department – the men trained in special operations who respond to hazmat and other chemical disasters and extricate people from buildings such as the collapsed parking garage at Georgia Tech a couple of years ago.  They listened intently and patiently as I spoke, with a raised eyebrow or two when I explained who would inherit their property in the absence of a properly-executed will.  Although I was skeptical that all of them would follow through on this opportunity right away, I grew increasingly confident that the information I was giving was valuable and would lead eventually to action.   

After speaking for about 45 minutes about end-of-life decisions (something all of them have considerably more experience with than I do!), I relaxed and had a very down to earth conversation with these highly trained and extremely professional first responders.  Their Station sits at the corner of Edgewood and the Connector, a place I drive by every day on my way to work at the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, so I felt like we had a common sense of community.  They discussed with great sensitivity their concern for the homeless men and women who sleep under the interstate overpass across the street from their Station and the problems of homelessness generally.  They described the fire hazards caused by the growing number of properties turned empty due to foreclosures, and the problem of buildings occupied illegally by people who had nowhere else to find shelter.  I hadn’t expected to learn so much from them on this visit, but appreciated their perspective and now carry it with me as I consider the hazards involved in the substandard housing where many of AVLF’s other clients live.

In the end, the firefighters drove me back to Peachtree Center in their shiny red fire truck, a fact that my school-age children LOVE to share with their teachers and classmates.  (And yes, I’ve told the story a time or two as well!)  They were so appreciative of my time and interest in helping them and deeply curious about the work of AVLF.  My afternoon reminded me about the importance of reaching out to people where they live and work, listening with an open heart to their stories and finding common cause in unexpected places. 

Helping Hand for a Grateful Client By Matthew J. Simmons, Commercial Litigation Associate, Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers, from the Daily Report, July 5, 2012

While I have been participating in this program since I was admitted to the Georgia Bar, a case I worked on recently is the most poignant for me. Early one Saturday morning in late 2011, I headed to downtown Atlanta to participate in one of the AVLF's pro bono programs. Soon after my arrival, I was introduced to an elderly woman whom I will call Ms. Green. Little did I know then that Ms. Green would become not only my client but also my friend.

Shortly after meeting Ms. Green, I sat down to speak to her further about what brought her to the program. Ms. Green informed me that she had recently been served with a legal document claiming she owed a great deal of money as a result of a debt that had built up on a credit card with which she was completely unfamiliar. The credit card was not in her name but that of her ex-husband, a man who had since passed away and from whom she had been divorced for more than a decade. As you can imagine, Ms. Green was in a state of shock and disbelief, but also one of significant trepidation about the potential repercussions this lawsuit could have on her and her extremely limited income.

After assuring Ms. Green that I would do my best to represent her and that I would do everything I could to make the situation right, she did what no client had done before - she gave me a great big hug.

Read this article in its entirety, Click Here

Judge Pitch in to Save Guardian Ad Litem Program By Meredith Hobbs, the Fulton County Daily Report, June 22, 2012

For want of $25,000, a popular pro bono program that protects low-income children in cont-ested custody cases was almost lost. 

But when the 20 judges of Fulton County Superior Court heard an unexpected grant cut would end the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation's program providing guar-
dians ad litem to the court, they stepped up and made personal donations to keep it
alive. 

 AVLF's director, Marty Ellin, learned at the end of May that Fulton County's Office of Grants and Community Partnerships wouldn't renew a $25,000 grant that
covered part of the salaries of the lawyer, Liz Whipple, and paralegal, Jessica Caldas,
who coordinate the program. Whipple and Caldas also run AVLF's domestic violence program. 

 Fulton Superior Court, which handles the county's divorces, asks AVLF for
volunteer guardians ad litem to discern what's best for the children in highly
disputed custody cases, when a judge needs more insight into what's going on
and the parents can't afford to pay a lawyer.

 "The judges only see the parents when they are in court and don't know what's going on in the home," said Whipple. "The guardians ad litem get to the root of what's going on with the family, so they can make the most balanced and sound recomme-
ndation for the best interests of the children."

