tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8948718568626589672024-03-12T18:39:13.905-07:00AVLF's Pro Bono BriefsAtlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-62786302850309678452014-05-28T08:05:00.000-07:002014-05-28T08:11:07.105-07:00Meet Maggie Hanrahan, New AVLF Board Member<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</xml><![endif]--><b>Maggie Hanrahan</b> is a partner with Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., a national labor and employment law defense firm. At Ogletree, Maggie regularly counsels and represents clients across the country on a variety of labor and employment law matters. This commonly includes defending class and collective action lawsuits; conducting national wage and hour audits; defending employment discrimination lawsuits and charges; and drafting employment policies and agreements. Maggie’s practice also focuses extensively on assisting clients with independent contractor issues, including drafting independent contractor agreements, advising on independent contractor-related issues, and representing companies in connection with misclassification audits conducted by federal and state administrative agencies.<br /><br />Maggie feels extremely honored to be joining the AVLF Board. Maggie fell in love with the mission immediately after attending the PurShoeing Justice event and learning and hearing more about the different services offered by AVLF. In particular, Maggie looks forward to getting more involved with AVLF fundraising efforts and the domestic violence program. Maggie also believes the domestic violence program will be an excellent way for younger lawyers in her firm to get involved with the community and will do all she can to maximize her firm’s volunteer efforts for AVLF. Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-26366382119847981932014-05-28T08:03:00.000-07:002014-05-28T08:03:10.028-07:00Hot Town, Summer in the Safe Families Office (Interns Getting Dirty & Gritty)The hard work of our interns and volunteers is what makes the Safe Families Office possible. Their diverse backgrounds and shared commitment to victims and children are what make the Safe Families Office so dynamic and effective. This year's summer class is no exception. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQOLopbR8z4BLtSmJvpF00KIn7KUNlTwgIMVAxgr-9OcO9fAR-mNzzhg9findWn4_PZvmbJ42EUWc2x7ZdWmdDeStSrfMHz79pDyEZ4BCjqpp_Diev8sd0wu5O19qt6ojsVCbZXdxAOBjN/s1600/Interns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQOLopbR8z4BLtSmJvpF00KIn7KUNlTwgIMVAxgr-9OcO9fAR-mNzzhg9findWn4_PZvmbJ42EUWc2x7ZdWmdDeStSrfMHz79pDyEZ4BCjqpp_Diev8sd0wu5O19qt6ojsVCbZXdxAOBjN/s1600/Interns.jpg" height="320" width="256" /></a><b>Megan Gordon</b> (right) chose to spend the summer before her 2L year at Emory with AVLF because of her dedication to issues of violence against women here and abroad. Prior to law school, Megan spent a semester at the School of International Training in Rwanda. Her piece, <i>The Battlefield on Women's Bodies: Comparing the Causes of Mass Rape in the Genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina</i>, was just published in Auspex, Warren Wilson College's interdisciplinary journal of undergraduate research.<br />
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<b>Allison Murphy </b>(left), an Emory 2L, wins the prize for most interesting resume entry in this year's intern class. Among her many impressive credentials, one really caught our eye - puppeteer at the Center for Puppetry Arts. We're excited about the creativity and resourcefulness she brings to her new role working with clients on a walk-in basis at the courthouse. <br />
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<b>Juli Crider </b>(not pictured)<b> </b>is one of those exceptional people who manages to work full-time and attend law school part-time at John Marshall Law School. On top of school and her job at Hedgepeth, Heredia, Crumrine & Morrison, she is also interning at the Safe Families Office one day per week, and already her experience and ability to multi-task is serving her (and us) well. <br />
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<b>Danielle Walker</b> (middle), a 3L at Emory, can't wait to represent SFO clients in court under the supervision of Liz Whipple, thanks to the Third-Year Practice Act. In addition to her law school obligations, which include the <i>Emory Corporate Governance and Accountability Review</i> and the Child & Family Law Society, Danielle has dedicated an immense amount of time to the judicial campaign of Jane Barwick. Danielle also spent last summer interning and volunteering with the Fulton County Family Division, so she brings some valuable courthouse experience to the Domestic Violence Project. Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-63287089904697276652014-05-28T07:58:00.000-07:002014-05-28T07:58:18.484-07:00One Step Toward JusticeBy: Cole Thaler, AVLF Director of Housing and Consumer Programs<br />
<br />Mrs. Thomas twisted her fingers nervously in her lap. We sat at the kitchen table in her Vine City home, collection notices and court papers spread out before us.<br />
<br />“I wanted to pay the credit card bill,” she told me. “I knew I owed it, and I knew I was supposed to pay. I just didn’t have the money.” Mrs. Thomas called for legal help after she went to the bank to withdraw money and learned that her account had been frozen because of a garnishment.<br /><br />
She pushed back from the table and stood up, grimacing, holding the back of the chair to steady herself. Her degenerative spine disorder was getting worse, she told me, and I could see the effects of chronic pain in her rail-thin frame and stooped shoulders. Then Mrs. Thomas looked in my eyes and said, “My daddy would be so ashamed of me. He earned minimum wage his whole life, but was still able to buy a nice house for us to live in. When he owed money, he paid it. I feel so embarrassed.”<br /><br />
I shook my head. “It’s not your fault, Mrs. Thomas.” Over time, the buying power of minimum wage has dropped dramatically. According to a 2014 report by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is 22 percent below its peak value in the late 1960s, after adjusting for inflation. Today’s minimum wage is only about 30 percent of the average wage of production workers and non-managerial workers, compared to 50 percent in the 1960s.[1] Income inequality – the ocean between the very poor and the very rich – has gotten far worse in the wake of the Great Recession.<br />
<br />When Mrs. Thomas’s father was a working man with a growing family, the minimum wage was enough to provide for a family. Today, a family of four with both parents working full-time minimum wage jobs will earn $30,160 annually – barely over the federal poverty level.<br />
<br />Mrs. Thomas herself had worked for many years, until her spinal condition made work impossible. Now she lived alone and received Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) benefits of just $976 per month. On that impoverished income, she could no longer afford to pay her rent, utilities, medical copays, and credit card minimum payment, and so her credit card went into default.<br />
<br />Mrs. Thomas blamed herself for not being able to achieve the “American Dream” that her father had attained, back when the minimum wage was nearly a living wage. She blamed herself for being too sick to keep up with the payments on her 28% interest rate credit card. And she even blamed herself for the garnishment, until I explained to her that SSDI benefits are exempt from garnishment under federal law, and that the bank blatantly violated that law when it froze her account. With strong legal representation, Mrs. Thomas got the garnishment dismissed and recovered all of her frozen funds.<br /><br />
I came to work for Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation so that I can help low income people like Mrs. Thomas take a small step in the direction of justice. As AVLF’s new director of housing and consumer programs, I ask you to take that step with me. A single good lawyer with an ounce of compassion can change a life. A city full of good lawyers with a taste for justice can change the world. Please join us.<br />
<br />[1] CBPP report available online at http://www.cbpp.org/files/1-7-14minwg.pdf.<br />Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-76885711220048500712014-04-29T08:38:00.000-07:002014-04-29T11:28:31.160-07:00How to Respond to “Better”<div>
By: Marty Ellin, Executive Director</div>
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Long before government officials confirmed that America was in a recession, the staff of AVLF knew. Before Congress debated bailouts, earlier than the foreclosure crisis grabbed the media’s attention, and prior to the dramatic jump in the unemployment rate, the number of phone calls to AVLF asking for help with urgent legal problems began to climb dramatically. <br />
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Anticipating that grants to the Foundation would be fewer, the AVLF Board nonetheless made a very conscious decision to sustain the breadth of our pro bono programs and to draw down our financial reserves as necessary to assure that there was no interruption to the services offered to our clients. Because of that decision, and because the Atlanta legal community increased its pro bono participation, we were able to maintain the core programs that provided legal support to those who otherwise had no access to counsel. Along the way, we did have to close certain non-core programs and reduce the size of and benefits to the staff. At the end of 2012, we had come close to spending all of the Foundation’s reserve.<br />
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And then, things got…better. Slowly, but noticeably. As the economy began to improve, funders began to start grant cycles again. As law firms and corporations moved away from the anxiety of the previous years, they became increasingly generous. Thus, in 2013 AVLF began to restore some of our reserve, and 2014 has started well.<br />
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What, then, do we do with “better”? Perhaps our Board President, Elizabeth Finn Johnson, put it best when she told us it was time to consider not just how to survive, but how to thrive. She and our rather extraordinary Board of Directors have encouraged a discussion that focuses not on limitation but on growth. We have begun to expand meaningful pro bono opportunities for the legal community and to broaden our development plans to return to a healthier financial position.<br />
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But amidst this optimism and the Foundation’s surging prospects, we are aware that the requests for legal assistance from those who cannot afford a lawyer have continued to grow. Perhaps it will surprise you to learn that the greatest demographic increase of the last years are formerly middle class people who have lost jobs, lost homes, and along the way have lost most of their hope. <br />
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At AVLF, we remain upbeat about our prospects for expanding service to those in our community with unmet civil legal needs. We remain optimistic about regaining a steady financial footing. But we remain very aware that although things are better for the Foundation, they remain frightening, Long before government officials confirmed that America was in a recession, the staff of AVLF knew. Before Congress debated bailouts, earlier than the foreclosure crisis grabbed the media’s attention, and prior to the dramatic jump in the unemployment rate, the number of phone calls to AVLF asking for help with urgent legal problems began to climb dramatically. <br />
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“Worse” meant “try harder.” As it turns out, so does “better.” Thank you for joining us in this effort. Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-83737113847246428872014-04-29T08:24:00.001-07:002014-04-29T08:24:15.296-07:00AVLF Welcomes Jeff Nix as Newest Board Member<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Jeff Nix, one of the newest members of the AVLF Board of Directors, is partner at Troutman Sanders LLP. For the past twenty-five years, he has focused his practice entirely upon construction law representing stakeholders involved in every facet of the construction industry. Prior to attending law school at Boston University, he worked as construction engineer. This background allows him to offer a fresh, unique and pragmatic approach to helping clients solve problems ranging from negotiating simple agreements to resolving large complex multiparty disputes.<br /> <br />Jeff is an ardent supporter of the firm’s pro bono initiatives. He started the firm’s Wills Project, which provides wills and other estate documents for individuals battling cancer, service members and their spouses (including members of the military, police, fire, and EMTs), and elderly and low-income Atlantans. He also routinely represents tenants through AVLF’s Eviction Defense Program. Jeff has been recognized for his outstanding pro bono service by both the State Bar of Georgia as recipient of the H. Sol Clark Award and by the Atlanta Bar Association as recipient of their Service Award. An alumnus of the 2003 Class of Leadership Atlanta, Jeff has also assisted in the building of more than 50 Habitat for Humanity homes over the last 30 years.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-45028620370670077512014-03-26T09:36:00.000-07:002014-03-26T09:36:34.893-07:00The New Faces at AVLF<div _mce_style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #ac0808; margin: 0px;" style="background-color: white; color: #ac0808; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; margin: 0px;" styleclass=" style_Headers">
