Thursday, August 30, 2012

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. 

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

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.

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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. 

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