The Better Angels of Our Nature

By: Michael Lucas, Staff Attorney, AVLF

Earlier this month, the East Point Housing Authority’s poor handling of the opening of their waiting list for subsidized housing vouchers attracted national media attention and much criticism. Estimates were that a crowd of 30,000 turned out, three times what the agency had originally anticipated. It has been reported that some sixty people required medical attention and twenty were transported to the hospital. 13,000 applications were handed out, but the housing agency director stressed that none of her agency's 455 housing aid vouchers was even available at that time.

While there is plenty to say about how the waiting list was handled, it is the desperation that this unfortunate East Point event laid bare which should concern us all. In that crowd—and across our city—there is palpable desperation. According to the most recent data, the unemployment rate in Fulton County is 10.8 percent. The national average is 9.5 percent. There were 13,130 foreclosure notices published in the 13-county Atlanta-metro region in August; skyrocketing 59 percent from July. The Fulton County eviction court is overflowing; with hundreds of evictions on the calendar every Tuesday and Thursday. And that is just Fulton County.

For many, these are desperate times. And like the disgraceful profiteering that sometimes occurs after a natural disaster, there are those who seek to take advantage of others’ desperation. Through AVLF’s various programs, we see this first-hand. We are seeing a rise in employers refusing to pay already-struggling employees their due wages, knowing that they will not risk quitting in this job market. We are seeing more slumlords forcing tenants to live under intolerable conditions, knowing they do not have the resources to leave or the hope of finding and affording another place to raise their children. The results include the recent rash of untreated bed-bug and other infestations, some causing the hospitalization of children, and most ruining of our client’s already limited possessions. Lawsuits by debt collectors are on the rise, including those trying to collect on debts that are beyond the statute of limitations, or from seniors living only on social security—income which cannot legally be garnished. Predictably, calls seeking bankruptcy assistance are up as well. In all of these examples, the perpetrators appear more brazen, the victims more vulnerable.

While my position does expose me to the human toll of these desperate times, it also allows me to witness the better angels of our nature. Every Saturday, lawyers volunteer to come downtown to help low-income clients through our Saturday Lawyer Program, assisting with unpaid wage claims, landlord tenant disputes, and aggressive debt collection. Every Tuesday and Thursday, volunteer lawyers from Troutman Sanders and King & Spalding represent tenants in the Fulton County dispossessory court. Every week, volunteer lawyers represent victims of domestic violence seeking protective orders through our Safe Families office at the Fulton County courthouse. Just when the injustices begin to chip away at the faith necessary to continue this work, the generosity and compassion of these volunteers restore hope—not just to the clients who are so grateful for the respect they are shown and the assistance they are given, but also to the staff at AVLF whose privilege it is to do this work.

One particular day comes to mind. John, a client I met at the Saturday Lawyer Program, had worked for and been a tenant of what appeared to be, for all intents and purposes, a true East Point slumlord. Desperate for affordable housing for his girlfriend and young infant child, John felt compelled to work for this landlord in exchange for illegally low wages and very low rent—in a building that should be condemned. After John completed a week’s worth of painting at one of the landlord’s houses, the landlord picked up John, told him he was taking him to get dinner, and dropped him off on the other side of town—with $20 for his troubles. What John did not know is that the landlord had also already dropped his girlfriend and infant child off at a shelter and illegally evicted the family. All of John’s family’s possessions were locked inside and inaccessible.

John’s ordeal illustrates this desperation and advantage-taking all too well. But all was not lost. As a result the tireless work of AVLF volunteer Michelle Sirwen, an associate with McKenna Long & Aldridge, John obtained a judgment awarding him the value of all his lost property, damages as a result of what he was put through, the costs of all the efforts made to recover what little was left, back pay, punitive damages for the landlord’s wanton and willful conduct, attorneys fees, and a writ of immediate possession to enter three premises where his belongings were reportedly being stored. Earlier this month, John had the protection of that court order and two Fulton County sheriffs, the use of a U-Haul truck provided by AVLF and McKenna Long & Aldridge, the assistance of a professional locksmith, and two AVLF attorneys—one being yours truly—who were putting their law degrees to use as professional movers that day—all to help John recover what was left of his belongings and make an accounting of what was lost.