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Cole Thaler joins AVLF as our Director of Housing and Consumer Programs. Previously, he worked as a supervising staff attorney with Georgia Legal Services Program, where he represented low-income rural Georgians in cases including <span _mce_style="font-size: 10pt;" style="font-size: 10pt;">unemployment benefit appeals, protective orders, eviction defense, and food stamp appeals. <img _mce_src="https://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs129/1011119629039/img/398.jpg" align="left" border="0" height="172" hspace="5" name="ACCOUNT.IMAGE.398" src="https://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs129/1011119629039/img/398.jpg" vspace="5" width="260" />In 2011, he won an injunction in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia requiring a public housing authority to lower the rent it was charging his disabled client. </span></div>
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From 2005 through 2009, Cole worked for Lambda Legal, a national legal organization that works on behalf of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and those with HIV. As Lambda Legal's transgender rights attorney, Cole litigated a number of federal court cases around the country that advanced the rights of transgender people, including prisoners and youth. In 2009, he received a Stonewall Bar Association award recognizing Outstanding Service to the Stonewall Community.</div>
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Cole co-authored "Serving All Communities: Providing Respectful and Competent Services to Low-Income LGBT Clients," published in the January-February 2014 issue of Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy. He was the lead author of "A Seat at the Table: Justice for SNAP Recipients Accused of Fraud in Georgia," published in Clearinghouse Review's September-October 2012 issue.<br /></div>
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Cole received his bachelor's degree magna cum laude from Williams College and his J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law. </div>
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Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-78173085116678964622014-03-26T09:33:00.001-07:002014-03-26T09:33:23.233-07:00AVLF's New Creditors' Bankruptcy Program Goes Undefeated<div _mce_style="margin: 0px; font-size: 18pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #ac0808;" style="background-color: white;" styleclass=" style_Headers">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">Great news! Serving as an AVLF volunteer attorney, you have helped your client win her case - or are on the verge of doing so - against the slumlord (or recalcitrant employer, etc.) that took advantage. But uh oh, the scoundrel claim-debtor has filed for bankruptcy protection, and you know nothing about the bankruptcy process.</span></div>
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More great news! In partnership with the Bankruptcy Law Section of the Atlanta Bar Association, AVLF has established the Low Income Creditors Assistance Project (with the catchy acronym LICAP). Now, sophisticated bankruptcy practitioners will take these matters on a pro bono basis for AVLF clients holding claims or judgments where the defendant-debtor's files for bankruptcy.</div>
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LICAP is already a success. AVLF Saturday Lawyer program client Mr. D, a hardworking and highly skilled chef working for an unscrupulous restaurant owner, eventually had to quit because the owner kept underpaying him. In the end, the employer withheld his last few paychecks and Mr. D ended up out about $3,000 in wages - wages that were hard-earned and desperately needed to support his family.</div>
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Mr. D's case was first assigned to Taylor Tribble, an amazing attorney from Huff, Powell & Bailey. When her well-written demands were ignored, Taylor did not hesitate to file suit and fight for her client. Before a judgment could be obtained, the employer filed for bankruptcy, but only after transferring assets and fully staying in business. </div>
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For too many years and in too many cases, a defendant-employer or landlord's bankruptcy filing marked the end of the road for AVLF clients; bankruptcy court was just not a forum with which we or our volunteers were familiar and the filing itself suggested hope for any collection on a judgment was lost. As AVLF's ground-breaking judgment collection project - Dollars for Judgments - has grown, we have seen even more judgment-debtor employers and landlords file for bankruptcy as they ran from our skilled collection attorneys. Those collection efforts typically stopped at the bankruptcy court door.</div>
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<span _mce_style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #333333;" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;" styleclass=" style_MainText">This is no longer the case. Bankruptcy Section Chair Alison Elko Franklin (who also helped develop the project with AVLF), of McKenna Long & Aldridge, teamed with top-flight accounting firm FTI Consulting - another AVLF partner under this program - to take on the inaugural LICAP case, filing a proof of claim for Mr. D. After one eventful and entertaining Creditor's Meeting in the bankruptcy court, the employer-debtor's attorney approached Alison about a settlement, and Mr. D was paid, in full and much faster than any traditional collection efforts would have achieved. While it is tempting to stop with this undefeated record, AVLF is excited to push forward with this new innovative program - and new cases are already in the wings! Alison and FTI have set the bar pretty high, but we are confident this project will continue to produce similar results and, in any event, will always make our clients know that no stone was left unturned in our efforts to get them justice. </span><br /><br /><span _mce_style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #333333;" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;" styleclass=" style_MainText">When clients show up at AVLF, they are often paralyzed by their circumstances; you can hear it in their voices. One volunteer recently reported that when she called her client after the successful collection on her judgment, she could literally hear the change in her client - the paralysis was giving way in favor of the start of a better future for her and her family. Through AVLF and the Bankruptcy Section of the Atlanta Bar Association's Low Income Creditors Assistance Project (LICAP), we have hopefully removed yet another barrier to getting all of our clients some justice and hope for a better future. To learn more or get involved, please contact our Deputy Director, Michael Lucas, at </span><a _mce_href="mailto:mlucas@avlf.org" _mce_shape="rect" _mce_style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #333333;" href="mailto:mlucas@avlf.org" linktype="2" shape="rect" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51) !important; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;" styleclass=" style_MainText" target="_blank">mlucas@avlf.org</a><span _mce_style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #333333;" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;" styleclass=" style_MainText">. </span> </div>
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Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-69287140379916976162014-02-26T11:26:00.001-08:002014-02-26T11:45:13.665-08:00<div _mce_style="margin: 0px; font-size: 18pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #ac0808;" style="background-color: white; color: #ac0808; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;" styleclass=" style_Headers">
<span _mce_style="color: #f17421; font-family: 'Century Gothic', 'ITC Avant Garde', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" style="color: #f17421; font-family: Century Gothic, ITC Avant Garde, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pro Bono Service: An Honor, Not a Burden</span></div>
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<strong>By: Nilufar Abdi-Tabari,</strong></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuCHwmod8TqmRO_B0HAhQHvObMMnGe-oAT1Q8iLHvUs9eykWydXbOxgjQ9_cbQljBMMXTJ41kiO01nEsVWeg0cknYLbpnfygqOaS60Rj4skoo2usbzjcj3O0TDM5QG_y-DAPCVNaysmEhL/s1600/unnamed+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuCHwmod8TqmRO_B0HAhQHvObMMnGe-oAT1Q8iLHvUs9eykWydXbOxgjQ9_cbQljBMMXTJ41kiO01nEsVWeg0cknYLbpnfygqOaS60Rj4skoo2usbzjcj3O0TDM5QG_y-DAPCVNaysmEhL/s1600/unnamed+2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">Nilufar Abdi-Tabari</strong><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;"> is a family law attorney <br />practicing in Roswell, Georgia. She volunteers every <br />Monday for the Domestic Violence Program <br />of the AVLF in the Safe Families Office, aiding victims of <br />intimate partner violence to obtain Ex-Parte and <br />Twelve Month Protective Orders</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<strong>Attorney at Law</strong></div>
<br />
“Don’t
worry! I’m happy. I’m happy because I am finally free.” In a surprising reversal of roles, I realized “T”,
my client, was trying to comfort … She
must have seen the tears I had tried to blink away.
<br />
For almost a year, I have been
spending my Mondays at the Safe Families Office in the Fulton County
Courthouse, where clients are provided assistance in obtaining Ex-Parte and Twelve-Month
Protective Orders for intimate partner violence. It was on one of these Mondays
that I had the privilege of meeting T, a beautiful young woman with a bright
smile and a bubbly sense of humor. The
story behind that smile is one that will forever resonate with me.<br />
<br />
In T’s case, the abuse began sixteen years earlier, when her mother gave the abuser access to T in exchange for drugs. Since then, T had endured years of extremely violent physical, emotional and psychological abuse at the hands of her abuser, a man 18 years her senior. Today, as a liberated woman, the countless scars and bruises on her body provide a road map to her previous years of physical abuse.<br />
<div>
<br />
The scars on her ankle direct us to the episode of her jump from a second story window in a vain effort to escape her knife-yielding abuser, only to break her ankle when she landed, leaving her unable to escape. Her abuser then took her back into their home and kept her there for three weeks, waiting for the bruises on her body to heal before taking her to the hospital to be treated for her broken bones. The faded bruises on her neck lead to her eventual escape, a desperate run to a local post office after forty-eight hours of constant physical abuse. This journey of abuse and violence culminated in T’s arrival at the Safe Families Office, a refuge and place of aid for women in T’s situation.<br />
<br />
As she finished her story, she looked at me and smiled. Against all odds, T was experiencing happiness because, for the first time in 16 years, she was free from abuse—regardless of the journey that lay ahead of her, she had successfully left her past behind. I could feel her joy and hope shining through the fading bruises. In that moment, I realized what a privilege it was to be able to stand beside her and provide some ease, comfort and assistance as she sought a protective order.<br />
<br />
Through this encounter and many more like it, I have come to realize that providing pro bono services to the many victims that come through the Domestic Violence Program of the AVLF in the Safe Families Office is not only an invaluable service to these clients, but also a remarkable honor for me as a young attorney. At the Safe Families Office, I have found both a community of colleagues and friends among the many amazing attorneys with whom I have had the honor of working. And on occasion, I have been blessed by the comforting word and smile from those most in need of the same.<br />
<br /></div>
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-19831335943107357262014-02-26T11:14:00.000-08:002014-02-26T11:45:23.282-08:00<div _mce_style="margin: 0px; font-size: 18pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #ac0808;" style="background-color: white; color: #ac0808; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;" styleclass=" style_Headers">
<span _mce_style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', 'ITC Avant Garde', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #f17421;" style="color: #f17421; font-family: 'Century Gothic', 'ITC Avant Garde', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even a $500 Win Can Change Lives </span></div>
<div _mce_style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #333333;" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;" styleclass=" style_Link style_MainText">
<strong>By: Andre Ross</strong></div>
<div _mce_style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #333333;" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;" styleclass=" style_Link style_MainText">
<strong>Associate, Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton</strong></div>
<div _mce_style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #333333;" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;" styleclass=" style_Link style_MainText">
<strong>Reprinted with generous permission of the author and the Daily Report </strong></div>
