Florida Legal Aid New Pro Bono Recruitment Strategies

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1 Legal Services of rth Florida, Inc. 1 Legal Aid Foundation of the Tallahassee Bar Association 1 rthwest Florida Legal Services, Inc. 1 Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc. 2 Yes Strategy The new online case review resource was begun in May, This resource allows pro bono attorneys to read redacted summaries and request additional information on cases they are willing to review further for possible acceptance. Two new volunteer positions were defined at the end of Case Placement Assistant and Case Administration Assistant. In 2012, Pro JALA has been fortunate to have two attorneys licensed outside of Florida who wanted to assist with pro bono efforts. They have proven to be very effective Pro Case Placement Assistants. Their ability to communicate with both attorneys and clients facilitates case placement and secures representation in a timely manner. During these times of limited budget it is critical that we are able to maintain our core mission - that is to get more services to low-income persons. Use of volunteers in case placement has allowed us to not just maintain referrals but to increase referrals and placements. Three Rivers Legal Services, Inc. 2 Yes Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association 3 Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, Inc. 3 Brevard County Legal Aid, Inc. 3 Yes Legal Advocacy Center of Central Florida, Inc. 3 Seminole County Bar Association Legal Aid Society, Inc. 3 Yes We were fortunate to have newly licensed attorneys work in our Gainesville office as volunteer attorneys. These attorneys were recent graduates of the University of Florida Levin College of Law who had become licensed but had not yet obtained employment. TRLS provided training and support to the volunteer attorneys. The volunteer attorneys provided intake and consultation services, brief services, drafting of correspondence and pleadings, research, negotiation, and co-counseled in providing representation. Each volunteer attorney was assigned to a staff attorney for supervision and co-counseling. As mentioned in the Abstract Section, BCLA introduced a new intake and referral program. Through the program, certain housing and consumer cases are identified through a prescreening process in order to provide more extensive legal assistance. After meeting with applicants, a volunteer attorney prepares a referral memo outlining the essential facts and issues to presented. The volunteer then places the case with a volunteer attorney. To assist front desk staff and volunteers, checklists, guides, pro bono attorney lists, and handbooks were developed. In 2012, our project developed a Consumer Protection Unit to confront the growing number of individuals facing credit card lawsuits. Through this project, we were able to engage one consumer law attorney as well as an attorney specializing in Probate Matters. Both attorneys have proved crucial to expanding our legal education project and have conducted presentations as well as provide direct case services. U:\wp\grants\lap\pro_bono\statistics\2012 Pro SAR - New Strategies Summary

2 Strategy 1. Case Summaries- The BAVLP began to e-blast lists of our Case Summaries (brief summaries of cases in need of placement with a pro bono attorney) on a monthly basis and sometimes twice monthly basis to our pro bono liaisons at the local bar associations, HCBA Sections, solo practitioners and to the Chair of our Circuit Pro Committee for forwarding to each liaison s member group. a. Use of Judges in promoting pro bono participation- the Judges who served as Chairs, Vice-Chairs and/or Immediate Past Chairs of our Circuit s Pro Committee were willing to distribute our lists of Case Summaries at the various speaking engagements they attended. b. Collaborations with Bar Association/ Section pro bono liaisons- we collaborated with the Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers (HAWL), the Tampa Bay Hispanic Bar Association (TBHBA), Real Property, Probate and Trust Law (RPPTL) and Trial Lawyers Section with promoting pro bono participation by their membership. Case summaries were distributed at regular meetings of the various aforementioned organizations and BAVLP staff was permitted to make announcements at many of the meetings promoting pro bono participation. 2. Circuit Subcommittee of Medium and Large Law Firms-the Circuit s Pro Committee established a Medium and Large Law Firm Subcommittee in the beginning of 2012, which would meet on a quarterly basis throughout the year. The purpose was to provide a forum for representatives from the Tampa area s medium and large law firms to exchange information about their pro bono activities, to encourage more firms to develop a formal pro bono policy, to encourage their associates to participate in pro bono activities, and to develop methods of tracking their attorneys pro bono activities and number of hours donated. The Chair, Vice-Chair and/or Immediate Past Chair (or a combination of the 3) attended the Subcommittee meetings. A BAVLP attorney attended the Subcommittee s meeting in March 2012 and gave a presentation regarding BALS fiscal outlook for the year, the need for pro bono assistance for BALS clients, the various pro bono opportunities available through our Program and the opportunities available through other pro bono projects within the Circuit. In June, our Community Counsel Project Director gave a presentation to the Subcommittee members about pro bono opportunities available through the Community Counsel Program (CCP). CCP clients are nonprofit organizations that have limited financial resources and provide services to the low income, elderly, and/or disabled individuals in our community. Our monthly list of Case Summaries is sent to the Chair of the Subcommittee for purposes of distribution to its members, who in turn are expected to share the information with colleagues at their firm. U:\wp\grants\lap\pro_bono\statistics\2012 Pro SAR - New Strategies Summary