 Lawyers from the private bar volunteer to serve as the guardians ad litem. After receiving training through AVLF, they visit the children's schools and homes and interview the children, their parents, teachers, neighbors, doctors and other people in their lives. 

Last year 60 lawyers volunteered their time as guardians ad litem through AVLF in 44 new custody cases involving 67 children, said Whipple. 

 It's a big time commitment. For the 18 cases from 2011 that have closed, the
volunteer lawyers put in 484 hours - an average of 27 hours per case. So far this year, AVLF has taken on 19 custody cases, representing 29 children. 

 But this year the Fulton County Commission cut funding to the Office of Grants and Community Partnerships from $4.6 million to $2.1 million, and the office made only half as many grants as last year. AVLF's guardian ad litem program was one of the casualties. "The economic downturn is finally catching up to Fulton County's grantmaking entity," said Dedrick Muhammad, the office's division manager.
He said this was the first time its grant budget had been cut in its more than 20 years of existence. 

 Read this article in its entirety by clicking here: Continue Reading

Lawyers as Problem-Solvers

Michael Lucas

The YLD Review, Summer 2012, Vol. 53, Issue 4

By: Michael Lucas, Esq., AVLF Director of Housing and Consumer Program

At our best, lawyers are highly-skilled problem solvers.  We are fortunate to have some great law schools in Georgia – including right here in Atlanta – but no school can teach all the things that go into successfully solving real problems for  clients. 

At AVLF, problem solving is precisely what we and our low-income clients expect volunteers to do.  Thousands of people call AVLF every year with a problem, looking for help with landlord-tenant disputes, unpaid wages and debt disputes, among others.  Getting help with these problems is critical for those trying to pay bills, take care of a family and maintain a home. Through the Saturday Lawyer Program, volunteer attorneys spend Saturday mornings with me at the downtown office of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society to meet – and possibly take on – prescreened clients.  Instead of asking our volunteers simply to show up and receive cases, AVLF asks volunteer attorneys to partner with us from the outset in assessing the problem the client is facing and determining whether a case is a strong candidate for referral for full representation and whether they want to be– with our support –the lawyer and problem-solver on the case.

For our clients, the efficiency of our programs and the responsiveness of our volunteers is critical, as the problems can really start to add up if not addressed.  Even one missed paycheck can be the difference between a roof over their children’s heads and an eviction.  Overzealous and sometimes fraudulent debt-collectors can wreak havoc on the lives of seniors on fixed-incomes and other low-income individuals trying to get back on their feet.  Low-income tenants too often face illegal evictions, unlawful withholding of security deposits, or abhorrent conditions that go unaddressed by their landlords, all leading to extreme hardship for them and their families.  AVLF’s Saturday Lawyer Program provides volunteer attorneys to pursue these unpaid wage claims, defend individuals being pursued for debts they do not owe or by people they do not owe them too, and to help thousands of low-income tenants obtain justice in these types of landlord-tenant disputes.  The Saturday Lawyer Program is an incredible resource for low-income clients. 

And while it is the good feelings that come from helping someone in her or his time of need that motivates our volunteers to step up and keep coming back, the program has other direct benefits for our volunteers as well – especially for our younger volunteers.   AVLF is an excellent avenue for attorneys who are interested in learning new areas of law or for those who would like the opportunity to interview a client, practice other core lawyering skills, and potentially to appear in Court.  There is an opportunity to gain experience in nearly every aspect of the actual practice of law, all while being thoroughly supported by experienced attorneys and AVLF’s extensive litigation resources – from investigative resources and process servers, to pro bono mediators and assistance with judgment collection. 

But beyond experience drafting demand letters and Complaints and  – in some of our cases – discovery and even taking a case to trial, perhaps the most valuable skill set you have a chance to develop is one that is rarely taught in law school or even early in any lawyer’s career – if it can be taught at all.  With our cases, volunteers manage their own case – with support, from start to finish – and while working these cases, they get invaluable experience in problem solving.  They are responsible for helping their client navigate a crisis and come out on the other side as close to reaching their goals as possible.  This type of client service requires that young attorneys really learn to listen, develop and test their instincts, make judgment calls, develop and change their strategy as needed, discern the truth – from clients and opponents alike – and deal with all sorts of opposing counsel.  In formulating a plan of action and revisiting it throughout the representation as new facts develop, a good attorney must fully understand her client’s goals and be adept at calculating and articulating to her client the relative risks and benefits of any decision or action.  That is as true in any attorney-client relationship as it is with AVLF landlord-tenant disputes where just the initial decision of whether to pick that fight with one’s landlord is wrought with myriad calculations and hard decisions about whether to stay or leave, sue or try yet again to work cooperatively, risk eviction or not. 