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<strong>Published 01/13/2014</strong></div>
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<img _mce_src="https://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs129/1011119629039/img/376.jpg" align="right" border="0" height="179" hspace="10" name="ACCOUNT.IMAGE.376" src="https://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs129/1011119629039/img/376.jpg" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;" vspace="10" width="298" /><br />
Over the past 18 months, I have been fortunate enough to assist with two matters for the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, both of which came to a successful resolution, and one of which was particularly meaningful in my career as a young attorney.<br />
<br />
In June 2012, I participated in AVLF's Saturday Lawyer Program, which connects legal professionals with low-income individuals. I met a woman who had been evicted from her rental home after the landlord failed to pay the mortgage and the bank foreclosed on the property, leaving her scrambling to find housing. Despite causing the foreclosure and eviction, the landlord then refused to return the client's $500 security deposit. I agreed to help the woman recover her security deposit.<br />
<br />
Working in a big law firm, it can become east to lose sight of the forest for the trees. For many people working at a law firm in Atlanta, poverty is an abstract concept. For better or worse, it is what we glimpse out the windows on the way to the airport, or what we read about in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I am as susceptible to this critique as anyone, but I have come to see that AVLF is an avenue by which those of us who are more fortunate can understand, in a real and powerful way, what it means to have less, and, more importantly, what we can do to assist others.<br />
<div>
<br />
The case I handled for AVLF, although a dispute over only $500, meant the world to my client. To her, with no steady source of income, the security deposit was the difference between being able to pay her bills and having the lights shut off. After rounds of demand letters, the case went to trial in July 2013, with the landlord-defendant choosing to hire counsel rather than pay the $500 my client demanded. After a bench trial, the court awarded my client her full damages, recognizing that she was the victim of a scheme to take advantage of someone perceived as ignorant and helpless. As we left the courtroom with her young son in tow, she hugged me enthusiastically and thanked me for spending my time and energy on her "little old case." That kind of client feedback is what AVLF brings to being a lawyer in Atlanta.<br />
<br />
AVLF's Saturday Lawyer Program, like its many efforts around the metro area, helps give context to what it means to be an attorney. It allows those of us with the resources and acumen to work within the system to help those who lack those same skills and opportunities. To many who read this, $500 is nice to have but not necessary. To those such as my client served by AVLF, $500 can truly mean the world.<br />
<br />
I learned firsthand that being a resource to those who otherwise have none is rewarding on both a personal and professional level, and it is the kind of feeling that everyone should ensure is part of their practice. AVLF is how you make that happen.<br />
<br />
Read more: <a href="http://www.dailyreportonline.com/id=1202637621543/First-Person%3A-Even-a-%24500-Win-Can-Change-Lives#ixzz2uSOiUtmW">http://www.dailyreportonline.com/id=1202637621543/First-Person%3A-Even-a-%24500-Win-Can-Change-Lives#ixzz2uSOiUtmW</a></div>
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-12695484640348410262014-01-22T08:57:00.001-08:002014-01-22T12:15:09.193-08:00AVLF Announces Michael Lucas as New Deputy Director<div class="MsoNormal">
AVLF is proud to announce that Michael Lucas has become the
new Deputy Director of the Foundation.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi59DxWUeYD3AgSIU_217q_QfANgYzmn90W81v5_AuZybWNglRcBgLDx-R_WfpMFfOtfZhLXdnJhwTBG5nAjMy6mOi68FuaK2ePZe3aBt3WAB-6jv4AaHza-LWcbM5fycsgT_6IYaaPh03K/s1600/Lucas,+Michael.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi59DxWUeYD3AgSIU_217q_QfANgYzmn90W81v5_AuZybWNglRcBgLDx-R_WfpMFfOtfZhLXdnJhwTBG5nAjMy6mOi68FuaK2ePZe3aBt3WAB-6jv4AaHza-LWcbM5fycsgT_6IYaaPh03K/s1600/Lucas,+Michael.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michael Lucas, AVLF Deputy Director</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Michael has worked with AVLF for four years, and two years
ago became the Director of Housing and Consumer Programs. In that span, Michael
has done especially remarkable work with AVLF’s signature program, the Saturday
Lawyer Program: under Michael’s cogent and enthusiastic direction, the Saturday
Lawyer Program is the strongest it has ever been in the 40 plus years of its
operation. In 2013 alone, more than 250 volunteer lawyers counseled more
than 350 clients on a Saturday morning on housing, wage claim and debt defense
matters and dispensed more than $250,000
of free legal services to low-income members of our community on Saturday alone
– saying nothing of the significantly greater amount of work done on the cases
after Saturday when those attorneys accepted cases.<i> <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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Michael started the AVLF Dollars for Judgments Program by
encouraging the State Bar Creditor’s Rights Committee to join AVLF in an effort
to collect judgments secured by or on behalf of AVLF clients; he was also
instrumental in the founding of the new LICAP (Low Income Consumer Advocacy
Program) Program that will send experienced practitioners into Bankruptcy Court
in adversary proceedings on behalf of AVLF clients who are judgment creditors.
Michael also directs the AVLF/Atlanta Bar Association Estate Planning &
Probate Section Probate Information Center, and related AVLF substantive pro
bono programs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Moreover, Michael is a delightful person with whom to work, has
a wicked sense of humor and is widely well respected in the Atlanta legal
community. With his energetic and passionate approach to every interaction
(sustained, somehow, through the sleep-deprivation period brought on by the
birth of his and wife Lauren’s two daughters, Maya and Zoe), Michael continues
to present the very best of the Foundation, and as a Staff we look forward to
Michael’s leadership. Our congratulations to our wonderful colleague and new
Deputy Director, Michael Lucas!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-81644269197384519742013-12-17T12:34:00.001-08:002013-12-17T12:34:45.927-08:00AVLF - Inspiring Art in Atlanta<h2>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">AVLF - Inspiring Art in Atlanta</span></h2>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
On view at
the Emory Center for Ethics until February 6<sup>th</sup> is a collection of
work which is meant to view, address, and examine the dynamics of relationships
and homes fraught with intimate partner violence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
This collection is the work of two and a half
years and spans the time I spent working with AVLF at the Safe Families Office,
assisting victims of abuse with filing for Temporary Protective Orders. I was affected deeply by what I saw at the
Safe Families Office and as an artist felt compelled to try and illustrate even
a portion of what I was seeing in a way and space that others might witness it
as well. This has not always been an
easy task and I have had many doubts and fears about the work I am making. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Relationships are complicated, like the work to serve the people involved
in them, because they are built on hope and love, which are strong bonds even
in the face of violence.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Watching people
leave and go back, watching people reconcile, and watching people get hurt is
not easy as an advocate.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">What I am
clearest about, however, is how the discomfort I feel is nothing to the pain
the survivors feel and that is a pain I will never fully understand.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">As I have said many times, victims of
domestic violence must watch the places they feel safe be turned into places of
fear.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Homes are turned into war zones and into
prisons.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The many objects they use in
their daily lives become tools of oppression and weapons of violence.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Capturing the violence without sensationalizing what is happening is
vital to me.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I want someone to view this
and understand how bad it is, but also to understand that “bad” is
contextual.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Sometimes bad is not visible
to the outside and it is not a bruised eye.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Sometimes “bad” is a threat and that threat is a truly heavy
burden.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I want someone to understand how
universal this issue is and to see that this is also them, their neighbor, and
this is happening in their backyard.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I
want someone to understand various dynamics that affect a person’s choices,
decisions, and change within this violence.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">What outside forces are pushing this person to stay?</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">What is pushing them to leave?</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">What fears do they have?</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">It is my firm belief that understanding is and can never be complete, but
knowing even a portion of the struggle is valuable and integral to changing
these actions and behaviors.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGMoe2e7f5D7ZZhhUeKjmzKbwiH0cm-7vAS9BrbpRC16GwxQVEnrzlfXPHgcb25Uy6dU150MHI3WKbv3wT_8dYzSo-5u-osKkPNehT-vLo0XKb1q4i2_-82au_2xI-dBADl2VdrwClThHl/s1600/41d36e6f-39a1-4885-8d74-82101694cfedwallpaper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGMoe2e7f5D7ZZhhUeKjmzKbwiH0cm-7vAS9BrbpRC16GwxQVEnrzlfXPHgcb25Uy6dU150MHI3WKbv3wT_8dYzSo-5u-osKkPNehT-vLo0XKb1q4i2_-82au_2xI-dBADl2VdrwClThHl/s640/41d36e6f-39a1-4885-8d74-82101694cfedwallpaper.jpg" width="640" /></a><o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>“The Artwork
of Jessica Caldas” is on view at the Emory Center for Ethics until February 6<sup>th</sup>,
2014</u>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>There will be an artist talk on Wednesday,
February 5<sup>th</sup> at 6:30 pm</b>.
The talk is free to the public and will be in the Center for Ethics room
102.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Location:<o:p></o:p></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Emory
University<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Center for
Ethics<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
1531 Dickey
Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Hours:</u>
8:30 AM- 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
You can view
more of my work at jessicacaldas.com<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-10498877401961648252013-12-17T08:33:00.001-08:002013-12-17T08:33:59.189-08:00Fighting for the Oppressed until They’re Made Whole <h2>
<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Fighting for the
Oppressed until They’re Made Whole</span></b></h2>
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<i>By Ryan Locke, Criminal Defense Attorney, Locke Law Firm</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEityek0xMw7AJx87bJflQql7cPaD0LXICvjcnf2pjhk2xcIwhFFMNN4FFQ6_WY2apMYeRE-JHNVLhltJRobse7qJV2tFkyrGMA0ESuk3IHYycylera-WVUChEUMz8Br1bSrEH9XAvWhtjU7/s1600/locke+headshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEityek0xMw7AJx87bJflQql7cPaD0LXICvjcnf2pjhk2xcIwhFFMNN4FFQ6_WY2apMYeRE-JHNVLhltJRobse7qJV2tFkyrGMA0ESuk3IHYycylera-WVUChEUMz8Br1bSrEH9XAvWhtjU7/s320/locke+headshot.jpg" width="212" /></a>As a criminal defense lawyer, I often receive frantic calls.
A family member was just hauled away by the cops, or the news just said the
caller has been indicted, or the police are at the door with a search warrant.
But one call gave me pause: “The sheriff is on his way to my house,” sobbed the
woman on the phone, “and he’s going to arrest me unless I pay the debt
collector. What should I do?”<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve received similar versions of this call since then, and
they all end the same way. The sheriff never comes and the debt collector—if he
isn’t just an outright fraud—lays low before calling a few days later with more
threats and demands.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I didn’t know about this side of debt collection before
working with the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation. But then one Saturday
morning I met Sandra, who had come to AVLF for help. She was being harassed by
debt collectors for a supposedly unpaid store credit card. Sandra thought she
had paid it off but wasn’t sure, so she asked them to send her proof of the
debt. Instead, they filed suit.<o:p></o:p></div>
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AVLF had my back. They sent me their in-house treatise on
debt collection defense and put me in touch with an expert debt-defense attorney.
