AVLF Announces Michael Lucas as New Deputy Director

AVLF is proud to announce that Michael Lucas has become the new Deputy Director of the Foundation.

Michael Lucas, AVLF Deputy Director

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. 

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.

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!

AVLF - Inspiring Art in Atlanta

AVLF -  Inspiring Art in Atlanta

On view at the Emory Center for Ethics until February 6^th is a collection of work which is meant to view, address, and examine the dynamics of relationships and homes fraught with intimate partner violence.

 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. 

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.  Watching people leave and go back, watching people reconcile, and watching people get hurt is not easy as an advocate.  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.  As I have said many times, victims of domestic violence must watch the places they feel safe be turned into places of fear.   Homes are turned into war zones and into prisons.  The many objects they use in their daily lives become tools of oppression and weapons of violence.

Capturing the violence without sensationalizing what is happening is vital to me.  I want someone to view this and understand how bad it is, but also to understand that “bad” is contextual.  Sometimes bad is not visible to the outside and it is not a bruised eye.  Sometimes “bad” is a threat and that threat is a truly heavy burden.  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.  I want someone to understand various dynamics that affect a person’s choices, decisions, and change within this violence.  What outside forces are pushing this person to stay?  What is pushing them to leave?  What fears do they have? 

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.

 

“The Artwork of Jessica Caldas” is on view at the Emory Center for Ethics until February 6^th, 2014.

There will be an artist talk on Wednesday, February 5^th at 6:30 pm.  The talk is free to the public and will be in the Center for Ethics room 102.

Location:

Emory University

Center for Ethics

1531 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322

Hours: 8:30 AM- 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday

You can view more of my work at jessicacaldas.com

Fighting for the Oppressed until They’re Made Whole

Fighting for the Oppressed until They’re Made Whole

By Ryan Locke, Criminal Defense Attorney, Locke Law Firm

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?”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.     

Ryan Locke is the founder and managing member of the Locke Law Firm, specializing in criminal defense. 

Shedding my Blinders: How Guard ad Litem Work Opened My Eyes

By: Dara Paulsen, ESQ.  

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...

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…

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.



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.

Unemployment Benefits for Domestic Violence Survivors

By: Lindsey Siegel, Staff Attorney, Atlanta Legal Aid Society

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.

Lindsey Siegel, Staff Attorney, Atlanta Legal Aid Society

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.

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.

And she had good reason to be afraid.  Those of you who saw the July 2013 New Yorker article 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 Atlanta’s not-so-distant past employees at the CNN Center complex and the Bank of America building were murdered by their intimate partners at work.

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.

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.

"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."

AVLF: An Intern’s Perspective

By: Farley Ezekiel, Emory Law School, 2L

               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.

                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.

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.

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. 

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. 

Two Months at AVLF Makes a Difference

By: Raman Rajagopal

            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.

            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.

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.

            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. 

            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.

            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.

            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.

            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.  

Thanks for a Successful Event!

The 1^st Annual Burger Battle & Beer Tasting at Nelson Mullins on June 6^th was a resounding success! The event, a fundraiser supporting the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation and the Atlanta Legal Aid Society:

• Raised more than $30,000!
• Sold out two weeks in advance
•  Had more than 500 guests in attendance
•  Featured fantastic craft beer and delicious food
• Showcased two outstanding local chefs:  Celebrity Chef Kevin Gillespie from Gunshow and Chef Dan Latham of Farm Burger
• Energized hundreds of law students and young lawyers around pro bono work and legal services in Atlanta
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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.

Plans are underway the 2^nd Annual Burger Battle and Beer Tasting in 2014, and we hope to see you there!

Click the link below to view photos from the event, courtesy of John Disney of the Fulton Co. Daily Report. 

http://s1080.photobucket.com/user/AVLFprobono/slideshow/AVLF-ALAS%201st%20Annual%20Beertasting%20June%206%202013 

AVLF welcomes six additions to the AVLF Board of Directors.

AVLF is delighted to announce six additions to the AVLF Board of Directors.

Walt Davis- 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.

Paul Donsky- Paul is a managing Supervisor at Fleishman-Hillard, a global communications firm that specializes in public relations and public affairs, marketing,. Formerly a journalist, Paul covered a range of beats and topics for the AJC, from education and transportation to banking and finance, and won several local and regional awards for a 2005 investigative series about waste and corruption in the city of Atlanta school system.

Jim McGinnis- 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.

Richard Mitchell-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.

Will Shearer- Will is
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.  

Cornell Wesley- 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. 

Ole' Miss School of Law Alternate Spring Break--Pro Bono Style

 8 students from the University of Mississippi spends spring break with AVLF. 

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 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. 

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.