Donate General Legal Services
When you sign up as a volunteer lawyer, you may choose which areas of law you are willing to help. Here are some examples:
- Consumer law (bankruptcy/ debtor relief; collections/ repossessions; garnishments; public utilities; unfair car sales; repairs; contracts; unfair sales practices)
- Housing law (repairs; landlord/tenant disputes; evictions; foreclosures; home ownership; easements; mobile home issues)
- Family law (divorce; adoption; guardianship; guardian ad litem; domestic violence; pro se divorce clinics; divorce mediations) This is the area in greatest need of volunteers.
- Benefits (SSI/SSD; Medicaid)
- Employment law (pension problems; unemployment compensation; leave issues)
- Estates & Probate (wills, probate proceedings, powers of attorney, living wills)
- Miscellaneous (clinics, covering motion hour, CLE trainings)
There are other areas. Each of the four civil aid programs in Kentucky has a pro bono coordinator and some have pro bono coordinators in different offices. Each of these programs may offer clinics for their area such as pro se divorce clinics, wills clinics, tax relief clinics, or expungement clinics, for example. Some programs in rural areas simply need lawyers to cover motion hour practices on routine motions such as setting a pre-trial conference date or scheduling matters. If you're willing to cover routine motions for pro bono program or legal aid in your county, let your pro bono coordinator know you can help in this easy way.
Project Salute! Providing Civil Legal Assistance to Veterans With a generous grant, the Legal Aid Society (LAS) in Louisville is undertaking a statewide initiative to provide more veterans with legal representation in civil legal aid matters and with securing veterans' benefits. LAS is taking a two-prong approach: (1) reaching out to veterans who may be needing legal representation and (2) recruiting volunteer attorneys to provide legal representation on veterans' benefits cases. Upcoming events include the following:
-July 9 and 10, 2010 A FREE legal clinic for veterans. Free individual legal consultations abyout your disability at Legal Aid Society, 416 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd., Louisisville, KY 40202. Call for More information (502-534-1254, or log on to www.laslou.org. Pro bono attorneys are NOT needed for this clinic but please share the information.
- August 19 and 20, 2010 A FREE attorney
training via Webinar. Project SALUTE, a program designed by the University
of Detroit Mercy School of Law to assist Veterans in Federal Disability
and Pension Benefits matters. Visit our website at: http://www.law.udmercy.edu/project_salute/whatisps.php
to view the outreach and impact of the Project. Attorneys representing
veterans must be accredited by the VA Office of ghe General Counsel.
Log on to www.laslou.org to learn more.
Child Advocacy Today ("CAT"), the state's first medical-legal partnership for Kentucky's children, is a joint collaboration between the University of Kentucky Children's Hospital, Access to Justice Foundation and the Kentucky Volunteer Lawyer Program. CAT will address unmet legal needs and provide legal assistance and counsel to low-income families for basic needs (e.g. housing, healthcare, food, safety) through the pediatric clinical setting. Just as the medical profession advocates preventive healthcare, CAT provides the opportunity to provide preventive legal assistance. We are currently seeking financial support but will also accept names of lawyers or law firms who would like to provide pro bono services when needed. For more information, contact Jan Clark, Attorney, K251 Kentucky Clinic, 740 South Limestone, Lexington, KY 40356-0284; phone 859.323.2829; jclark@ajfky.org.
The Newtown Pike Extension / Southend Park Urban Village offers a pro bono opportunity for lawyers practicing real estate in the Fayette or surrounding counties. Newtown Pike Extension project is a federal, state and local venture to extend Newtown Pike from East Main to Broadway, through the Davistown community of Lexington. This urban redevelopment project will relocate many residents in that community to temporary modular homes and, once the project is done, move the residents to permanent homes or rental properties. The residents are low-income persons who may need legal assistance with understanding the terms of any agreements they are required to enter, selling and buying their new properties with the federal and state funding provided, and other property issues. A general informational meeting will be scheduled in mid-March. If you would like to learn more or come to the meeting, please email Jackie Duncan at jduncan@ajfky.org
For those participating in the KBA Pilot Mentoring Program, feel free to contact a local pro bono program or the KyVLP if we can be of any assistance. For more information on the Mentoring Program, go to www.kybar.org, or take a look at the News page on this website.
CLE and Training Opportunities
Persons in need of representation often have problems that are not characteristic of persons who are able to pay for representation. As such, lawyers do not frequently practice in areas of need for the poverty population and may not feel comfortable taking these types of cases. CLE is offered on poverty law issues and it is free if you are willing to take a case. Are you willing to take a case if you know more about a particular area of law? All legal services trainings are open to members of the KBA and we will also be having pro bono trainings for the private practitioner.
We want to help you help others!