Pulling together language from their resources and my research, I filed an
answer and counterclaim the day before court and hand-delivered it to the debt
collector’s bewildered attorney on the courthouse steps. She offered a mutual
dismissal of claims with prejudice.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As it turns out, the store that issued Sandra the credit
card went bankrupt, and Sandra’s debt was sold to a holding company that resold
the debt to the collector. But the debt collector only bought Sandra’s name and
phone number; he didn’t buy the paperwork proving that a debt existed. We still
don’t know if Sandra actually owed the store any money. But for Sandra, the
calls stopped and that was a win.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve continued working with AVLF, suing misbehaving
landlords and demanding companies pay their workers. Two things remain constant
for each case. First, you’re a member of the AVLF team. Michael Lucas, who
oversees many of these cases, is an expert co-counsel advising on strategy and
technique. One weekend, he even sent me an excited text about different ways to
serve process on my out-of-state defendant.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Second, resolving the clients’ seemingly minor problems has
a profound effect on their lives. A landlord releasing the security deposit is
the difference between moving out of the moldy and cockroach-infested apartment
or suffering through another month.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In my criminal defense practice, I stand with the accused
and fight for their freedom. With AVLF, I fight for the poor and oppressed
until they’re made whole. Please join me, and the hundreds of other volunteers,
in this critical pursuit. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Ryan Locke is the
founder and managing member of the Locke Law Firm, specializing in criminal
defense</i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-78448538828265855092013-10-24T14:00:00.000-07:002013-12-17T08:36:01.456-08:00Shedding my Blinders: How Guard ad Litem Work Opened My Eyes<div _mce_style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #008fde; margin: 0px;" style="background-color: white; color: #008fde; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; margin: 0px;" styleclass=" style_Headers">
<b _mce_style="font-size: 18pt;" style="color: #ff6600; font-size: 18pt;"><b style="font-size: 18pt;"><span _mce_style="text-align: left; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #4c0171;" style="color: #4c0171; font-size: 10pt;" styleclass=" style_TOCLinks">By: Dara Paulsen, ESQ. </span> </b></b><br />
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<div _mce_style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #008fde; margin: 0px;" style="background-color: white; color: #008fde; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; margin: 0px;" styleclass=" style_Headers">
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<a href="https://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs129/1011119629039/img/357.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs129/1011119629039/img/357.jpg" /></a>Although the 'best interests of the child' is always at the forefront of our domestic laws, I never truly considered how working directly with children in family law can influence my own practice, expectations, and preconceptions until I began taking volunteer Guardian ad Litem cases with AVLF. As a practicing family law attorney, I have the opportunity to work with clients with children in divorce and adoption cases. But as a GAL, I work with the child during the entire case, and the blinders really come off. Acting as the "eyes and ears" of the Court, you really get to know the child and have the opportunity to play detective-investigating the child's wants, needs, and interests (which are far from the same thing). This isn't my first rodeo working cases with children. Many moons ago, before law school, I worked in Brockton, Massachusetts, as an Education Advocate (EA) attempting to obtain often expensive services for special needs children from public schools which didn't want to cough up the dough. But GAL cases are a whole different experience. Which brings me to the first thing I learned...<br />
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1) Parties’ credibility can be questionable. Including kids. Who hasn’t had an adult client who portrayed the facts in their most, ahem, favorable light? While working with kids as an EA, when I questioned children, I never had a reason to doubt them. It was simple—either they received their speech therapy that day or they didn’t. I was essentially an education cheerleader who sang the praises of my clients’ children. However, I realized through one particular GAL case, the answers I now seek are more complicated. Further, the ways children choose to interact with you are more complex. A pre-teen client appeared perfect on the outside—church-goer who received good grades and was a model for the other children in her home. However, as my investigation proceeded, and I met with teachers, and with the child herself I learned that my pre-teen client would frequently lie and was in desperate need of counseling. She would lie about anything and everything. At home she was the perfect angel: her Father oblivious to the bullying, stealing, and consistent lies at school. However, during my initial interview with the pre-teen, I had no idea. I began to that understand when you are examining a child’s credibility, discretion and judgment become a trickier business. I’ve never been in a position that demanded my examination of a child’s credibility far beyond the usual ‘coaching’ parents perform in custody cases. It threw me for a loop and challenged my expectations of the work itself. Which brings me to the second thing I learned…<br />
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2) Playing Detective is fun. At the end of your GAL investigation, you humbly submit your written Recommendation to the Judge, which explains your reasoning behind your custody recommendation. The Judge then gets to do whatever she wants with that information and make her final decision. While collecting this information, you get to evaluate all the facts you discovered while playing detective during your investigation and make a specific recommendation based on those facts. You get to do the digging yourself which is normally reserved for hiring out a specialist, like a forensic accountant in a divorce case. For the first time in my practice, I feel like I have a real impact on a child’s life based on my investigating and decision-making alone. And that is a pretty powerful and liberating, but weighty, charge. By doing your best to be straightforward, impartial, and transparent about your investigation and conclusions, you really better enable the Judge to make her best informed decision. To quote Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility. <br />
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To conclude, I practice family law and have learned a multitude of new things about myself and my own practice of law through the challenges of Guardian ad Litem work. I can’t imagine how exhilarating it could be coming from a different line of practice, like estate planning or criminal law. You just may come out realizing that you, too, have the opportunity to take your practice blinders off. <br />
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Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-91464927946626335712013-09-26T11:51:00.000-07:002013-09-26T11:51:21.236-07:00Unemployment Benefits for Domestic Violence Survivors<h4>
<span style="color: #741b47;">By: Lindsey Siegel, Staff Attorney, Atlanta Legal Aid Society</span></h4>
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AVLF, together with the Family Division of the Fulton County
Superior Court and the Partnership Against Domestic Violence, operates the Safe
Families Office at the Fulton County Courthouse to assist victims of domestic
violence secure Temporary Protective Orders (TPO) and receive other assistance
such as safety planning. Many of our domestic
violence clients continue to have legal problems after they are awarded a TPO. One
common scenario is that an abuser comes to or constantly calls the victim’s
workplace and that victim resigns or is fired as a result. One study found that 74% of employed battered
women were harassed by their partner while at work. In the Safe Families Office, we constantly
hear of batterers sabotaging a victim’s employment, sometimes in an effort to
make the victim more dependent on them, in retaliation for asserting
independence, or to find a victim who is in hiding.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf8Us8hGi_qvHurPKKCmU4YWdmz7uSOV37L1hiXlL16ngNlUIagEYEJRZJ9sgqnyq8aZtCuVbdg90DLMCs87cJwfgwWzizeAV2sfCa1YnRZBMHpnpVmiJgVQSbQvo_V1iOJME02WGzRSUQ/s1600/Lindsey's+headshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf8Us8hGi_qvHurPKKCmU4YWdmz7uSOV37L1hiXlL16ngNlUIagEYEJRZJ9sgqnyq8aZtCuVbdg90DLMCs87cJwfgwWzizeAV2sfCa1YnRZBMHpnpVmiJgVQSbQvo_V1iOJME02WGzRSUQ/s320/Lindsey's+headshot.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lindsey Siegel, Staff Attorney, Atlanta Legal Aid Society</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Earlier this summer, I teamed up with the Atlanta Legal Aid
Society to take an unemployment insurance case to the Georgia Court of
Appeals. The case came about after a
domestic violence client of mine resigned from her job because the father of
her two children appeared at her workplace and she feared for her life. After
her employer opposed her application for unemployment benefits, she was denied
benefits. I took her case on appeal of
that denial. The case is one of first
impression in Georgia, as no court here has ever awarded a domestic violence
survivor unemployment benefits after she resigns from her job because of the
abuse.<o:p></o:p></div>
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About a year ago, this client’s former abuser and father of
her two children (who wasn’t supposed to know where she worked or lived) showed
up at her workplace. Because the past
abuse she experienced was so severe, because he wasn’t supposed to have any
contact with her, and because she thought her location was hidden, his mere
presence at her job terrified her. When
he showed up at her home a week later, she knew she had no choice but to escape
to a domestic violence shelter. She not
only feared for her and her children’s safety, but she knew everyone at her job
was in danger if she stayed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And she had good reason to be afraid. Those of you who saw the July 2013 <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/07/22/130722fa_fact_snyder">New
Yorker article</a> on domestic violence know that there are certain high-risk
factors that indicate a likelihood of being killed. In our case, the abuser’s conduct toward our
client met many of those indicators, including obsessive behavior, stalking,
violation of court orders, and a history of severe physical abuse (including
during her pregnancy). Her workplace
would not be immune to the threat of his violence. As many of you likely remember, in <st1:city w:st="on">Atlanta</st1:city>’s not-so-distant past employees at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">CNN</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>
complex and the Bank of America building were murdered by their intimate
partners at work.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As my two-year fellowship at AVLF comes to a close this
week, I’m reflecting on our decision to pursue this case through the various
levels of appeal. Economic
self-sufficiency is critical for our domestic violence clients, as it often
decides whether they can afford to leave an abusive situation. Like any other employee who faces an unsafe
situation at work, victims should be free to resign without risking the loss of
benefits they’ve earned. I’m glad that
AVLF has supported this work and I’m thrilled to be continuing my work on the
case in my new position at Atlanta Legal Aid’s DeKalb Office.<o:p></o:p></div>
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AVLF has been a wonderful place to start my legal career,
and I’m so thankful to them and to the Skadden Fellowship program for giving me
the opportunity to work on so many interesting and important cases. On a daily basis, the staff, volunteers, and
interns at the Safe Families Office have impressed me. Their work with domestic violence victims and
survivors is challenging (to say the least) and requires commitment, tenacity,
and sometimes even a sense of humor.
Although I’m starting a new chapter in my legal career, I look forward
to supporting and staying connected to AVLF’s work in any way I can.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<h4>
<b><span style="color: #741b47;">"Lindsey Siegel worked
with AVLF for two years as a Fellow funded by the law firm of Skadden
Arps. She concluded her fellowship
earlier this month and is now working as a staff attorney with the Decatur
Office of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society.
Through her fellowship, Lindsey focused on legal advocacy for domestic
violence victims who encounter legal problems affecting their housing or
employment. We miss Lindsey already and
are confident she will continue to do great work with Atlanta Legal Aid."</span></b></h4>
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Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-3104504590252799192013-08-01T10:07:00.000-07:002013-08-01T10:07:02.160-07:00AVLF: An Intern’s Perspective<h3>
<span style="color: #0c343d;">By: Farley Ezekiel, Emory Law
School, 2L</span></h3>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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When I started my first year of law school at Emory I knew
that when I become an attorney I wanted to work closely with clients. I began
interning at the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyer’s Foundation in May 2013. I was not
quite sure what to expect, but I was excited to work directly with clients. I
was lucky enough to experience two sides of AVLF because I split my time
between the Safe Families Office in the Fulton County Courthouse and the main
office.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In the
main office I was able to perform research for actual cases. It was amazing to
research landlord tenant law and then to follow Lindsey’s case as she
represented a tenant fighting a landlord who was trying to obtain an eviction.
In the classroom research is for a hypothetical problem, but seeing how
research directly connects to a real life case that will greatly affect someone
makes the heavy responsibility of being an attorney become clear. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Safe Families Office is never
boring, from interviewing clients to rushing to get clients to a hearing, the
days fly by incredibly quickly. The most fulfilling part of my work is getting
to work with clients. When our clients walk in the door they often do not know
what to expect and are quite nervous. Talking clients through the process and
getting them a temporary protective order is one of the best feelings. There is
nothing better than when a client gives me a heartfelt thank you for my work.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One day a client’s abuser actually
showed up in the clerk’s office while she was filing her temporary protective
order. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a man approaching a client, and she
was clearly terrified. Another member of the team called for the sheriffs.
Meanwhile, I stood in front of the client and repeatedly told the Respondent
that he could not speak with her and that he needed to leave immediately. After
my heart stopped racing and I was able to help successfully ward off the abuser,
it really sunk in that the work we do everyday has a very concrete effect on
people who have endured domestic violence. I have walked dozens of people
through obtaining a temporary protective order, but witnessing how this piece
of paper tangibly protects people in abusive situations illustrates the
importance of the Safe Families Office’s efforts. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The first year of law school is
full of many things: late nights studying, poring over civil procedure, and it
all comes down to that final exam. The abstract concepts I am learning in law
school are very different from the practical reality of being an attorney in
the real world. During my summer interning for AVLF I was able to reconcile my
classroom experience with the concrete reality of working on behalf of clients.