Through these experiences a young attorney begins to develop “a gut” for the many assessments and judgment calls that being a real counselor and advocate – whether for a low-income tenant or Fortune 500 Company – requires.  Again, at our best and most evolved state, lawyers are problem solvers for our clients.  Many of our cases at AVLF aren’t so much about an application of law to facts – something many lawyers can do just fine  – but rather require truly discerning and understanding where our clients want to go from here – even when they may not be so sure themselves – and helping them make the right decisions to get there.  That is also what paying clients, corporate or otherwise, pay for.  That is what all clients need in their time of crisis, and to a large extent, this ultimately applies to transactional work – negotiating a contract or a merger or acquisition – just as much as it does to litigation, to negotiating the settlement of a personal injury claim just as much as it does to brokering a deal. 

The most important reason AVLF runs the programs we do – and the most important reason our amazing volunteers give so generously of their time and considerable expertise – is to help the single mothers whose landlords illegally withhold the security deposit, the hardworking truck driver or painter whose employer repeatedly treats paying wages due as optional, the shocking number of victims of illegal evictions who lose all of their family’s belongings, or the disabled senior whose slumlord gets her social security disability check sent to them in return for deplorable conditions and no repairs.  Every Saturday, our volunteers meet individuals with these types of issues and begin the process of problem solving and hopefully making the individual whole.  It is a powerful thing to watch.  But we know that we are also helping Atlanta attorneys develop, hone, and refine those skills that they don’t teach in law school but which are at the very heart of being an effective counselor and advocate.

First Person: Helping victims of domestic violence find a way out of their problems is energizing

By Sarah Austin, Third year law student at Emory University College of Law
*Originally published in the Fulton County Daily Report, May 3, 2012


I attended my first temporary protective order hearings last June with no idea what to expect, or what would soon be expected of me.


As a rising third-year law student interested in family law and public-interest work, I'd taken an internship with Legal Aid of Cobb County for the summer. This branch of Atlanta Legal Aid runs a thriving Family Violence Project through which volunteer and staff attorneys represent clients in the rapid-paced process of obtaining a TPO.


To my delight, I fell in love with the work and remained in Cobb County part-time through the first half of my third year at Emory University School of Law.


For my final semester, I moved to a field placement with the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation's Domestic Violence Project, which assists victims of intimate partner violence and stalking in Fulton County's TPO Court. As in Cobb County, our clients typically seek an initial ex parte order preventing the respondent from contacting the petitioner for 30 days. We then prepare for a more formal hearing, in which the order may be extended to 12 months and other provisions, such as use of a home or child support, may be granted.


The details of my experiences in Cobb and Fulton counties differ somewhat, but the realities of representing victims of domestic violence are the same. I've counseled men as well as women and victims of violence in gay and lesbian relationships.

The impact of a down economy has been staggering. I've met more than one person who remained in an abusive situation with a platonic roommate because they couldn't afford to move. Luckily, under Georgia law a shared residence establishes a family relationship for TPO purposes. For each such unusual case, there are countless women in violent holding patterns with their partners-women for whom leaving could mean homelessness and the fear of losing their children. In these cases, our counseling goes beyond how to obtain a TPO, into trying to change situations with a thousand moving parts, all broken.


It's tempting to view a complex life from the outside and presume I know how to fix it. Statistics bear out that on average, a woman will attempt to leave an abusive relationship seven times before she cuts it off for good. I've had clients assist me in preparations for their hearing, gathering evidence and witnesses, and then not showing up for court. Many clients have supportive families and friends willing to assist in a crisis; many still do not, and are left with hard choices to make.