3 Strategy 3. Circuit Pro Committee: a. Accountability Measures- At the first meeting of the Circuit s Pro Committee for the new bar year in September 2012, the new Chair (Judge Catherine Peek McEwen) cited three accountability measures for her term as committee chair: (1) All members should encourage their section/organization to have their own pro bono program, or to participate in that/those of another section or organization; (2) Members should host one of the committee chairs at a meeting of their section/organization to speak about the importance of pro bono service, and the different "flavors" or types available to satisfy the taste of every lawyer (also, what is, what is not pro bono, and what lawyers gain from pro bono service) ; and (3) Members should keep track of their pro bono hours for hours outside of the Bay Area Volunteer Lawyer Program (BAVLP) service and report them to the Committee s Coordinator (BAVLP will keep track of pro bono hours contributed through its program). The goal of the Committee is to foster a pro bono culture. A Pro Opportunities handout was distributed. The handout contains information about the various BAVLP pro bono projects and also includes a brief description and contact information of the Circuit s other pro bono projects. b. Distribution of Case Summaries- The Chair of the Pro Committee was added to the list of recipients to whom the monthly list of Case Summaries is sent. The Chair then forwards the list of Case Summaries to the Circuit Committee members for distribution to their respective organizations. c. Circuit Pro Committee Table at Annual 5K Race to the Courthouse and HCBA Pig Roast- Arrangements were made for tables to be set up and staffed at the Annual 5K Race to the Courthouse and, for the first time, at the Hillsborough County Bar Association s (HCBA) Pig Roast in March Both events were held the same Saturday in March. The 5K Race to the Courthouse is designed to raise awareness of pro bono among members of the legal community. The 5K Runners and Walkers obtain pledges of pro bono hours from attorneys, rather than pledges of money. Many Judges participate in this fun and collegial Race. Participants in the Race were given free admission to the HCBA s Annual Pig Roast, an event in which various law firms and the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit staff tables that provide free food, beverages and giveaways. There were contests for best decorated table, etcetera. Awards were presented to the individual and the team who raised the most pro bono hours. Proven Provider Awards were also presented to those individuals who had not only pledged pro bono hours the prior year, but had also performed the hours as pledged or more within the year since then. Members of the Circuit Pro Committee and BAVLP staffed a table and distributed information about pro bono opportunities, answered questions and gave out baked goods and other snacks. U:\wp\grants\lap\pro_bono\statistics\2012 Pro SAR - New Strategies Summary

