The Reward Of Serving As A Saturday Lawyer Through AVLF

By: Jeffrey Blake, Partner, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP

My practice as an intellectual property attorney provides the opportunity to work on a variety of legal matters, but few opportunities are as rewarding as working in the Saturday Lawyer Program sponsored by the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation (AVLF). Atlanta’s legal community has a rich tradition of participation in pro bono matters, and AVLF is at the center of that tradition. The AVLF Saturday staff -- Michael Lucas, Tamara Caldas, Dionne Hines Morse, Tamara McClendon-Coleman, and JoQuita Etchison – all devote countless hours to AVLF’s various pro bono projects and helping those in need.

One of the AVLF’s most successful projects is the Saturday Lawyer Program, which is jointly sponsored by the Atlanta Legal Aid Society. I recently served as a volunteer Saturday Lawyer for a second time, and I’m a better lawyer for the experience. The AVLF staff members do a great job establishing a relationship with new clients and pre-screening them to determine the nature of their legal problems. Volunteer attorneys arrive on Saturday morning to a helpful training session and a chance to review the file of information gathered by the AVLF staff during pre-screening. Each volunteer attorney then meets with one or two clients with legal issues ranging from security deposit disputes to unpaid wages to illegal evictions. . These meetings offer clients a chance to tell their story, which often is the thing clients need most, and allow the volunteer attorney to explain the available legal options and potential next steps in enforcing the clients’ legal rights.

Once the legal options are discussed, a volunteer attorney determines if it makes sense for him or her to continue working with a client to pursue a matter on a pro bono basis. AVLF does not push volunteer attorneys to take the cases beyond their Saturday commitment, but most attorneys establish a rapport with a client that makes them want to take the case.

On the Saturday I volunteered, I was assigned to meet with Mr. C about his dispute with his landlord over the condition of his leased apartment. Mr. C and a roommate leased a two-bedroom apartment only to find the apartment in disrepair from the time they moved in and through the lease. Mr. C and his roommate reported numerous problems to the landlord, including backups in the sewage, excessive mold in the apartment, and non-functioning heating and air conditioning units. The landlord made very little effort to fix these problems, and Mr. C was forced to live in substandard conditions for much of the term of the lease. To make matters worse, Mr. C’s roommate moved out of the apartment during the middle of the lease.

Mr. C and the landlord became involved in a dispute over the condition of the property and the payment of the rent for the remainder of the lease. Mr. C located a new place to live and sought to terminate the existing lease. The landlord sought all of the remaining rent from Mr. C as a joint and severally liable tenant. Eventually, the landlord started eviction proceedings.

Mr. C, who is indigent, sought help from AVLF and the Saturday Lawyer Program. He was quite upset by the situation, but the AVLF staff reassured him that we would protect his legal rights. AVLF helped Mr. C collect the proper documents relating to his lease, and, after meeting with him on Saturday, I agreed to represent him in the eviction proceedings with his landlord. We were able to get the case into the Fulton County court’s mediation program, and, as a result of the mediation, the landlord agreed to let Mr. C out of his lease without any further rent payments. Mr. C was extremely happy with the outcome, and I was extremely happy to help someone who couldn’t otherwise afford a lawyer.

All of this was made possible by the Saturday Lawyer Program and the great staff at AVLF. The program is well-run and has any number of resources to help resolve the legal issues that arise. It helps build your client relationship skills and hone your skills at uncovering facts that will support your client’s ability to improve his/her position. Further, many cases offer the opportunity for attorneys to gain additional experience in a courtroom or in mediation. And, above all, my experience put a smile on both my client’s face and mine.

Everyone should take the opportunity to get involved in the Saturday Lawyer Program!

To learn more about the Saturday Lawyer Program, or to discuss volunteer opportunities, please contact Dionne Hines Morse at dmorse@avlf.org.

The Opportunity to be an Advocate and Counselor through the Saturday Lawyer Program

by: Jonathan D. Olinger, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP

I have always known that I wanted my legal career to include a robust pro bono practice. I knew that it would provide me with exposure to a variety of legal issues and opportunities that I would not have if I focused only on my intellectual property practice. Further, I view pro bono work as an opportunity to gain quality advocacy experience at a young age.

My firm, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP, has maintained a long-standing relationship with the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation (AVLF) and its Saturday Lawyer Program. My colleagues had nothing but positive things to say about the program and told me that it would be a great way to get the pro bono work that I have been looking for.

Prior to my scheduled Saturday, Michael Lucas, an attorney at AVLF, provided me with a brief summary of the Saturday Lawyer Program and a handbook describing the primary types of disputes handled by the program. These resources were a great help, because I was initially apprehensive about advocating for a client in an area of law in which I have little or no experience. The materials were thorough and straightforward, and provided me with a great wealth of information about the legal issues I would be asked to handle.

When I arrived, I was informed that I would be interviewing, and possibly representing, a couple that had a landlord/tenant dispute. I read over the file and it immediately became apparent that these individuals were in need of legal representation. Upon moving into their rental home, my clients immediately noticed that the house they were renting was in need of several repairs, including substantial repairs to the home’s plumbing system. The plumbing problems were so bad that my clients were unable to wash their clothes or use the home’s only bathroom.

I anticipated that my primary task in working with them would be to provide them with information about their right to demand immediate repairs, their ability to reduce their rental payments to compensate for any repairs they made themselves, and the possibility of asserting a defense of constructive eviction should they choose to vacate the home. I was also prepared to volunteer to be an advocate for them and to negotiate a mutually agreeable outcome with their landlord.

Once the interview began, however, I realized that my role that day and throughout my representation of these clients would be far more focused on counseling than advocacy. My clients felt that they had been wronged. They strongly believed that all of the repairs that they requested were necessary repairs and that they had been reasonable in all of their requests. In their mind, all that they were asking for was a home that was secure and safe, but their landlord had been unresponsive. I could tell that as much as they needed someone to advise them of their legal rights, they also just needed someone to listen to their story, understand their plight, and acknowledge that they had been treated unfairly. The majority of our session was spent with me listening to them recount their story and express their frustrations.

When they had finished explaining their situation, I felt that the first thing that I had to say to them was “I’m sorry that you have been treated this way.” Even though I was not their landlord or any other person who had been involved in this dispute, I could instantly see that a simple gesture that acknowledged their feelings helped them feel vindicated and started the process of allowing them to move forward. Thanks to the resources provided to me prior to that Saturday and the fantastic assistance of the AVLF staff on-hand that day, I felt well-equipped to then counsel my clients on the legal issues presented and explain to them the next steps. Whether or not the law was going to ultimately be in their favor, I could sense that having someone who was going to listen to their positions and advocate for them was a huge relief. Since that time, I have had the opportunity to work with my clients and the landlord to find an amicable resolution and lay this matter to rest.

As a young lawyer working at a large firm, the opportunities for one-on-one client counseling can be limited. The AVLF Saturday Lawyer Program provided me with an excellent opportunity to have one-on-one counseling experience with clients who were in an emotionally vulnerable place and had limited experience with the law. While I was expecting to refine my advocacy skills through the experience, it was a welcome surprise to be able to also exercise my counseling skills as well.

AVLF’s Saturday Lawyer program is such a well-organized and rewarding program, and I highly recommend it.


To learn more about the Saturday Lawyer Program, or to discuss volunteer opportunities, please contact Dionne Hines Morse at dmorse@avlf.org.