I loved working for individual clients helping to protect them from abusers and
harassers. My desire to work closely with clients in a family law context has
only been strengthened after my experience working for AVLF. I believe that my
legal education and my experiences at AVLF have set a solid foundation for a
rewarding career in family law. <o:p></o:p></div>
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-22385164273172365682013-08-01T10:04:00.000-07:002013-08-01T10:04:57.412-07:00Two Months at AVLF Makes a Difference <h3>
<span style="color: #0c343d;">By: Raman Rajagopal</span></h3>
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A few
months back, I realized I would have two free months before the start of a new job
in the consulting sector. Having been to
law school and practiced as an attorney (albeit corporate law, but I am told it
still counts), I decided to dedicate some time toward the field of public
interest. Fortunately for me, the
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyer Foundation (“AVLF”) welcomed me on board as a two-month
volunteer attorney.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The
position would be my first job in the non-profit world. After I graduated from law school, I practiced
law for less than a year and then worked in finance for the past few years. From finance, I moved into management
consulting. Have spent several years in
the private sector, I was hopeful that the position with AVLF would give me a
deeper understanding of the types of circumstances I previously only
superficially read about in the newspaper. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Most of my work revolved around
landlord-tenant issues that arose from cases referred to AVLF’s Saturday Lawyer
Program. In one of my cases, a ninety-year
old man with symptoms of dementia came to the Saturday clinic hoping for
help. He had been living in a subsidized
housing unit for years that was swarming with bed bugs. He was sick and elderly---he had tried his
best to find a solution but found himself sitting in my office holding back
tears as he revealed that he could barely eat because the bugs were everywhere,
including the fridge.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In another
case, a landlord made the decision she no longer wanted to have a tenant living
there. Her solution? Forget the legally-required eviction process
and just turn off the water and power and hoped the client would leave. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And last
week there was a landlord who improperly withheld our client’s security
deposit. The client had not caused
damage to the property or done anything else to justify the landlord’s conduct. The property had changed owners during the
tenant’s lease, and even after the tenant showed the landlord that she paid
security deposit, the landlord would not return it to her.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The pattern? In many of my AVLF cases the landlords had
learned that the people on the other side are deeply marginalized without the
resources to defend themselves or fight for what is rightfully theirs. My clients were routinely denied services
that are legally required. There are
illegal evictions, improperly withheld security deposits and refusals to repair
broken water pipes that result in $1000+ water bills to the client. Fortunately for the landlords on the other
side of my AVLF cases, there is often little consequence for their
behavior. Fines and penalties are
unusual and infrequent in our system. And
unfortunately for most of these clients, wrongs are often left uncorrected for
many of those who are not fortunate to have services like AVLF’s.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I have been
blessed to avoid many of the struggles that most of our clients face. In the news, you hear a lot of discussion of
the word “entitled” and “entitlements”---likely referring to those who receive
subsidized housing and services like many of my AVLF clients. Stepping back, entitled is not a word I would
ever to use for my clients. Grateful is
the word instead - or perhaps appreciative.
My clients at AVLF have grateful for the legal help most of us would
demand, expect and take for granted.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The
recession hit the whole country hard.
The working poor of Atlanta are no exception. And in case you were curious about those
cases I mentioned---the elderly man with dementia got moved to a different
bed-bug free unit, the second client had her water and power turned on after a
few calls, and the final client received her security deposit back in full. Programs like AVLF are critical to balancing
the paradigm of power in our city. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-44915791866401213552013-07-01T14:59:00.001-07:002013-07-01T15:27:53.502-07:00Thanks for a Successful Event! <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
1<sup>st</sup> Annual Burger Battle & Beer Tasting at Nelson Mullins on
June 6<sup>th</sup> was a resounding success! The event, a fundraiser
supporting the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation and the Atlanta Legal Aid
Society:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Raised
more than $30,000!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sold
out two weeks in advance</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Had
more than 500 guests in attendance</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Featured
fantastic craft beer and delicious food</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Showcased
two outstanding local chefs:</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Celebrity
Chef Kevin Gillespie from Gunshow and Chef <span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Dan Latham of Farm Burger</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Energized
hundreds of law students and young lawyers around pro bono work and legal
services in Atlanta<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
could not have had such a successful event without our Sponsors and the many
individuals who bought tickets and joined us.
Thank you all so much for your support.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Plans
are underway the 2<sup>nd</sup> Annual Burger Battle and Beer Tasting in 2014,
and we hope to see you there!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: small;">Click the link below to view photos from the event, </span>courtesy of John Disney of the Fulton Co. Daily Report. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<a href="http://s1080.photobucket.com/user/AVLFprobono/slideshow/AVLF-ALAS%201st%20Annual%20Beertasting%20June%206%202013" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">http://s1080.photobucket.com/user/AVLFprobono/slideshow/AVLF-ALAS%201st%20Annual%20Beertasting%20June%206%202013</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></a></div>
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-8393971150050640422013-05-30T14:43:00.002-07:002013-05-30T14:43:42.193-07:00AVLF welcomes six additions to the AVLF Board of Directors.<div class="MsoNormal">
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AVLF is delighted to announce six additions to the AVLF
Board of Directors.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Walt Davis</b>- Walt is a Partner with the law firm of Jones
Day. As a litigator, Walt has a broad range of experience in
complex commercial litigation matters in state and federal courts. His practice
primarily emphasizes securities and corporate governance issues.</div>
<o:p></o:p>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<b>Paul Donsky-</b> Paul is a managing Supervisor at Fleishman-Hillard, <span class="st1"><span lang="EN">a global communications firm that specializes
in public relations and public affairs, marketing,. Formerly a journalist, Paul
</span></span><span lang="EN">covered a range of beats and topics for the AJC,
from education and transportation to banking and finance, and won</span><span lang="EN"> several local and regional awards for a
2005 investigative series about waste and corruption in the city of Atlanta
school system.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span lang="EN"><br /></span></div>
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<b>Jim McGinnis</b>- <span lang="EN">Jim
is a Partner with the Atlanta law firm of Warner Bates McGough & McGinniss,
and tries divorce and custody cases before judges and juries throughout
Georgia. Jim is a frequent lecturer to attorneys and CPA’s across the state on
a variety of family law topics. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at
the Georgia State University School of Law, where he taught advanced domestic
litigation for 15 years.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN"><br /></span></div>
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<b>Richard Mitchell</b>-Richard is a partner with Mitchell &
Shapiro LLP. He concentrates on personal injury matters, including medical
malpractice, trucking, auto wrecks, and aviation crashes, and is regarded as
one of the most experienced personal injury and medical malpractice lawyers in
the Georgia.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Will Shearer</b>- Will is<o:p></o:p><br />
Senior Vice President of Business
Strategy and General Counsel for United Distributors, Inc. Under Will’s
direction, United has been a primary sponsor of the AVLF Winetasting, the
Foundation’s largest fundraiser, since 2009. Will formerly practiced law with
King & Spalding. </div>
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<b>Cornell Wesley</b>-<span lang="EN"> Cornell is a
Vice President & SBA Lender at CBC National Bank, who is experienced in the
areas of financial services, retail banking, information technology and
financial analysis. Cornell also holds a Masters in Business Administration and
a Masters in Divinity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-54570329714750979092013-04-22T10:27:00.000-07:002013-04-22T10:27:43.781-07:00Ole' Miss School of Law Alternate Spring Break--Pro Bono Style<div _mce_style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; text-align: center;">
<span _mce_style="color: #007da1; font-family: 'Century Gothic', 'ITC Avant Garde', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;" style="color: #007da1; font-family: Century Gothic, ITC Avant Garde, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><span _mce_style="color: #007da1; font-family: 'Century Gothic', 'ITC Avant Garde', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;" style="color: #007da1; font-family: Century Gothic, ITC Avant Garde, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">8 students from the University of </span><span _mce_style="color: #007da1; font-family: 'Century Gothic', 'ITC Avant Garde', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" style="color: #007da1; font-family: Century Gothic, ITC Avant Garde, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mississippi </span><span _mce_style="color: #007da1; font-family: 'Century Gothic', 'ITC Avant Garde', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;" style="color: #007da1; font-family: Century Gothic, ITC Avant Garde, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">spends spring break with AVLF. </span></div>
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<span _mce_style="color: #007da1; font-family: 'Century Gothic', 'ITC Avant Garde', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;" style="color: #007da1; font-family: Century Gothic, ITC Avant Garde, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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8 law students and Professor Deborah Bell from the University of Mississippi School of Law spent their spring break working in the Safe Families Office. The students dove in on Monday by observing Protective Order Court , and then debriefing with Judge Allison Arce. Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Cynthia Wright kicked of their Tuesday. The students also got to sit down <img _mce_src="https://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs129/1011119629039/img/290.jpg" align="right" border="0" height="198" hspace="5" name="ACCOUNT.IMAGE.290" src="https://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs129/1011119629039/img/290.jpg" vspace="5" width="265" />with the head of Fulton's ADR office Jerry Wood, the program director of Business Court Megan Johnson, and Deputy D.A. Sally G. Butler of the Crimes Against Women and Children Unit. The day wound down with a happy hour attended by some of AVLF's best and brightest volunteers, giving the students real insight on the rewards and challenges of pro bono service. Wednesday morning got off to an early start in Drug Court with Judge Downs. The students were also fortunate to stay for opening arguments in a murder trial right after, followed by intake at the Safe Families Office. The week culminated in the students representing two clients in Protective Order cases on Friday under the supervision of AVLF's Liz Whipple. Summers Robertson and Lee Watson negotiated a consent order, while Melissa Groover and ReToya Gilmer had a hearing with a Respondent represented by counsel. After a well-argued case on both sides, the students carried the day, ending their week on a triumphant note for their client and themselves. </div>
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Thanks go out to all of the amazing people mentioned above who made this week not only possible, but also unparalleled. Special gratitude to Connie White and Max Arrechea in Judge Wright's office for making so many of the week's highlights a reality. Cheers to Debbie Segal for sparking this partnership (and for a lovely dinner). Above all, to the 8 fantastic students who made the week a pleasure for the Safe Families staff and volunteers.</div>
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Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-75172085368776922562013-03-21T09:10:00.001-07:002013-03-21T09:29:33.251-07:00As Promised , Tamara Serwer-Caldas' EPIC acceptance speech<strong style="color: #ee5624; font-family: 'Century Gothic', 'ITC Avant Garde', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; text-align: -webkit-center;"><em><span _mce_style="color: #007da1;" style="color: #007da1;">Tamara's EPIC Speech, The EPIC Inspiration Awards, Emory University School of Law, </span><span _mce_style="color: #007da1;" style="color: #007da1;">February</span><span _mce_style="color: #007da1;" style="color: #007da1;"> 5, 2013</span></em></strong><strong style="color: #ee5624; font-family: 'Century Gothic', 'ITC Avant Garde', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; text-align: -webkit-center;"></strong><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Thank you Marty – your words honor me and energize me, as
they so often do. You are my friend, my
colleague, my mentor and among the most generous and gracious people I have
ever known. Looking around this room, I
think are precious few who would disagree! I am proud to count myself among the many who
have worked closely with you, shared bouts of laughter and quiet tears with you,
learned from you and joined you in the cause of access to justice for all
people. I appreciate you every day and I
look forward to many many more days working side by side as leaders of the
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation pursuing our mission and expanding our
reach. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5_DOWtmdiIG3dR87By0W0KeqnLBi5s3RX9OSwLpDKsi7oMXtK4pGCB6S4fY9ShKbjectkS_vxEMK9NFTsNKo2feyAMVN3uCihLnM-EPNx5TCCyy1lXwb7MMSJUzp4PFHlz1x-AgH05wWN/s1600/DSC_8625-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5_DOWtmdiIG3dR87By0W0KeqnLBi5s3RX9OSwLpDKsi7oMXtK4pGCB6S4fY9ShKbjectkS_vxEMK9NFTsNKo2feyAMVN3uCihLnM-EPNx5TCCyy1lXwb7MMSJUzp4PFHlz1x-AgH05wWN/s1600/DSC_8625-M.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a>And thank you to the students and Board of EPIC for giving me
this honor, to Dan Bloom for leading us through the evening with humor and style
and to Sue McAvoy for the extraordinary effort put this evening together. It feels great to be recognized and even
better to know that the proceeds of this event support law students who want to
explore public interest careers through summer fellowships. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This evening I have a daunting task - the task is daunting
because I am receiving an inspiration award for my devotion to those most in
need. And yet this room is filled with
so many of the people who have been and continue to be <b><i>my</i></b> inspiration and with
still others whose devotion to me as a human being, a woman, a wife, a mother,
a daughter, a friend, a lawyer, has allowed me to continue fighting even when I
have felt defeated, exhausted and simply unequal to the task. And so I begin with a profound sense of
gratitude for the inspiration and devotion all around me. I cannot imagine a more supportive community
than the one in which I have the good fortune to live and work. It takes a village to raise a public interest
lawyer. Thank you. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I was going to end my remarks by paying tribute to my
parents, my children and my husband because I feared I would get too emotional
if I started with those I love most, but I have to start at my core and so, at
some risk, I will. My mother and father
are here from San Antonio , Texas and it’s my Dad’s birthday this evening! Mom and Dad: you raised me to trust in my own
voice, follow my heart, and to treat all people with respect and dignity. You <i>really</i>
believe in me and have provided me with the most fertile ground from which to
flourish and pursue the path I choose in life.