Though it turned out to be an emotional (some belongings, while still there, were ruined) and at times a very tense day (it included a confrontation with the landlord) of chronicling the destruction one person can cause in another’s life, it was also a day that restored our faith. The sheriffs were consummate professionals who had a real sympathy for what happened to John, staying with us—free of charge—far longer than they were scheduled. Neighbors provided bottled water and needed tools. Friends of John’s children showed up and helped us move furniture—and Michelle, the AVLF volunteer, sent pizzas and drinks for the whole group. Finally, with nowhere for John to put the furniture that was recovered, a local storage facility owner allowed us to unload before the bill was paid—which was later that evening taken care of by John’s new employer, and a man of faith who wanted to help his employee in a time of need.

At every turn, the people we needed to show some compassion and give some assistance exceeded our expectations. I dropped off the U-Haul truck that night in wonder of the malevolence some can display toward others already down on their luck, but more so of the compassion that volunteers and even strangers can have to help pull someone through desperate times. At AVLF, we simply try to provide an outlet for that compassion that comes naturally from our volunteer attorneys. That day, amidst the desperation, it was my privilege to see that compassion—and those better angels of our nature—reaching out to John.

Working for the Best Interest of Children

By: Lila Bradley, Staff Attorney, AVLF

For the past five years, I have had the privilege of directing AVLF's volunteers in the legal representation of children in foster care, with cases in Fulton Juvenile Court. Since June, I have taken on the additional responsibility of directing AVLF's volunteers who serve as guardians ad litem for children in contested custody cases in the Family Division of the Fulton Superior Court. In the Juvenile Court, our volunteers act as attorneys for the children. A lawyer for a child must establish an attorney-client relationship with the child, to the extent that such a relationship is possible, given the child's immaturity. Lawyers serving as GAL are officers of the court and assist the court in reaching a decision regarding child custody, visitation, and other child-related issues. Whatever the relationship, however, lawyers for and on behalf of children do much of the same work as any lawyer in any legal matter. We gather and review documents relating to the case. We interview the witnesses and other people knowledgeable of the matter at hand. We study the underlying issues so that we can better understand the allegations, claims, and interests of the parties. We strive for a negotiated agreement, but we prepare for trial when the parties cannot reach agreement.

Working for and on behalf of children is difficult work. We wonder how we can ever know enough about the child and the family to make the right argument or recommendation to the court. We worry what will happen to the child if we get it wrong. We feel the weight of responsibility for the young life before us.

Children come into foster care—state custody—after the state proves to the court that the parents' care and treatment of their children is so deficient that it is—in the words of the law— “contrary to the welfare of the child to remain in the home.” The state child welfare agency then makes efforts—as required by law—to assist the parents in addressing their problems so that the child can return safely to the home. When making the decision to return the child to the home, the court must determine that such a change of custody is in the “best interest of the child.”

Children become the subject of contested matters in the Family Division of the Superior Court when their parents, usually in the context of a divorce or legitimation, disagree about custody, visitation, or (in many cases) everything else in the child's life. In resolving the case, the law provides that the judge must determine what is for the best interest of the child and what will best promote the child's welfare and happiness.

Children's cases in Juvenile Court are governed by the Juvenile Code found in Title 15 of the Georgia Code. Children's cases in the Superior Court are governed by the Domestic Relations law found in Title 19 of the Georgia Code. Both sections of the Code, however, call our attention to the welfare of the child and the child's best interests. Our courts strive to be child-focused, and we at AVLF are proud to be one of the resources brought into the children's cases in an effort to help the court make the decision of the best interest of the child.

