View Jessica's Artwork Below:
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
The Domestic Violence Project: An intersection of Art and Work
View Jessica's Artwork Below:
Celebrating Service: Pro Bono Awards
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
A Lesson from My First Year of Practice: A dishonest client is not necessarily an undeserving client
A GAWL FOUNDATION GRANT SPREADS GOOD NEWS
- Organizations that provide free legal services to disadvantaged women and girls;
- Organizations that provide free services to disadvantaged women and girls in the legal system; and
- Organizations that provide free services to disadvantaged women and girls.
AVLF Domestic Violence Project – First Impressions of Our Newest Volunteers
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Fighting Fire in the Community
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Helping Hand for a Grateful Client By Matthew J. Simmons, Commercial Litigation Associate, Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers, from the Daily Report, July 5, 2012
Judge Pitch in to Save Guardian Ad Litem Program By Meredith Hobbs, the Fulton County Daily Report, June 22, 2012
For want of $25,000, a popular pro bono program that protects low-income children in cont-ested custody cases was almost lost.
dians ad litem to the court, they stepped up and made personal donations to keep it
alive.
covered part of the salaries of the lawyer, Liz Whipple, and paralegal, Jessica Caldas,
who coordinate the program. Whipple and Caldas also run AVLF's domestic violence program.
volunteer guardians ad litem to discern what's best for the children in highly
disputed custody cases, when a judge needs more insight into what's going on
and the parents can't afford to pay a lawyer.
ndation for the best interests of the children."
volunteer lawyers put in 484 hours - an average of 27 hours per case. So far this year, AVLF has taken on 19 custody cases, representing 29 children.
He said this was the first time its grant budget had been cut in its more than 20 years of existence.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Lawyers as Problem-Solvers
Michael Lucas |
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
First Person: Helping victims of domestic violence find a way out of their problems is energizing
*Originally published in the Fulton County Daily Report, May 3, 2012
I attended my first temporary protective order hearings last June with no idea what to expect, or what would soon be expected of me.
As a rising third-year law student interested in family law and public-interest work, I'd taken an internship with Legal Aid of Cobb County for the summer. This branch of Atlanta Legal Aid runs a thriving Family Violence Project through which volunteer and staff attorneys represent clients in the rapid-paced process of obtaining a TPO.
To my delight, I fell in love with the work and remained in Cobb County part-time through the first half of my third year at Emory University School of Law.
For my final semester, I moved to a field placement with the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation's Domestic Violence Project, which assists victims of intimate partner violence and stalking in Fulton County's TPO Court. As in Cobb County, our clients typically seek an initial ex parte order preventing the respondent from contacting the petitioner for 30 days. We then prepare for a more formal hearing, in which the order may be extended to 12 months and other provisions, such as use of a home or child support, may be granted.
The details of my experiences in Cobb and Fulton counties differ somewhat, but the realities of representing victims of domestic violence are the same. I've counseled men as well as women and victims of violence in gay and lesbian relationships.
The impact of a down economy has been staggering. I've met more than one person who remained in an abusive situation with a platonic roommate because they couldn't afford to move. Luckily, under Georgia law a shared residence establishes a family relationship for TPO purposes. For each such unusual case, there are countless women in violent holding patterns with their partners-women for whom leaving could mean homelessness and the fear of losing their children. In these cases, our counseling goes beyond how to obtain a TPO, into trying to change situations with a thousand moving parts, all broken.
It's tempting to view a complex life from the outside and presume I know how to fix it. Statistics bear out that on average, a woman will attempt to leave an abusive relationship seven times before she cuts it off for good. I've had clients assist me in preparations for their hearing, gathering evidence and witnesses, and then not showing up for court. Many clients have supportive families and friends willing to assist in a crisis; many still do not, and are left with hard choices to make.
My friends and classmates often remark on how depressing my job seems, and truly, it's hard to overstate the gravity of helping someone through the turning point a TPO often represents.