4 Gulfcoast Legal Services 4 Strategy 4. Collaboration with Collaborative Divorce Institute- Representatives from the Collaborative Divorce Institute, one of two collaborative divorce groups in Tampa, met with the BAVLP Pro Manager to offer their services to BAVLP clients seeking assistance with divorces. Additional information was exchanged, criteria were set up (individuals with minor children and with spouses willing to consent/cooperate with divorce process) and the parameters discussed with BALS Centralized Telephone Intake (CTI) Managing Attorney. In the last quarter of 2012, the BAVLP started to screen Intake clients for possible referral to the Collaborative Divorce Pro Panel. This is a pilot project and will need to be tweaked as we enter Pro Litigation Support by Stetson Law Students- In 2012, Stetson Law School increased the number of volunteer hours that its law students must complete prior to graduation to 60 hours, of which a minimum o f 30 must be dedicated to pro bono service. To provide law students with the opportunity to work with pro bono attorneys and, in turn, meet their pro bono requirement, the BAVLP collaborated with Stetson Law School s Pro Liaison to provide litigation support to BAVLP s pro bono attorneys. This is an additional resource to solo practitioners and small law firms with limited resources. Each outgoing monthly list of Case Summaries includes the following language offering the services of Stetson law students and the contact information: ***When you accept a pro bono case, Stetson Law School students are willing and ready to assist you, whether it be with research, writing, drafting or other legal work under your supervision. If you are interested in having a Stetson law student assist you with your pro bono case, please probono@law.stetson.edu 6. Developed relationship with Thomas Cooley Law School (Cooley), which opened in May 2012 in Riverview, FL. Trained Cooley law students for participation in daytime Family Forms Clinic. With assistance of Cooley faculty member, engaged Cooley law student to assist with development of a pro bono promotional video made from video clips of BAVLP volunteer attorneys taken during National Celebration of Pro Week. (te: the project was passed onto another law student in 2013 due to time constraints of the first one. This project is ongoing and now at the editing stage.) Legal Aid of Manasota 4 Yes Developed a Pro Advisory Board made up of several judges. This was created at the end of 2012 and the hope is that it will expand pro bono services for the current year. We are already seeing results. Community Law Program, Inc. 4 Florida Rural Legal Services, Inc. 5 Yes Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County 5 Yes In 2012, FRLS staff in the 19th Judicial Circuit wrote an article explaining the importance of pro bono services for the magazine "Friendly Passages". The magazine is published in St Lucie County but distributed to lawyers state wide. Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County created a South Palm Beach County steering committee to encourage increased pro bono participation from the attorneys in the southern part of the county, including Boynton Beach, Delray and Boca Raton. U:\wp\grants\lap\pro_bono\statistics\2012 Pro SAR - New Strategies Summary

5 Legal Aid Service of Broward County 6 Yes Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc. 7 Strategy Dade County Bar Association Legal Aid Society 7 Yes Website, New seminars, Hot topics. Cuban American Bar Association Pro Project 7 Yes The Broward Lawyers Care (BLC) Advice and Counsel Project (ACP) was established with an eye to meet the increasing demand in the community for pro bono legal services. BLC screens clients and sets appointments for clients to have a telephone consultation with a volunteer attorney. Volunteer attorneys and client appointments are scheduled for Tuesday afternoons from 2 5 pm. In 2012, approximately 600 clients received assistance that would not otherwise have been available. In 2013 BLC plans to increase the number of attorneys which will result in even more clients receiving assistance. The CABA Pro Project has been searching for additional pro bono sources as a result of the budget cuts on the state level. We spoke at the Cuban American Bar Association Installation Gala in 2012 in order to increase cases coming into the office, pro bono attorneys willing to take cases and raise overall awareness. With the same goals in mind, and using the Cuban American Bar Association member base we participated in an art auction and restaurant tasting event. Additionally, we participated in various CLE s that are specifically designed to increase pro bono participation among private attorneys. The CABA Pro Project is committed to finding new strategies to stimulate greater pro bono involvement. Florida Institutional Legal Services Florida Justice Institute Yes The Court's VLP Committee was recently revamped by the Chief Judge, and recruitment of attorneys has improved. We are able to blast cases on a daily basis using the court's CM/ECF system. Florida Legal Services, Inc. Southern Legal Counsel, Inc. U:\wp\grants\lap\pro_bono\statistics\2012 Pro SAR - New Strategies Summary