My friends and classmates often remark on how depressing my job seems, and truly, it's hard to overstate the gravity of helping someone through the turning point a TPO often represents.


My clients can be inspiring, frustrating and educational, often in the same conversation. But I am energized by the conversations in which I can point someone to the right resources, help her see a way out of what seems an insurmountable problem, and see her believe that she deserves a way out. I didn't know what I was getting into when I began taking TPO cases, but I'm so glad I did.

Teaming Up for the Greater Good

By David M. Zacks and Hillary D. Rightler, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, LLP

Undoubtedly, providing legal assistance to those who cannot afford it is one of the

highest callings of our profession. Many law firms, with immense resources and talent

on hand, have chosen to answer this calling by developing and maintaining some type of

pro bono program. The success of these programs within a culture that is typically

structured around “the billable hour” depends entirely on the level of commitment that

lawyers at all levels of the firm are willing to invest.



Typically, meaningful participation in pro bono work is highest among young

associates, eager to get their feet wet and looking to prove themselves. However,

associates alone should not be left to carry the torch. The true value that a robust pro

bono program can provide to a firm, and the corresponding benefit to the communities

that are served through such a program, cannot be realized without significant

participation at the partner level as well.



A partner is doing a disservice to the client and the legal profession if he just tells

an associate to “handle” the problem. Any pro bono case the firm agrees to take on

deserves to be treated as seriously as the biggest case in the firm or the firm should not

accept it. A firm should recognize that pro bono work provides a unique opportunity that

gives seasoned partners and new associates a chance to work together as a team towards a

rewarding goal.



I recently worked on a pro bono matter that involved helping a family trapped in

an apartment with deplorable living conditions that posed significant health and safety

risks to the entire family, including the client’s four-year old granddaughter.

Immediately after accepting the case, the newly assembled team (which included

a first-year associate, the firm’s investigator, members of the non-profit organization, the

Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, who had referred the case to the firm, and

myself) agreed to roll up our sleeves and get to work at the site.



We headed out to the apartment to meet the client and get a first-hand perspective

of the problems that the family was facing. We went to work documenting all the

deficiencies that plagued the unit, which included, among other things, widespread mold,

persistent insect infestation, and gaping structural damage. Our presence did not go

unnoticed. The onsite manager for the virtually abandoned complex saw us there and

within hours slipped a note under the client’s door claiming that management wanted to

fix many of the defects.



Having personally witnessed the woefully inadequate results of any prior attempts

management had made to rectify the issues, we immediately responded that we believed

the hazardous conditions were beyond repair. By the time we had returned to the office

that afternoon, the case was off the ground and running.



In the days that followed, we tackled the case as a team, relying on the individual

strengths that are present at both the partner and associate level in order to provide the

best representation to the client. In cases like this, partners can use the benefit of their

experience to develop an overall strategic approach to obtain the desired result for the

client as quickly and efficiently as possible. Meanwhile, associates can work on

managing the influx of daily issues to improve their client counseling and problem

solving skills.



Properly handling pro bono cases frequently requires constant communication

between the team members because of the nature of the situation many of these clients

face. Some live in dangerous living conditions, posing an immediate threat to their health

and safety.



In our case, we faced obstacles which ranged from handling management’s failure

to respond to an emergency flooding of sewage water draining into the unit to curing a

cashier’s check that bounced. Straight forward communication at the partner level was

able to solve all of the problems the team encountered.



As a result of our joint focused efforts, within a few weeks, we successfully

obtained a lease rescission and a cash settlement that allowed our client to move her

family to a new apartment that was safe, quiet and clean. After hearing she was safely

settled in her new place, we immediately sent a personal housewarming gift to our client

wishing her family the best as they move forward.



Throughout the case, the most valuable lesson I impressed upon our team was the

importance of treating the pro bono client with the same respect and dignity as any of the

firm’s other clients. We received a phone call from our client the next day. With a sense

of upbeat confidence and renewed hope echoing through her voice, she expressed her

gratitude to the team.



Pro bono cases present a valuable opportunity for partners to team up with

associates and get to know them better. At the end of the day, each will have pride in

what they both accomplish for the greater good. Law firms should encourage partners to

take the time to instill a deep commitment to pro bono work in the fresh minds of its

young associates who are poised to carry the success of the firm into the future.