The sad thing about these cases involving children, however, is that the children seldom have a best choice available to them. By the very nature of their cases, these children have families filled with discord or deprivation or both. There are times when it is difficult to maintain hope that the children will ever have the chance to grow up with the love and nurturing care that we know is essential to their well-being. Court orders do not improve a parent's poor mental health or economic crisis. Court orders do not resolve the anger that can be so damaging to children. Courts cannot create good parents out of deficient parents.

The lawyers for and on behalf of the children provide the essential service to the child of presenting all of the relevant evidence to the court, so that the court can make the best decision of the children's best interest, even when there is nothing “best” about the children's lives at that time. Children's lawyers and GALs bring the voice of the child to the court. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, children's lawyers and GALs help the child understand the court process. The lawyer tries to answer those questions from the child that have an answer, and acknowledges to the child when there is no answer for some questions.

Working for and on behalf of children is challenging, frustrating, inspiring, and rewarding. It brings tears and laughter. You will lose sleep, but you will gain the knowledge that you worked to help a child.

If you are interested in volunteering for AVLF's Lawyers for Children Program, please contact Lila Bradley via email: lbradley@avlf.org.

We've launched our new website!

By: Martin Ellin, Executive Director, AVLF

The Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation is proud to launch our new web site- http://www.avlf.org/! We hope that our site will allow you to easily become familiar with the Foundation’s many pro bono programs, with the extraordinary AVLF Staff members who direct those programs, with the opportunities that are available for volunteer lawyers to become involved in meaningful pro bono legal work, and more. We want our site to be of real value to everyone that visits.

This enhanced web site is but one part of the social action adventure upon which we have embarked. We hope that you will see our Facebook Cause page, and that you will ‘friend” or at least “like” us so that AVLF’s posts will show up on your newsfeed. We will be adding video to this site, and invite you now to follow us on Twitter, as well as this Blogspot page. Our new “Marty’s Blog” page will post entries from the breadth of the AVLF Staff- we hope you read us regularly.

In the near future, we will add a contributor page to our website which lists all of our current grantors, a page that archives and makes available our previous newsletter issues, a community resource page for clients and the general public and a resource page for victims of DV. Finally, to assist our many generous financial donors, our site will be contoured to reveal monthly and planned giving options and a very special link so that Winetasting 2010 donors will be able to pay for sponsorship and tickets to our November 4th party with the click of a button.

Why add these features, and why now? The first answer is so that I may earn my children’s respect: I am tired of them leaning on me to honor a promise I made some time ago to go beyond personal visits (which all the AVLF Staff will continue to make), hand written letters (which I still intend to write frequently) and phone calls from a land line as a means of keeping in touch with the people the Foundation serves. But even more importantly, so that we may interact with our clients, public interest partners, volunteer attorneys, Court personnel and friends more quickly and more fully, and because the demand for our service is dramatic and increases so quickly that finding avenues to reach out, and to hear back, could not wait.

The Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation receives close to 30,000 telephone calls and 5,000 visits to its website each year. We give advice and direction to thousands, and are able to arrange for as many as 4,000-5,000 low-income citizens of Atlanta to receive the direct assistance of an attorney or paralegal to whom they otherwise could not have had access. We coordinate the provision of that free legal service through private attorneys who need the Foundation’s help to learn of volunteer opportunities, and the Staff’s assistance to supervise them as they offer a variety of legal support. We support each of the Courts of Fulton County- our volunteer programs work with the Superior, State, magistrate, Probate and Juvenile Courts of the County- and increasingly partner with those courts as they serve to promote access to justice for the unrepresented.

There are few places in our community that we and our volunteer attorneys do not touch. And now, our ability to touch those places electronically gives us a greater reach than ever before. Join us as we do everything that we can- with your help- to promote equal access to justice for the poor, the marginalized and the voiceless of our community. Enjoy!