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Ohio lawyers answer ABA call for pro bono help
TRACEY BLAIR
Legal News Reporter
Published: November 3, 2015
The American Bar Association launched a new program this year to recruit more pro bono volunteers and increase legal services to the poor and vulnerable.
“And Justice for All: An ABA Day of Service took place Friday to wrap up National Celebrate Pro Bono Week.
Throughout the week, lawyers were encouraged to use the Twitter hashtag #ABADayof Service as part of a social media blitz to gain community support for pro bono service.
“They wanted to take one day out of the week to really highlight through social media pro bono work,” said Melanie Shakarian, an attorney and director of development and communications at The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland.
“We host a variety of events throughout the week to entice new pro bono volunteers. Yesterday, (Oct. 26), the Terminal Tower was lit up in blue to honor Pro Bono Week in northeast Ohio. Blue is the color we use for our Legal Aid materials.”
Community Legal Aid Services, a nonprofit corporation serving clients in Columbiana, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit, Trumbull and Wayne counties, also responded to the ABA’s new initiative.
The Volunteer Legal Services Program at Community Legal Aid on Friday hosted its own Day of Service Event called the “Call for Change Campaign.” To help meet the needs of low-income people, lawyers provided legal advice over the phone via the Pro Bono HelpLine Event.
Attorneys were asked to simply document case notes and let The Volunteer Legal Services Program do the rest. There were two ways to get involved at the Pro Bono HelpLine event.
Participants were asked to pull two-hour shifts either by working in the office or remotely by phone.
“It’s important to give people access to the criminal justice system,” said Joann Sahl, associate clinical professor of law at the Akron School of Law.
Akron Law hosts a monthly clinic to help the less fortunate. Last month, the school held an Expungement/CQE/Driver’s License Clinic to assist applicants with forms for court seating, the online application for the Certificate of Qualification for Employment and general questions about reinstatement of a driver’s license.
“Thirty law students volunteered at the Expungement/CQE clinic,” said Sahl. “Practicing attorneys discussed how people could get their driver’s licenses back. The people who come to the clinic are always so grateful.”
Sahl added that one in six Ohioans have a criminal conviction.
“We want to help people get employment and housing after a conviction,” she said.
In 2014, Ohio attorneys donated more than 81,000 hours to low-income people (about $11 million worth of services), according to Community Legal Aid statistics.
Jane Taylor, director of pro bono and communications for the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation, said Ohio lawyers have been participating in Pro Bono Week activities since 2009.
“Each year, we’ve had probably between 40 and 70 events statewide,” she said. “The events highlight the work being done and recognize and thank volunteers.”
To qualify for Legal Aid, a family of four must make about $30,000 a year. A family of two would qualify for earning just under $20,000 annually, Taylor said.
“Legal Aid funding is down since the recession,” she said. “About 2.3 million people in Ohio qualify for Legal Aid -- that’s one in five people. Of those people, 25 percent of them are children under 18. In addition, 62,000 of our veterans qualify for Legal Aid.”
Pro bono help is more important than ever, Taylor added.
“Making time to do pro-bono work is a core value of the legal profession,” she said. “Lawyers are charged with giving everyone equal access to justice. Sometimes it’s difficult if a lawyer is just starting out and not making much money. But I think everybody can do something -- it all helps.”
Other recent pro se registered activities in Ohio included a Marathon (Petroleum Corp.) Phone Clinic in Toledo to provide legal advice and written instructions to up to 40 clients in housing, consumer debt collection, landlord-tenant and domestic relations law. Activities in Cleveland included an Expungement Clinic, a Pro Se Divorce Clinic and a Pro Se Child Support Clinic.
“Lawyers provide more pro bono service than any other profession. Pro bono work not only improves the profession and advances the rule of law, it also shows the nation that lawyers matter, and helps make our nation’s pledge of `justice for all’ a reality,” ABA President Paulette Brown said in a news release.