Disabled man's case gritty, ongoing

By: John Seay, Founding Partner, The Seay Firm

For the second time this week, Mr. Franklin is trapped outside in the rain. Like last time, his clothes are soaked and his wheelchair is pooling water in places water should not be pooled. Several hours have passed, and during that time Mr. Franklin (not his real name) has urinated on himself. What separates Mr. Franklin from the warm confines of his apartment is a roughly 16-inch-tall slab of concrete encircling the building. Therefore, unless another tenant from the complex sees him and offers to physically lift him up, Mr. Franklin is subjected to the elements. Thankfully it’s been a mild winter.

I first met Mr. Franklin at the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyer Foundation’s Saturday Lawyers Program. The Saturday Lawyer Program pairs pro bono attorneys with low-income clients who require assistance in the areas of consumer debt, landlord-tenant disputes, and unpaid wage claims. While my own practice focuses primarily on intellectual property and entertainment law, the Saturday Lawyers Program is where I perform my pro bono work.

That day, Mr. Franklin arrived in his wheelchair anxious to tell his story (fortunately the offices where the Saturday Lawyer Program is held are fully wheelchair accessible). I learned that before signing the lease, Mr. Franklin had asked the apartment management for a wheelchair-accessible unit, as well as to see the unit he would be leasing. They vaguely suggested he would have a wheelchair-accessible unit, but refused to show him the unit they had selected for him. Of course, once they placed him in a non-wheelchair-accessible unit, they promptly began ignoring his pleas for help.

Both as a human being and attorney, Mr. Franklin’s story affected me. I tried to help Mr. Franklin as best I could. I wrote letters on his behalf. I called once a day for a week. I was told that if Mr. Franklin wanted a ramp built, he would have to pay for it himself. And, because the building was certified for occupancy before 1991, Mr. Franklin’s options might be more limited. Of course, the advice “just move” doesn’t apply much to someone who can’t bear that additional expense. Advocating on behalf of Mr. Franklin is an ongoing process, although I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel (or ramp, as it were).

My experience with Mr. Franklin and other clients I’ve represented through my association with the Saturday Lawyer Program, has taught me that true pro bono work is more than just an afternoon of volunteering. Pro bono work can be messy, frustrating, and—in some (hopefully rare) cases—time consuming. However, those same characteristics are also part of what makes pro bono work the most rewarding kind of law practice there is. I love my intellectual property and entertainment law practice. But working with indigent clients facing very real problems has provided me with perspective. And that perspective ultimately makes me a better, more compassionate lawyer to all of my clients.

AVLF Faces Programmatic Changes in 2012

By: Tamara Serwer Caldas, Deputy Director, AVLF

Dear Friends of the Foundation,

In this first newsletter of 2012, we write both to highlight accomplishments from the year that has just ended, and to tell you about some significant changes we are experiencing as an organization as we begin the new year.

In 2011, AVLF’s Domestic Violence Project together with the Partnership Against Domestic Violence provided legal support to 2,452 survivors of intimate partner violence. AVLF trained 81 lawyers and other legal professionals to represent and advocate for survivors of domestic violence and provided full legal representation to 186 clients. Our Saturday Lawyer Program provided legal assistance to about 40% more clients in 2011 than in 2010, and increased by 50% the number of volunteers participating in the program. During the past three years, AVLF volunteers have secured almost a million dollars in judgments and settlements for clients in housing, consumer, wage and domestic violence cases. The organization’s Dollars for Judgments Program, an innovative project aimed at collecting difficult-to-collect judgments for clients of our other programs, has referred $260,000 worth of debt to experienced creditor attorneys since the program was initiated in September 2010. AVLF’s Housing Advocacy and Resource Center, a housing advice clinic located in the Self Help Center of the State Court of Fulton County assisted over 500 tenants since it opened in May 2011. More than 300 clients received bankruptcy referrals to pro bono attorneys – the highest number in a decade. Our Wills & Advance Directives Program expanded to serve more emergency personnel than ever before, and the Probate Information Center continues to be a model of successful court-based legal assistance.

