Gone mobile

Pro bono in Georgia goes mobile!  Text probono to 99699 or visit http://mobilezen.com/probono.  Read more…

An Access to Justice Prayer

This Franciscan Blessing was given as the invocation at today’s State Bar of Georgia Board of Governors meeting.  Thanks to board member Susan Cox for sharing this “access to justice” prayer:

May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.

AMEN.

Make a Difference This Veterans Day

As Veterans Day approaches, you can take some simple steps to make a difference in the life of a service member or veteran.

As a lawyer, you have the keys to the court house.  You can fly the flag and participate in a service project, but you have the power to do much more: help a service member or veteran deal with a legal problem.

Let’s face it.  No soldier needs to be preoccupied with a wrongful car repossession when he needs to be focusing on enemy fire or protecting civilians in a war zone.  You can help.

Click here to join other lawyers in Georgia who are helping to meet the legal needs of active duty service members and veterans.  Click here to get all the legal practice support you need to get the job done.

Left Behind

Left behind.  For those of us in the legal aid community who paid attention to millennial pop-religious culture some years back (who could avoid the overheated shouting?), you’ll recognize the phrase, perhaps with some bemusement.  We weren’t left behind to fend off all manner of tribulations when the clock struck midnight at the turn of the century.

Or were we?

I coined the phrase “technology rapture” for an American Bar Association Equal Justice Conference presentation in, oh, 2005 or so.  Having lived here in the deep south for the past 22 years, I have added words and phrases to my vocabulary that previously were rather foreign to me.  Rapture is one of those words.  My religious culture views the New Testament Book of Revelation somewhat suspiciously, and when it does consider the text, it considers it as a statement of triumph over evil rather than a tale of woe to come.  But it is indeed this latter meaning that is significant for the case at hand.

While a number of lawyers just a generation ahead of me consider a fax machine as “technology”, by and large, the legal community truly has embraced a multitude of real and proven technology solutions to improve outcomes for clients and to buttress their business’ financial well-being.

No matter your station, being left behind is always something to be avoided.  The jungle adventure straggler gets eaten by lions.  The high-heeled woman running from the sci-fi monster  invariably trips, falls, screams, and becomes, well, you know, an object.   The 1970s Three’s Company star Joyce DeWitt never gets that “if only” film role.  You get the point.

Are we pro bono folks in danger of getting left behind?  Will our programs’ viability and clients be harmed?  Are my rhetorical questions sounding like a Carrie-Bradshaw -Sex –in-the-City intonation?  Yes, yes and yes.

I don’t think there is a bright line test for knowing how much technology is enough for our pro bono community, for knowing how much to invest and which solutions are fool-proof .  And there is no scale of measure of left-behindedness.  I may take a stab at creating such a tool, though, and call it the Monahan Scale of Behindedness.

A case for planning and for action is in order so our clients will not be left behind.  Woe to us should we let that happen.

Occupy Atlanta

I took a seminar in law school on Civil Disobedience.  Discussion covered the concept of true civil disobedience and the lawyer’s role in a just society, including the lawyer’s duty to honor the law and his duty to counsel those who choose to contest unjust laws .  The topic pops up now and then.  Here’s now.

Occupy Atlanta is now in business.  There are opportunities for lawyers, says a member of the legal team, to counsel potential demonstrators on their rights and responsibilities vis-a- vis the law.

To Whom it Concerns:

I am writing on behalf of Occupy Atlanta’s Legal team.  Occupy Atlanta is the Atlanta chapter for the now global Occupy Wallstreet movement, which began on September 17th. Occupy Atlanta are currently seeing lawyers who would be willing to provide peaceful, nonviolent protesters legal representation in the event of arrest. Please contact us through this e-mail at your earliest convenience if any of the lawyers with your organization would be interested.

For more information on the Occupy Wallstreet movement and the Atlanta chapter please visit www.occupywallstreet.org and www.occupyatlanta.org, respectively.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Regards,
Chelsea Austin
770-317-0560

So, lawyers, if you are interested in this opportunity, or interested in expanding your skills, check it out.

Alcovy Circuit addresses pro se (self-help) with forms

The Fulton County Daily Report blog ATLaw provides a write-up on the new pro se page of Georgia’s Alcovy Circuit.  The Alcovy Circuit covers Newton and Walton Counties east of Atlanta.

Read the ATLaw blog article and learn more about the Alcovy Circuit forms.

Access to a lawyer in southeast Georgia shrinks further

The Georgia Legal Services Program announced today that it is closing its Waycross, Georgia office due to cuts in federal funding and other funding sources. Read MORE about the office closure and where low-income Georgians must go for help now.

Protecting wage earners is not a frivolous activity

An August 6, 2011 letter to the editor in the Savannah Morning News, written by Tea Partier Jeanne Seaver, painted the work of lawyers representing farm workers as frivolous. The litigation to protect their rights as US citizens to agricultural employment over workers imported from Mexico was colored as frivolous and anti-agriculture, though the lawyers had been successful in 28 of their 29 court cases, and agricultural employers are like any other employer in the eyes of the law. Obviously, the courts disagree with the idea that the cases were frivolous.

Savannah attorney Wade Herring wrote a powerful letter in response. Read his August 12, 2011 response.

LegalZoom Order- Implications for Access to Justice

Richard Zorza provides us with some insight into the Missouri District Court order that rejected LegalZoom’s motion for summary judgment.

Lawyers from Georgia’s access to justice community have been developing online forms for low-income households and, in conjunction with several of Georgia’s courts, are assisting the courts with forms.

Take a moment to read Zorza’s analysis.

Center for American Progress: Debt Deal Leaves Americans Living in Rural Poverty Behind

In its blog today, the Center for American Progress provides insight into how the recent debt deal affects rural Americans.

While many Americans have much to be concerned about, rural Americans do indeed deal with many harsh issues.

Rural Americans work as many hours but earn far less and are more reliant on Social Security and the safety net to meet basic needs. Putting it plainly, compared to residents of metro areas, they have less education, poorer health, and are less likely to have access to decent affordable housing, public transportation, and quality medical care they can afford.

Is a one-size fits all deficit reduction plan appropriate? Read the Center for American Progress article HERE.

Rural lawyer tidbits

I commend to you a July 2011 post on the blog, Rural Lawyer. Take a moment to read Yesterday’s Myths, Today’s Needs.

Reminder: Pro Bono Initiative to help distressed lawyers in Georgia

The State Bar of Georgia Commission on Continuing Lawyer Competency (CCLC) and the State Bar of Georgia Pro Bono Project teamed up in 2009 to help attorneys in Georgia meet their continuing legal education requirements and give a boost to pro bono.

In 2009, CCLC began supplying a total of $60,000 in CLE vouchers for distressed lawyers who sign up with local, structured pro bono programs. The program continues. Read more about the program HERE.