My clients can be inspiring, frustrating and educational, often in the same conversation. But I am energized by the conversations in which I can point someone to the right resources, help her see a way out of what seems an insurmountable problem, and see her believe that she deserves a way out. I didn't know what I was getting into when I began taking TPO cases, but I'm so glad I did.
Teaming Up for the Greater Good
Undoubtedly, providing legal assistance to those who cannot afford it is one of the
highest callings of our profession. Many law firms, with immense resources and talent
on hand, have chosen to answer this calling by developing and maintaining some type of
pro bono program. The success of these programs within a culture that is typically
structured around “the billable hour” depends entirely on the level of commitment that
lawyers at all levels of the firm are willing to invest.
Typically, meaningful participation in pro bono work is highest among young
associates, eager to get their feet wet and looking to prove themselves. However,
associates alone should not be left to carry the torch. The true value that a robust pro
bono program can provide to a firm, and the corresponding benefit to the communities
that are served through such a program, cannot be realized without significant
participation at the partner level as well.
A partner is doing a disservice to the client and the legal profession if he just tells
an associate to “handle” the problem. Any pro bono case the firm agrees to take on
deserves to be treated as seriously as the biggest case in the firm or the firm should not
accept it. A firm should recognize that pro bono work provides a unique opportunity that
gives seasoned partners and new associates a chance to work together as a team towards a
rewarding goal.
I recently worked on a pro bono matter that involved helping a family trapped in
an apartment with deplorable living conditions that posed significant health and safety
risks to the entire family, including the client’s four-year old granddaughter.
Immediately after accepting the case, the newly assembled team (which included
a first-year associate, the firm’s investigator, members of the non-profit organization, the
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, who had referred the case to the firm, and
myself) agreed to roll up our sleeves and get to work at the site.
We headed out to the apartment to meet the client and get a first-hand perspective
of the problems that the family was facing. We went to work documenting all the
deficiencies that plagued the unit, which included, among other things, widespread mold,
persistent insect infestation, and gaping structural damage. Our presence did not go
unnoticed. The onsite manager for the virtually abandoned complex saw us there and
within hours slipped a note under the client’s door claiming that management wanted to
fix many of the defects.
Having personally witnessed the woefully inadequate results of any prior attempts
management had made to rectify the issues, we immediately responded that we believed
the hazardous conditions were beyond repair. By the time we had returned to the office
that afternoon, the case was off the ground and running.
In the days that followed, we tackled the case as a team, relying on the individual
strengths that are present at both the partner and associate level in order to provide the
best representation to the client. In cases like this, partners can use the benefit of their
experience to develop an overall strategic approach to obtain the desired result for the
client as quickly and efficiently as possible. Meanwhile, associates can work on
managing the influx of daily issues to improve their client counseling and problem
solving skills.
Properly handling pro bono cases frequently requires constant communication
between the team members because of the nature of the situation many of these clients
face. Some live in dangerous living conditions, posing an immediate threat to their health
and safety.
In our case, we faced obstacles which ranged from handling management’s failure
to respond to an emergency flooding of sewage water draining into the unit to curing a
cashier’s check that bounced. Straight forward communication at the partner level was
able to solve all of the problems the team encountered.
As a result of our joint focused efforts, within a few weeks, we successfully
obtained a lease rescission and a cash settlement that allowed our client to move her
family to a new apartment that was safe, quiet and clean. After hearing she was safely
settled in her new place, we immediately sent a personal housewarming gift to our client
wishing her family the best as they move forward.
Throughout the case, the most valuable lesson I impressed upon our team was the
importance of treating the pro bono client with the same respect and dignity as any of the
firm’s other clients. We received a phone call from our client the next day. With a sense
of upbeat confidence and renewed hope echoing through her voice, she expressed her
gratitude to the team.