In many important ways, 2011 saw meaningful improvements and significant increases in all of the services AVLF provides to our client and volunteer communities, and for that we are most proud. Coupled with these accomplishments, we enjoyed our most successful Winetasting fundraiser in the event’s history! It was an extraordinary year.

We improved our services in 2011 despite a substantial decline in financial resources that began shortly after the recession in 2008 and from which it has been very difficult for AVLF, like most non-profits in Atlanta, to recover fully despite the extraordinary generosity of law firms and individual contributors. Consequently, we begin 2012 having made some very difficult staffing and programmatic changes driven by our desire to remain fully focused on our core programs and organizational mission. Our long-term viability and continued effectiveness for our clients are, as always, our primary concerns.

The most substantial change in 2012 is the termination of the One Child One Lawyer Program (OCOL) at AVLF effective February 1, 2012. This decision was necessitated by budget considerations, and we are very sorry to lose such an important program. The good news is that the project’s director, Lila Newberry Bradley, will continue to represent the children that were served by OCOL. She will be joining the staff of the Office of the Child Advocate in the Juvenile Court of Fulton County, where she will continue the good work of this program.

The One Child One Lawyer Program began at AVLF in 2005, and since that time Lila has recruited and trained a very eager and effective group of volunteers to represent the best interests of abused and neglected children in legal proceedings in the Fulton County Juvenile Court. Since 2008, that representation has focused on children whose parents were participating in the Family Drug Court of Fulton County’s Juvenile Court, where the primary issue is the parents’ drug addiction and its impact on their ability to take care of their children. We are delighted that Lila will be in a position to serve the same children she has served for the past seven years, but are very sorry she will not be doing so with AVLF, and that there will no longer be an opportunity to volunteer for this program. Pro bono attorneys with existing cases will of course continue to be supported through the duration of their representation.

Responsibility for AVLF’s Guardian ad Litem program will shift to the director of AVLF’s Safe Families Office, Elizabeth Whipple, who will be assisted by program coordinator, Jessica Caldas, but otherwise there are no changes in the operation of this program.

Finally, AVLF’s very successful Wills & Advance Directives Program has been suspended as we retool our office with fewer staff. We will continue our Wills for Emergency Personnel Program, through which we partner with Troutman Sanders and others to assist local fire and police departments with wills and advance directives, but we will not be accepting new requests for wills from other members of the community until further notice. We will also not train or recruit volunteers for this program until we are able to support this program in its fuller form.

The balance of the Foundation’s pro bono programs remain intact, as does our commitment to serving the civil legal needs of Atlanta’s low-income families. We continue to seek ways to improve the quality and reach of our services to the most vulnerable in our community as we strive for the day that all people have access to civil legal assistance when their most basic legal needs are at stake. We have been able to sustain the majority of our work during difficult times because of your support, and we will only be able to continue because you choose to stand by us with your financial and volunteer contributions.

Please consider making a donation today so that 2012 can be a year in which we can build and strengthen AVLF’s programs instead of being forced to consider ways to cut back further in the year to come.

As always, we appreciate your continued support!

Thank You for a Terrfic Year!

Dear Friends of the Foundation:

Amazingly, we are but days from the end of the year. It has been a very difficult year for so many organizations that serve those in need of free civil legal services, and this note could speak to how the poor and working poor of our community- and those that seek to promote equal access to justice for them- continue to struggle. And the sadness and frustration of so many is an ongoing story that should be told, and in bleak, real terms.

But forgive me, fellow lawyers, if in the middle of the pain and strain I instead recount how well the pro bono programs of AVLF continue to serve those desperate for your and our help. I write of the success, rather than of the distress, because no matter the difficulty the AVLF staff and the Atlanta legal community have not backed down or looked away, so I am able to write from pride and from hope.