Shoshana -9 and Marco – 6 are
also here – You guys are my delight, my joy and my pride. Keep asking questions, learning, laughing,
dancing, reading and loving. Keep your
beautiful young hearts open to new ideas and new people and find a way to make
your world a kinder, more inclusive, more just place. Jose – you are my partner in every dimension
of our lives. It is not easy to raise
children and work as hard as we do day in and day out – your love, patience and
support of our family make it possible.
I admire you and I love you. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Like many of you, I went to law school with the idea that I
could (and would) use my talent, privilege and education to make the world a
better and more fair place and to stand up for people whose voices had been silenced or who felt powerless to defend themselves. Where does that idea come from? Why do so many of us, especially in this
profession think that that matters? Why
do you? In more cynical moments, I think
it is pure hubris, but even then I know that’s not all. An article earlier this
month in the Atlantic Monthly gave me some insight – perhaps, as the article
suggests, it is about choosing to live a meaningful life. In the words of Martin E. P. Seligman, one of
the leading psychological scientists alive today<b>, in the meaningful life "you use your highest strengths and
talents to belong to and serve something you believe is larger than the
self."</b> There are many, many
ways to do that and it is the work of a lifetime to figure out what that means
in one’s own life. For many lawyers, it
is about opening the doors of justice so that people have a fair chance
regardless of their income, status, race or language. <o:p></o:p></div>
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During my second year of law school, I had the privilege of
seeing Steve Bright give a keynote speech about the inequities in the criminal
justice system in Georgia & Alabama.
I was, in a word, taken. It was
not only the content of the speech but the conviction and passion of the
speaker – I was deeply inspired by the idea of working so hard for something
that really mattered, to serve people and promote values well beyond my self
interest. As in Marge Piercy’s beautiful
poem (which my sister sent me when I was struggling in law school): “To Be of
Use.” It would be another 4 years before
an unexpected opportunity to work at the Southern Center for Human Rights would
lure me to Atlanta so that I could work side by side with Steve and some of the
most talented lawyers, paralegals and law students in the nation. And 15 years later, here I remain. Those early years as a lawyer in this town
were difficult years – but my life was rich with meaning from dawn to dusk. <o:p></o:p></div>
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My clients at the Southern Center, HIV+ inmates in local
jails, mentally ill men in the state prison, the women in Alabama’s Tutwiler
prison, people crammed into tiny dilapidated jails throughout Alabama demanded
that I put myself aside – their fundamental needs, human dignity and even lives
were at stake. When my confidence
faltered, as it too often did despite an outer shell of confidence, I turned
often to my family for support, which I received unconditionally with every
phone call and visit home. My father has
shared pearls of wisdom along the way that have moved me forward when I was
stuck. It was during these early years
as a lawyer that my father gave me a simple reminder: this is about your clients, not about you. It is when I let my clients themselves inspire
me that I did my best work. It is when
our legal system serves and considers the rights and interests of all people
that our work will be done. We have a
little way to go yet!<o:p></o:p></div>
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I share the honor tonight with two pillars of our legal
community. Robbie Dokson, whose vision
and hard work more than 30 years laid the foundation upon which AVLF was
created. You should be very proud of
how this baby has grown up, Robbie! It
has served 10s of thousands of families in this community who are safer,
healthier and more secure because a lawyer stepped in when a critical legal
interest was at risk. Robbie and I have
another connection – we discovered at an AVLF winetasting many years ago that
he went to summer camp with my father and his brothers. Robbie remembers my grandmother as head
counselor for the girls camp in upstate New York in the 1950’s. She was a leader, a woman of firsts, a
fearless advocate for oppressed people – and someone to be remembered 60 years
hence. I cannot pay tribute to those who
have inspired me with a mention of her.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When anyone mentions complex civil rights litigation in this
town, Jeff Bramlett’s name is usually in the same sentence. I came to Jeff for help before filing my
first lawsuit – he read our complaint and the dozens of attachments, memos and
motions that came with it. He was not in
a position to co-counsel, but instead used the respect he had earned as an
officer of the Atlanta Bar Association to convince the Board to pass a
resolution supporting the idea that incarcerated people should receive HIV
treatment. It was a most unusual
request, in many ways, but Jeff stood up for us and gave the Board his
word. This vote of confidence by Jeff
and leaders of the legal community stayed has stayed with me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Today I work with a staff of 10 at the Atlanta Volunteer
Lawyers Foundation whose devotion to those most in need rings through in every
one of the thousands of phone calls that come to our office every year and with
every visit to our domestic violence safe families office by someone looking
for a legal advocate. The work never
ceases and, sadly, the need has grown deeper and wider as the number of poor
people in Georgia has expanded in the past decade. There are <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">300,000, Georgia families
now live below the poverty line—</span><a href="http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0709.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">50 percent higher than in 2000</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">,
for a poverty rate that now </span><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2012/11/08/georgia-poverty-levels-among-worst-in.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ranks sixth in the nation</span></a>. For a family of 3 – that’s less than 20,000
of gross income per year in 2013. AVLF
accepts families who earn twice that number – up to 39,000 for a family of
three. That’s an assistant teacher with
two children, two parents working full time at minimum wage jobs and supporting
a child. That’s someone laid off in the
recession, who once made a comfortable living and now finds that everything she
has is at risk. Our office helps these
types of families, and those with much, much less. The majority of our clients support families
on less than $20,000 per year. With
poverty comes jeopardy – of losing one’s home, one’s children, one’s income and
one’s credit. Legal advocacy and access
to justice make a difference. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I cannot with the time remaining do justice to the staff of
AVLF, most of whom are here tonight. Michael
Lucas who directs AVLF’s housing and consumer programs simply never stops – I
have worked with some phenomenal people, but never have I seen someone as
thoughtful with each client, each relationship, each case, each volunteer – with a growing list of client success stories. Michael – you give me great hope and it is a
privilege to work with you. The AVLF
team who works with Michael - Kenisha,
Dionne, Caroline matches his skills with incredible commitment to advocacy and
service. Our Domestic Violence team sees
almost 2,000 victims of violence every year.
Liz, Jessica and Lindsey – you help women find a new life from the ashes
of violence and destruction. Day after
day. Your lives and your work are full
of meaning. And Jeffrey – you make it
possible for all of us to do our work each day – something too easy to take for
granted. Thank you for managing our
office and keeping us moving! <o:p></o:p></div>
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But our small staff does not work alone. AVLF relies on more than 500 attorney volunteers
each year– attorneys, just like many of you in this room are or will be, who
work for private law firms but offer their skills to help families facing
eviction, violence and financial hardship.
Our volunteers report back to us that their work with our clients is
life-changing, the most important professional accomplishment of their career,
more meaningful than closing a business deal – those are direct quotes. And after donating 20, 30 hours of their
time, most of our volunteers turn around and make a financial contribution so
we can continue our good work into another year and generation. These are the voices and actions of
humanity. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Each case that we take has a compelling human story behind
it and I can’t begin to give you the details of any one story in the time I
have remaining, but I encourage you to ask me or anyone on AVLF’s staff for
those details.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m now old enough to
talk about the next generation of lawyers and professionals! Emory law students through EPIC pushed us to
engage in policy work for the first time during the past couple of years. I deeply admired their commitment, especially
knowing that they were also writing papers, taking exams and interviewing for
jobs in a challenging market. Students: when you work in our office you encourage us
to consider new frontiers, new possibilities, new strategies, new values. Respect the groundwork laid by Robbie, Jeff,
Steve, Marty, Dan and others, but don’t be afraid to push. There is so much work to be done, and we need
your energy and creativity more than ever.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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There is another group is in this room – my sisters and
brothers from other non-profit law offices.
Steve Gottlieb – the guidestar for our community, Haley Schwartz who had
the audacity to start her own legal project at Legal Aid – the Breast Cancer
Legal Project and build it into a great success, Monica Khant, Sharon Hill,
Rachel Spears, Sara Totonchi, Phyllis Holmen, Talley Wells, Melanie Velez, Stephanie
Stuckey. The list goes on. I especially appreciate how many friends from
Atlanta Legal Aid are here tonight. We
are all devoted to a common principle of equal justice, and none of us could do
it without each other and without the generosity of this community. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There is not one way to choose a meaningful life – there are
so, so many roads. Find something that
moves your heart to action and opens doors for other people and then step up to
the challenge with confidence. It is
what makes you and me and us uniquely and wonderfully human.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-80262912907357111212013-03-21T09:07:00.004-07:002013-03-21T09:07:59.824-07:00Pro Bono in The Arts<br />
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<b>When: </b>Saturday, March 30th, 7-11pm<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Where: </b>Beep Beep Gallery- 696 Charles Allen Drive<span style="background: white;">, </span>Atlanta, Georgia 30308<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>What:</b>"Falling In..." New work by Jessica Caldas<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS7LDuiunN1iIOoKthcOttyE05BaOPi8mRzN4op9dSjbiRud5I4IMJkH6h38540oCKmBTCT9wPaZs7yhX42_K-0CqkPRvMb4_Cwz2utH5BlRkV0yPUPvRgkzDoTMAXBHjfxrijFVretfN0/s1600/jess+art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS7LDuiunN1iIOoKthcOttyE05BaOPi8mRzN4op9dSjbiRud5I4IMJkH6h38540oCKmBTCT9wPaZs7yhX42_K-0CqkPRvMb4_Cwz2utH5BlRkV0yPUPvRgkzDoTMAXBHjfxrijFVretfN0/s1600/jess+art.jpg" height="193" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Just as any love story does, the stories of
violent relationships each develop differentl</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">y. Though a relationship
full of love should not be violent there is indeed love. There is a very human
hope and belief in love. There are lines of power, control and anger that
should not be crossed but they are crossed. Violence should not be hard to see,
hard to distinguish, hard to name and yet it is.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">When we see violence from an outsider’s perspective and we want to
understand it we place ourselves, or those we know, in the moment and we ask
“What if it was me?” Why do we have to ask this question? When we don’t want to
understand violence we push the stories away from us, and we say “that could
never happen to me”. In this moment we are failing to understand that, like
love, violence is all around us. <span style="background: white;"><br />
<br />
</span>This work visualizes relationships I witness as a Domestic Violence
advocate; their development through the cycle of violence, the perspectives
surrounding the relationships, and the questions of what happens when love is
pressured by violence and control."</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-84862408067199326162013-03-21T09:06:00.002-07:002013-03-21T09:06:41.399-07:00March Madness: Pro Bono Style Kicks off<br />
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On Friday, March 1<sup>st</sup>, AVLF’s Domestic Violence
Project kicked off the Atlanta Bar Association’s <i>Pro Bono March Madness</i> with a full-day, highly interactive
Fundamentals of Domestic Violence training based on a national training
developed by the American Bar Association.