Pro bono cases present a valuable opportunity for partners to team up with
associates and get to know them better. At the end of the day, each will have pride in
what they both accomplish for the greater good. Law firms should encourage partners to
take the time to instill a deep commitment to pro bono work in the fresh minds of its
young associates who are poised to carry the success of the firm into the future.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Disabled man's case gritty, ongoing
For the second time this week, Mr. Franklin is trapped outside in the rain. Like last time, his clothes are soaked and his wheelchair is pooling water in places water should not be pooled. Several hours have passed, and during that time Mr. Franklin (not his real name) has urinated on himself. What separates Mr. Franklin from the warm confines of his apartment is a roughly 16-inch-tall slab of concrete encircling the building. Therefore, unless another tenant from the complex sees him and offers to physically lift him up, Mr. Franklin is subjected to the elements. Thankfully it’s been a mild winter.
I first met Mr. Franklin at the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyer Foundation’s Saturday Lawyers Program. The Saturday Lawyer Program pairs pro bono attorneys with low-income clients who require assistance in the areas of consumer debt, landlord-tenant disputes, and unpaid wage claims. While my own practice focuses primarily on intellectual property and entertainment law, the Saturday Lawyers Program is where I perform my pro bono work.
That day, Mr. Franklin arrived in his wheelchair anxious to tell his story (fortunately the offices where the Saturday Lawyer Program is held are fully wheelchair accessible). I learned that before signing the lease, Mr. Franklin had asked the apartment management for a wheelchair-accessible unit, as well as to see the unit he would be leasing. They vaguely suggested he would have a wheelchair-accessible unit, but refused to show him the unit they had selected for him. Of course, once they placed him in a non-wheelchair-accessible unit, they promptly began ignoring his pleas for help.
Both as a human being and attorney, Mr. Franklin’s story affected me. I tried to help Mr. Franklin as best I could. I wrote letters on his behalf. I called once a day for a week. I was told that if Mr. Franklin wanted a ramp built, he would have to pay for it himself. And, because the building was certified for occupancy before 1991, Mr. Franklin’s options might be more limited. Of course, the advice “just move” doesn’t apply much to someone who can’t bear that additional expense. Advocating on behalf of Mr. Franklin is an ongoing process, although I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel (or ramp, as it were).
My experience with Mr. Franklin and other clients I’ve represented through my association with the Saturday Lawyer Program, has taught me that true pro bono work is more than just an afternoon of volunteering. Pro bono work can be messy, frustrating, and—in some (hopefully rare) cases—time consuming. However, those same characteristics are also part of what makes pro bono work the most rewarding kind of law practice there is. I love my intellectual property and entertainment law practice. But working with indigent clients facing very real problems has provided me with perspective. And that perspective ultimately makes me a better, more compassionate lawyer to all of my clients.
Monday, February 6, 2012
AVLF Faces Programmatic Changes in 2012
By: Tamara Serwer Caldas, Deputy Director, AVLF
Dear Friends of the Foundation,
In this first newsletter of 2012, we write both to highlight accomplishments from the year that has just ended, and to tell you about some significant changes we are experiencing as an organization as we begin the new year.
In 2011, AVLF’s Domestic Violence Project together with the Partnership Against Domestic Violence provided legal support to 2,452 survivors of intimate partner violence. AVLF trained 81 lawyers and other legal professionals to represent and advocate for survivors of domestic violence and provided full legal representation to 186 clients. Our Saturday Lawyer Program provided legal assistance to about 40% more clients in 2011 than in 2010, and increased by 50% the number of volunteers participating in the program. During the past three years, AVLF volunteers have secured almost a million dollars in judgments and settlements for clients in housing, consumer, wage and domestic violence cases. The organization’s Dollars for Judgments Program, an innovative project aimed at collecting difficult-to-collect judgments for clients of our other programs, has referred $260,000 worth of debt to experienced creditor attorneys since the program was initiated in September 2010. AVLF’s Housing Advocacy and Resource Center, a housing advice clinic located in the Self Help Center of the State Court of Fulton County assisted over 500 tenants since it opened in May 2011. More than 300 clients received bankruptcy referrals to pro bono attorneys – the highest number in a decade. Our Wills & Advance Directives Program expanded to serve more emergency personnel than ever before, and the Probate Information Center continues to be a model of successful court-based legal assistance.