Although our funding from traditional grant sources has all but disappeared, we have managed to sustain and in some instances even improved every pro bono program. The Saturday Lawyer Program is revitalized, and in 2011 an average of 240 volunteer attorneys have met with and served an average of 320 clients with an array of housing, consumer and other civil legal concerns. Supporting the Saturday Program, in 2011 the new Dollars for Judgments Program, through which State Bar of Georgia Creditor's Rights Section members collect judgments secured by AVLF clients or their volunteer attorneys, became a reality: we believe that this is the first such project in the country. AVLF's Eviction Defense Program continued to borrow on the talents of volunteer attorneys primarily from King & Spalding, Troutman Sanders, Seyfarth Shaw and Carlton Fields to represent individuals in imminent danger of losing their homes. The value of this program becomes more evident every year, as more Fulton County residents now rent their homes than own them, and as foreclosures continue to overwhelm home owners and their frequently unsuspecting tenants.

In a development that had an impact in 2011 and holds even more promise in 2012 and beyond, the State Court of Fulton County opened a courthouse-based Self-Help Center that provides information to courthouse visitors about the judicial process: importantly, an AVLF attorney staffs that office 4 days a week to provide specific information and direction to tenants involved in landlord-tenant conflict. In the future, and especially when the State bar of Georgia passes Model Rule 6.5, we expect to have a volunteer attorney available to answer questions from Courthouse visitors every hour that the building is open.

With special help in 2011 from Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, Sutherland, DLA Piper and Arnall Golden Gregory, the Domestic Violence Project's Safe Families Officeagain saw over 2100 visitors. Through this Office, dozens of volunteer lawyers, paralegals and other supporters helped hundreds of victims of intimate partner violence secure Protective Orders, collect lost wages and medical costs and otherwise secure rulings to the benefit of the victims and their children. AVLF's Children Law Programs continued their excellent work in the Fulton County Juvenile Court and Fulton's Superior Court, promoting the best interests of children whose parents are in drug treatment programs and caught in custody disputes respectively. Members of the Estate Planning & Probate Section of the Atlanta Bar Association again staffed The Probate Information Center, giving free legal advice to individuals who have questions about the legal affairs of recently departed family members. AVLF's Wills Program trained lawyers to draft wills and advanced directives, and those volunteers served dozens of seniors and emergency services personnel.

Lawyers in Atlanta served and supported AVLF in other ways as well. Our signature fundraising event, the AVLF Winetasting, hosted in 2011 by King & Spalding at the firm's Atlanta office, set a fundraising record for the Foundation by raising over $400,000. Over 500 individuals and nearly seventy law firms, accounting firms and related entities made generous donations to the this 20th annual event, which this year also featured an exciting Silent Auction. Please mark November 1, 2012 on your calendar now for the 21st Annual Winetasting!

Perhaps the most significant evolution in the manner in which AVLF interacts with our lawyer constituency was the establishment of a Junior Board, headed by Brian Smith of Arnall Golden Gregory. This 16 member Board offered insight and energy to our volunteer work and fundraising in 2011, and promises to do much more of the same in 2012, tailoring its pro bono contributions to take real ownership of specific substantive issues.

We were significantly more effective in 2011 in reaching our friends in the Atlanta legal community with news, requests for volunteer assistance, requests for money and general information about the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers foundation. Our database was expanded to add the names of over 13,000 lawyers living in metropolitan Atlanta, and our monthly Newsletter to that group was instrumental in sharing information and securing legal help for our clients. We were active on Facebook, produced a video about the work of the Foundation and its volunteers, shared a Dine-Out for AVLF at La Tavola for 100 guests and improved our web site so that anyone interested in working with AVLF, or being represented by it, can access critical information about our pro bono programs.

But back to the malaise that engulfs us. There is uncertainty everywhere. Federal and local governments are beset by dysfunction. The economy is moribund. The Braves lost an insurmountable lead. Yet AVLF stayed the course, demonstrating commitment and responsive, effective public interest leadership to assure quality volunteer counsel for those with no other access to free lawyers when facing dire civil legal problems. For that, we thank our volunteers, our friends and our funders and ask you to stand with us again in 2012 as well. Best wishes to all through the holidays and the new year!
Warm regards,

Marty Ellin, Executive Director
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation


***We've almost reached our end-of-the-year- goal of $5,000. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to AVLF's Domestic Violence Project by midnight on December 31st by clicking here. Any amount helps!!!