32 trainees spent the day interacting in small and large group settings,
wrestling with issues of domestic violence and the remedies available to
survivors. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnfp9jCrup7FKSLXb3IwnlO3fKHIlcLkutZB0SSDSdLfuQwsz4qmMHXWWHaeY-33UJm4nsKL0rV4T2y6HPuFIv_CEOxlARiv6NTUOe_SAe1RNPfVbPHzZiS-gvDDiZBTZkYvSJdliZfx4A/s1600/liz+training+photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnfp9jCrup7FKSLXb3IwnlO3fKHIlcLkutZB0SSDSdLfuQwsz4qmMHXWWHaeY-33UJm4nsKL0rV4T2y6HPuFIv_CEOxlARiv6NTUOe_SAe1RNPfVbPHzZiS-gvDDiZBTZkYvSJdliZfx4A/s1600/liz+training+photo.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a>Debbie Segal spearheaded this training, and worked
tirelessly to adapt the curriculum and recruit the faculty – without her, the
day would not have happened. Vivian
Huelgo, Chief Counsel for the ABA’s Commission on Family and Sexual Violence
not only trained the trainers, but also led several portions of the day. Our large-group faculty - Monica Khant of
GAIN, Greg Loughlin of the Georgia Commission On Family Violence, Jenni
Stolarski of the Dekalb County Solicitor's Office, Dan Bloom of Pachman
Richardson, and Amanda Planchard of the Fulton County Solicitor Victim Witness
Assistance Office, and the AVLF’s own Liz Whipple led the room in discussion
throughout the day. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Our small table faculty, comprised of The Honorable Wendy
Shoob and The Honorable Gail S. Tusan of the Fulton County Superior Court,
Fulton Family Division judicial officer Davita Gude and Family Division
Director Robin Coggswell spurred their groups on to lively discussion and
thoughtful analysis of issues during small group exercises. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Thanks also to Robin Taylor of PADV and Jessica Caldas of
AVLF for all their assistance, and to Katie Barton and Tyler Scarbrough of
Kilpatrick Townsend for their incomparable acting skills. (Not many could maintain focus in the face of
Liz’s clip-on ponytail wig and hammy performance during the skit, both were
total pros.) Without Kilpatrick
Stockton’s support as host, this day would not have been possible. Our compliments to the Atlanta Bar’s Jessica
Galusha for a well-executed kick-off to her very first March Madness. And last but not least, thanks to the judges
and volunteers, old and new, who attended – we look forward to putting your new
knowledge to work for AVLF’s clients!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-36121468669021801252013-03-11T14:55:00.003-07:002013-03-19T08:29:44.179-07:00Why VAWA matters to AVLF and what you can do to help<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgivvhx7WfAljcbNQBommH7lAoaM_s6oZRMTHNxrVNS8Ozfv_EJva_TjuvkMBEAMjVHo704PkA04RQuvZ_G76afqkB9nBCifjbcoNWw8M8D-E1egs4GRSTOFnDFr7FgMYURi4pXICsO9F6R/s1600/DSC0085-e1358197766933.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgivvhx7WfAljcbNQBommH7lAoaM_s6oZRMTHNxrVNS8Ozfv_EJva_TjuvkMBEAMjVHo704PkA04RQuvZ_G76afqkB9nBCifjbcoNWw8M8D-E1egs4GRSTOFnDFr7FgMYURi4pXICsO9F6R/s1600/DSC0085-e1358197766933.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b>By: Lindsey Siegel, <br />Staff Attorney, Skadden Fellow</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This past Thursday, March 7, 2013, was a historic day for our country, as President Obama signed <http: blog="" violence-against-women-act-ensures-all-victims-and-survivors-domestic-abuse-get-reso="" www.whitehouse.gov="">the reauthorization of the <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/03/07/violence-against-women-act-ensures-all-victims-and-survivors-domestic-abuse-get-reso" target="_blank">Violence Against Women Act</a> (VAWA), and it became law. </http:><a href="http://avlf.org/" target="_blank">AVLF</a> applauds the reauthorization of VAWA, especially those parts that expand housing protections to survivors. </div>
<br />
As one of the focuses of my fellowship, I have a particular interest in this aspect of the law, having represented numerous survivors whose housing stability was at risk because of their partners’ violence. Now, because of VAWA's changes, even more of those clients will be protected from unfair evictions.<br />
<br />
If you aren't familiar with VAWA's history, Vice President Biden forged the original version back in the mid-90s, which helped create much-needed protections for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault (later it was expanded to include victims of stalking and dating violence), as well as new sources of funding for local communities trying to fight and respond to these crimes. Advocates on behalf of victims championed its passage and subsequent reauthorizations, but they also recognized that after nearly two decades certain provisions needed to be updated.<br />
<br />
Although VAWA enjoyed bipartisan support for most of its history, the version that passed last Thursday endured a long, hard fought battle in both chambers of Congress. Despite pressure on congressional leaders to narrow the scope of the law, the new version of VAWA extends protections and improves access for LGBT individuals, Native American women living on tribal lands, those in need of stable housing, immigrant women, and students on college campuses.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlB25q_CM9KgSQpKDSKdEyoxXRzdfrrpzdvq8ZukBZOsad4_a8x6h-jSNCEb4PZDG4fOn5FEhlVJ7TRwnIRx4_B-zaC_-HJgCTroiY1Qm_ZTD6bcE_IAhM5GSNYhezOlr3Vm7Dovgmuswq/s1600/vawa-reauthorization-signing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlB25q_CM9KgSQpKDSKdEyoxXRzdfrrpzdvq8ZukBZOsad4_a8x6h-jSNCEb4PZDG4fOn5FEhlVJ7TRwnIRx4_B-zaC_-HJgCTroiY1Qm_ZTD6bcE_IAhM5GSNYhezOlr3Vm7Dovgmuswq/s320/vawa-reauthorization-signing.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">VAWA Signing. Picture accessed from <a href="http://aauw.org/">AAUW.org</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We recognize that having laws on the books is only the first step, but it is critical to AVLF’s goal of supporting safe and stable families and it makes a measurable difference in our clients’ lives. As a next step, we should call on our <i>national</i> leaders to fully fund VAWA<http: congdir.tt="" congressorg="" directory="" www.congress.org="">.</http:><br />
<http: congdir.tt="" congressorg="" directory="" www.congress.org=""><br /></http:>
<http: congdir.tt="" congressorg="" directory="" www.congress.org="">In the coming weeks and months, my goal is to call on our leaders in <i>Georgia</i> to adopt and implement these new protections in local laws and policies, to further improve safety for the most vulnerable individuals in our communities.</http:><br />
<http: congdir.tt="" congressorg="" directory="" www.congress.org=""><br /></http:>
<b>What you can do:</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Call or write your member of Congress and ask them to support increased funding. <a href="http://votesmart.org/">Votesmart.org</a> has a great tool to help you find your members of Congress and their contact information.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.avlf.org/volunteers#!__volunteers" target="_blank">Volunteer</a> with AVLF's Domestic Violence Project.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.gagivesday.org/c/GGD/a/avlf" target="_blank">Give a gift to AVLF</a> to support our ongoing efforts to help domestic violence survivors in Atlanta.</li>
</ol>
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-29790809900894655802013-02-12T14:30:00.002-08:002013-02-12T14:30:53.690-08:00Deputy Director Receives 2013 Unsung Devotion to Those Most in Need Award<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp1GAzCTlVHBC4e9oeAJUjuIkwh3TTZgZtMlF_mQNajsuLmGixzXO7YZHTHkC4ncJjEuZgIPy6_j1d3KyoIZ6aIRshUyz56UdBkCcq6irdcN0eTEyIaSm7voMipF3if-DXRHQMAdMzZ_Dk/s1600/DSC_8632-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp1GAzCTlVHBC4e9oeAJUjuIkwh3TTZgZtMlF_mQNajsuLmGixzXO7YZHTHkC4ncJjEuZgIPy6_j1d3KyoIZ6aIRshUyz56UdBkCcq6irdcN0eTEyIaSm7voMipF3if-DXRHQMAdMzZ_Dk/s1600/DSC_8632-M.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a>The Emory University School of Law Public Interest Committee
awarded AVLF Deputy Director Tamara Caldas with the 2013 Unsung Devotion to
Those Most in Need Award on February 5. Also that evening, Jeffrey Bramlett
received the <span style="color: #363636;">Outstanding Leadership in the Public
Interest.</span> Award, and Robbie Dokson was awarded the Lifetime Commitment
to Public Service Award. <o:p></o:p></div>
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AVLF was very much in evidence throughout the evening. Obviously,
the Foundation is very proud of the recognition of Tamara and her selfless and
amazing work for the clients, the legal community and the Court systems of
metropolitan Atlanta. As well, Robbie Dokson was a founder of AVLF; Jeff
Bramlett worked closely with the Foundation’s One Child One Lawyer Program when
resolving the claims of the groundbreaking <i>Kenny
A.</i> litigation; Steve Gottlieb, who introduced Robbie that evening is a
close partner of AVLF’s from his position as the Director of the Atlanta Legal
Aid Society; Theresa Roseborough, who introduced Jeff that evening is a former
AVLF Guardian ad litem; Dan Bloom, the evening’s MC, is a former Deputy
Director of AVLF; and Marty Ellin, AVLF’s executive Director, had the pleasure
of introducing Tamara to the full house at Emory Law School.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Marty’s comments that evening included the following:</div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;">Tamara Serwer Caldas is a great lawyer. And
she would never tell you that, but tonight she doesn’t have to, in part because
the people who work with her are thrilled to have the chance to do so. I had
the pleasure of contacting a range of Tamara’s current and former colleagues,
and wish I could share all of what they said. Put together, it is the portrait
of a woman who lives by this direction:<span style="color: #990000;"> </span><b><span style="color: #990000;">If
one does not consider the circumstance of fellow human beings then the whole
purpose of the law is lost.</span><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdp39uVGFhtvONvRT1zenjK2ONlNaLttQ5FnpGgkA3iP9LRCk_S4HLHfM1kfdXDfxdu7hhOzHsL2Iib8HiOe8Eng3t7R_A8ZqncFCqwe9j1OZe3Wwjllzt8AdTEPfnzAzqfHhP9sQCU21D/s1600/DSC_8625-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdp39uVGFhtvONvRT1zenjK2ONlNaLttQ5FnpGgkA3iP9LRCk_S4HLHfM1kfdXDfxdu7hhOzHsL2Iib8HiOe8Eng3t7R_A8ZqncFCqwe9j1OZe3Wwjllzt8AdTEPfnzAzqfHhP9sQCU21D/s1600/DSC_8625-M.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;">You could see Tamara’s career and all that she
would accomplish, coming from miles away. After finishing at Princeton, where
she received awards for the best senior thesis in American literature AND
achievement in dance, Tamara spent time with the New York Lawyers for the
Public Interest before simultaneously securing a law degree and Masters of
Public Affairs from some school in Austin, Texas.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;">She then clerked in the Sixth Circuit- Judge
Martha Daughtery told me that <span style="color: #990000;">“<b>Tamara
was a superb law clerk and a joy to have in chambers. We never had a
doubt that she was headed into public-interest law and into lifelong public
service. We knew she would shine at work closest to her heart. And she has.”</b>
</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;">From there she went to the Southern Center for
Human Rights where she just made life miserable for a number of jailers and a
political subdivision or two that doubted that this little pixie of a lawyer
could challenge men and systems that had been in place since… since… well, no
one could remember it being otherwise. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;">The Southern Center’s Kung Li related this- <span style="color: #990000;">“<b>Typical of Tamara was the second
preliminary injunction hearing for the Tutwiler case, when she was 2½ months