In many important ways, 2011 saw meaningful improvements and significant increases in all of the services AVLF provides to our client and volunteer communities, and for that we are most proud. Coupled with these accomplishments, we enjoyed our most successful Winetasting fundraiser in the event’s history! It was an extraordinary year.
We improved our services in 2011 despite a substantial decline in financial resources that began shortly after the recession in 2008 and from which it has been very difficult for AVLF, like most non-profits in Atlanta, to recover fully despite the extraordinary generosity of law firms and individual contributors. Consequently, we begin 2012 having made some very difficult staffing and programmatic changes driven by our desire to remain fully focused on our core programs and organizational mission. Our long-term viability and continued effectiveness for our clients are, as always, our primary concerns.
The most substantial change in 2012 is the termination of the One Child One Lawyer Program (OCOL) at AVLF effective February 1, 2012. This decision was necessitated by budget considerations, and we are very sorry to lose such an important program. The good news is that the project’s director, Lila Newberry Bradley, will continue to represent the children that were served by OCOL. She will be joining the staff of the Office of the Child Advocate in the Juvenile Court of Fulton County, where she will continue the good work of this program.
The One Child One Lawyer Program began at AVLF in 2005, and since that time Lila has recruited and trained a very eager and effective group of volunteers to represent the best interests of abused and neglected children in legal proceedings in the Fulton County Juvenile Court. Since 2008, that representation has focused on children whose parents were participating in the Family Drug Court of Fulton County’s Juvenile Court, where the primary issue is the parents’ drug addiction and its impact on their ability to take care of their children. We are delighted that Lila will be in a position to serve the same children she has served for the past seven years, but are very sorry she will not be doing so with AVLF, and that there will no longer be an opportunity to volunteer for this program. Pro bono attorneys with existing cases will of course continue to be supported through the duration of their representation.
Responsibility for AVLF’s Guardian ad Litem program will shift to the director of AVLF’s Safe Families Office, Elizabeth Whipple, who will be assisted by program coordinator, Jessica Caldas, but otherwise there are no changes in the operation of this program.
Finally, AVLF’s very successful Wills & Advance Directives Program has been suspended as we retool our office with fewer staff. We will continue our Wills for Emergency Personnel Program, through which we partner with Troutman Sanders and others to assist local fire and police departments with wills and advance directives, but we will not be accepting new requests for wills from other members of the community until further notice. We will also not train or recruit volunteers for this program until we are able to support this program in its fuller form.
The balance of the Foundation’s pro bono programs remain intact, as does our commitment to serving the civil legal needs of Atlanta’s low-income families. We continue to seek ways to improve the quality and reach of our services to the most vulnerable in our community as we strive for the day that all people have access to civil legal assistance when their most basic legal needs are at stake. We have been able to sustain the majority of our work during difficult times because of your support, and we will only be able to continue because you choose to stand by us with your financial and volunteer contributions.
Please consider making a donation today so that 2012 can be a year in which we can build and strengthen AVLF’s programs instead of being forced to consider ways to cut back further in the year to come.
As always, we appreciate your continued support!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Thank You for a Terrfic Year!
Amazingly, we are but days from the end of the year. It has been a very difficult year for so many organizations that serve those in need of free civil legal services, and this note could speak to how the poor and working poor of our community- and those that seek to promote equal access to justice for them- continue to struggle. And the sadness and frustration of so many is an ongoing story that should be told, and in bleak, real terms.
But forgive me, fellow lawyers, if in the middle of the pain and strain I instead recount how well the pro bono programs of AVLF continue to serve those desperate for your and our help. I write of the success, rather than of the distress, because no matter the difficulty the AVLF staff and the Atlanta legal community have not backed down or looked away, so I am able to write from pride and from hope.