pregnant w/ Shoshana and pretending like she wasn’t– we pulled into the federal
district court parking lot, she got out, threw up, dusted herself off, and
carried on.”</b> </span>And carried on she did- through the Tutwiler case, Tamara
represented over 1,000 women prisoners, and Mica Doctoroff, an investigator on
the case, said <span style="color: #990000;">“</span><b><span style="color: #990000;">This was a case that
Tamara and others had fiercely litigated for years - so fiercely and so
successfully, in fact, that the State of Alabama and the Department of
Corrections never quite recovered from what hit them.”</span><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;">Sara Totonchi, the current Executive Director
of the SCHR told me this is what she learned from TSC-<span style="color: #990000;"> “</span><b><span style="color: #990000;">if you’re fighting for something for your client, you might as well get
comfortable because you’re just not leaving the room until opposing counsel
gives in.” </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;">And then, after work promoting reproductive
rights for birth parents and adoptive parents, fortunately for us, and for the
effort to promote equal access to justice for the poor of our community, she
came to AVLF. After being a Staff Attorney and our Managing Attorney, Tamara
quickly became our Deputy Director. …From the day she began we have been a
significantly better organization for her presence and her enormous talent. She
is at once a very broad and very deep thinker about how to address the unmet
civil legal needs of the poor, and unusually for a big picture person she is
also extremely detail oriented. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;">Tamara is the perfect example of what can be
accomplished when no one is invested in who gets the credit. She has so often
been a force for positive change for which there has been no publicity. Among
the most meaningful law-related endeavors: without fanfare, Tamara provided the
impetus for the establishment of the Housing Advocacy Resource Center and the
Fulton County Courthouse’s Self-Help Center. And, in recognition for her
insistence on helping the justice system to evolve, she made many fans of those
with whom she worked. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;">State Court Administrator/Chief Clerk Cicely
Barber related this to me: “I can always count on Tamara to tell me the truth
and be helpful. I am very grateful for her wisdom, guidance, and most
importantly her friendship.”<span style="color: #1f497d;"> </span>Judge Louis
Levenson told me this about Tamara: “She has been an involved member of the
Court family for years and always with a constant interest in contributing
ideas for improving the quality of the justice and fairness that is delivered
to all who we serve. She is a resource that <u>everyone </u>resects for her
knowledge of the law and for her experience about the legal procedures utilized
in the Court.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;">Absent publicity for her work, she worked with
Michael Lucas and his team to revise the 40 year old Saturday Lawyer program,
making it again the Foundation’s and the community’s primary vehicle for the
delivery of housing, consumer and wage claim-related pro bono legal service.
She has interacted extensively with law students and interns, working last
Legislative session with Emory students of Frank Alexander seeking to extend
the Protecting Tenants in Foreclosure Act. Tamara is coordinating the effort to
promote foreclosure Mediation in the federal court; and she is leading the
Foundation’s Judicial Bypass work, even as she teams with the AVLF Housing and
Consumer Law team to address issues of economic integrity and with the AVLF DV
Project team to address equally critical matters of violence prevention. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;">On top of all of this, she continues to
demonstrate - in the trenches - the impressive advocacy and the compassion for
people on which she has built her career, finding time to remain “hands on”
with eviction and housing condition cases, to directly advise clients, and to
give public “know your rights” presentations to communities in need…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;"> And on
it goes, competently, creatively- unrelentingly- and without much notice. I am
delighted that the EPIC Committee was inspired by Tamara’s selfless approach,
and although praise for the excellence of the body of Tamara’s work is barely
sung, and although she would not have us broadcast, it merits a full chorus, so
I am proud to ask TSC to come forward to accept the<span style="color: #990000;"><b> EPIC’s 2013 Unsung Devotion to Those Most in Need award.</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">AVLF congratulates Tamara and her fellow award recipients, and
thanks the Emory University School of Law Public Interest Committee for an
extraordinary celebration of the best of the community’s pro bono leaders.</span></span></h4>
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<i><span style="font-weight: normal;">The next newsletter will include the full text of Tamara’s
inspirational comments that evening</span>.</i></h3>
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Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894871856862658967.post-16034949530638278262013-02-12T13:53:00.000-08:002013-02-12T13:54:44.858-08:00Congress’s Unfinished Business: The Violence Against Women Act <br />
<h2>
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Lindsey Siegel, Staff Attorney, Skadden Fellow <span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>[Previous Publication from the Atlanta Journal Constitution]</i></span></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
They are smothered with pillows and held hostage in their houses. They have their teeth kicked out. They are poisoned and shot at in front of their kids. They are kicked in the stomach while pregnant. Am I describing atrocities committed against women and children in foreign countries at war? No, these are Georgia domestic violence cases with which I have worked as a lawyer in the past year alone. With crimes like these taking place within our state, it is not surprising that Georgia ranks 10th in the nation for its rate of men killing women. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgivvhx7WfAljcbNQBommH7lAoaM_s6oZRMTHNxrVNS8Ozfv_EJva_TjuvkMBEAMjVHo704PkA04RQuvZ_G76afqkB9nBCifjbcoNWw8M8D-E1egs4GRSTOFnDFr7FgMYURi4pXICsO9F6R/s1600/DSC0085-e1358197766933.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgivvhx7WfAljcbNQBommH7lAoaM_s6oZRMTHNxrVNS8Ozfv_EJva_TjuvkMBEAMjVHo704PkA04RQuvZ_G76afqkB9nBCifjbcoNWw8M8D-E1egs4GRSTOFnDFr7FgMYURi4pXICsO9F6R/s1600/DSC0085-e1358197766933.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">Lindsey Siegel, Staff Atorney, Skadden Fellow</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> On February 12th, the
Senate passed VAWA in a bipartisan 78-22 vote (62 of those voting “yes” were
co-sponsors). The majority of domestic violence advocates support this
version of the bill, which increases funding to programs and expands
protections to LGBT and Native American victims, among others. The fight
continues, though, with the bill heading to the House. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> I have seen firsthand the impact that the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has on our ability to fight these abuses in Georgia. With robust bipartisan support, Congress passed and twice reauthorized this key piece of legislation. Unfortunately, Congress failed to agree on a new, updated version of VAWA before the end of the 112th session. While its current protections do not expire, Congress must prioritize VAWA’s passage in the coming weeks to expand assistance to all—including Tribal, immigrant, and LGBTQ—victims of domestic violence. Sarah Buel noted in her article It’s Time to Pass the Violence Against Women Act, which appeared in the Arizona Republic on December 13, 2012, that there are at least five good reasons why Congress should immediately reauthorize VAWA and provide appropriate funding; and the realities in Georgia bear this out. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><b><span style="color: #990000;"> First, the statistics are staggering:</span><span style="color: #134f5c;"> </span></b>The Dept. of Justice reports that about four American women are murdered each day by a current or former partner—and about 100 of those happen here in Georgia every year. If foreign terrorists were killing four Americans a day, how would we react? According to the American Medical Association, American women are in more danger in their homes than on the street – a situation VAWA can help change. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdu-3is-umYpYuyskQ4CMqGC94D_g1LgxKwhO2cussroDeuncItugDgq-ETpLUUIY1LvJX28peTRmunmofcKLXp_N2P3g-fIVxXKBYGyYsCz6eXCvSCLIpr2Te1wLq0KxaE2_HPxUKMJyo/s1600/GAGives.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdu-3is-umYpYuyskQ4CMqGC94D_g1LgxKwhO2cussroDeuncItugDgq-ETpLUUIY1LvJX28peTRmunmofcKLXp_N2P3g-fIVxXKBYGyYsCz6eXCvSCLIpr2Te1wLq0KxaE2_HPxUKMJyo/s1600/GAGives.png" height="205" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #990000;">Second, VAWA’s reforms are working:</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #990000;"> </span>Sexual and domestic violence assaults are down across the nation. VAWA has augmented judicial and law enforcement tools, improved housing and economic security for victims, and enhanced the healthcare system’s response. The services provided by VAWA are the difference between life and death for many victims of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <b><span style="color: #990000;">Third, VAWA is a cost-effective mechanism to prevent and address crime in our communities: </span></b>Violence against women is expensive—medical care, lost work productivity, and lost wages constitute over $5.8 billion per year. It is estimated, however, that during its first six years alone, VAWA saved about $14.8 billion in prevented net social costs. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Fourth, VAWA keeps our children safer by helping the non-violent parent flee and ensuring that children grow up in a safe environment.</b> </span>As many as 15.5 million children witness abuse in their homes each year. These children may learn that it is okay to be abusive to get what you want and thus have a higher likelihood of later involvement in the courts. VAWA can change this.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZdyQGMl64kqFAY0RvPCIrKm6rerR5Q7c6sJXFGT9JbdF5JuzsMdCsevqmEgD5bfl3rJdExQ6RGnWdmEPARV_9J7kq_DH8tVjsayCPoI_kkluW36p3u_8Q-L9hsuqfBfu5oLSreeQA94sC/s1600/GAGives4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZdyQGMl64kqFAY0RvPCIrKm6rerR5Q7c6sJXFGT9JbdF5JuzsMdCsevqmEgD5bfl3rJdExQ6RGnWdmEPARV_9J7kq_DH8tVjsayCPoI_kkluW36p3u_8Q-L9hsuqfBfu5oLSreeQA94sC/s1600/GAGives4.png" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">Fifth, VAWA has been a fundamental part of this nation’s public safety strategy since 1994, creating many new law enforcement and community programs designed to protect victims and get violent criminals off the street.</span> </b>Through VAWA, Georgia receives funding to provide services to victims and their children, train and staff law enforcement, and more. Our homeland security plan must include protection from terrorists inside the home as well as from strangers and political terrorists. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Congress should immediately reauthorize and fully fund the Violence Against Women Act.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><b>Looking to make a difference? Contact your representative and tell her/him to support the Senate version of the bill.
</b></span>Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15303181836874780409noreply@blogger.com0