Although our funding from traditional grant sources has all but disappeared, we have managed to sustain and in some instances even improved every pro bono program. The Saturday Lawyer Program is revitalized, and in 2011 an average of 240 volunteer attorneys have met with and served an average of 320 clients with an array of housing, consumer and other civil legal concerns. Supporting the Saturday Program, in 2011 the new Dollars for Judgments Program, through which State Bar of Georgia Creditor's Rights Section members collect judgments secured by AVLF clients or their volunteer attorneys, became a reality: we believe that this is the first such project in the country. AVLF's Eviction Defense Program continued to borrow on the talents of volunteer attorneys primarily from King & Spalding, Troutman Sanders, Seyfarth Shaw and Carlton Fields to represent individuals in imminent danger of losing their homes. The value of this program becomes more evident every year, as more Fulton County residents now rent their homes than own them, and as foreclosures continue to overwhelm home owners and their frequently unsuspecting tenants.
In a development that had an impact in 2011 and holds even more promise in 2012 and beyond, the State Court of Fulton County opened a courthouse-based Self-Help Center that provides information to courthouse visitors about the judicial process: importantly, an AVLF attorney staffs that office 4 days a week to provide specific information and direction to tenants involved in landlord-tenant conflict. In the future, and especially when the State bar of Georgia passes Model Rule 6.5, we expect to have a volunteer attorney available to answer questions from Courthouse visitors every hour that the building is open.
With special help in 2011 from Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, Sutherland, DLA Piper and Arnall Golden Gregory, the Domestic Violence Project's Safe Families Officeagain saw over 2100 visitors. Through this Office, dozens of volunteer lawyers, paralegals and other supporters helped hundreds of victims of intimate partner violence secure Protective Orders, collect lost wages and medical costs and otherwise secure rulings to the benefit of the victims and their children. AVLF's Children Law Programs continued their excellent work in the Fulton County Juvenile Court and Fulton's Superior Court, promoting the best interests of children whose parents are in drug treatment programs and caught in custody disputes respectively. Members of the Estate Planning & Probate Section of the Atlanta Bar Association again staffed The Probate Information Center, giving free legal advice to individuals who have questions about the legal affairs of recently departed family members. AVLF's Wills Program trained lawyers to draft wills and advanced directives, and those volunteers served dozens of seniors and emergency services personnel.
Lawyers in Atlanta served and supported AVLF in other ways as well. Our signature fundraising event, the AVLF Winetasting, hosted in 2011 by King & Spalding at the firm's Atlanta office, set a fundraising record for the Foundation by raising over $400,000. Over 500 individuals and nearly seventy law firms, accounting firms and related entities made generous donations to the this 20th annual event, which this year also featured an exciting Silent Auction. Please mark November 1, 2012 on your calendar now for the 21st Annual Winetasting!
Perhaps the most significant evolution in the manner in which AVLF interacts with our lawyer constituency was the establishment of a Junior Board, headed by Brian Smith of Arnall Golden Gregory. This 16 member Board offered insight and energy to our volunteer work and fundraising in 2011, and promises to do much more of the same in 2012, tailoring its pro bono contributions to take real ownership of specific substantive issues.
We were significantly more effective in 2011 in reaching our friends in the Atlanta legal community with news, requests for volunteer assistance, requests for money and general information about the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers foundation. Our database was expanded to add the names of over 13,000 lawyers living in metropolitan Atlanta, and our monthly Newsletter to that group was instrumental in sharing information and securing legal help for our clients. We were active on Facebook, produced a video about the work of the Foundation and its volunteers, shared a Dine-Out for AVLF at La Tavola for 100 guests and improved our web site so that anyone interested in working with AVLF, or being represented by it, can access critical information about our pro bono programs.
But back to the malaise that engulfs us. There is uncertainty everywhere. Federal and local governments are beset by dysfunction. The economy is moribund. The Braves lost an insurmountable lead. Yet AVLF stayed the course, demonstrating commitment and responsive, effective public interest leadership to assure quality volunteer counsel for those with no other access to free lawyers when facing dire civil legal problems. For that, we thank our volunteers, our friends and our funders and ask you to stand with us again in 2012 as well. Best wishes to all through the holidays and the new year!
Warm regards,
Marty Ellin, Executive Director
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation
***We've almost reached our end-of-the-year- goal of $5,000. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to AVLF's Domestic Violence Project by midnight on December 31st by clicking here. Any amount helps!!!