Lawyers Giving Back Archive

Texas Law Firm Responds to Legal Access Crisis for Low Income Clients

March 29th, 2011. By BrendaC

Lawyers Giving Back looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we’re talking with Texas attorney Amy Dinn of Gardere Wynne Sewell…

Attorney Amy Dinn: “We can work out a solution and get them through the legal system, which is not intuitive.”

From one end of the country to the other, many Americans simply can’t afford access to lawyer. A study done recently by the Legal Services Corporation estimated 50 percent of the legal needs of indigent Americans who need and qualify for legal aid go unmet.

: Attorney Amy Dinn, second from left, and the Pro Bono team at Gardere Wynne Sewell

And in the state of Texas, the Texas Young Lawyers Association recently reported in its newsletter that attorneys in the state are addressing less than 25 percent of the needs of low income Texans. “And there is only one legal aid lawyer for every 10,838 poor Texans,” says Amy Dinn, a lawyer from Texas’ Gardere Wynne Sewell, one of the state’s oldest and largest law firms.

“It is not only important to do pro bono work, our firm has made it a priority,” says Dinn. The Houston Bar Association recently awarded Gardere Wynne Sewell a “Star Volunteer” award for its substantial contribution to working with Texans who need—but can’t afford—access to justice.

There are so many people with legal issues and not enough money to hire a lawyer that more people than ever are trying to represent themselves in court proceedings. According to Dinn, “That can actually impede the system, they aren’t experienced in the courtroom or don’t know the law and it slows down the process.”

“So whatever firms can do, even if it is just one case a year, and even if it is a little out of their comfort zone, it is important to do it,” says Dinn.

Dinn, who is trial lawyer, comfortable with contentious and complex litigation like product liability and corporate business disputes, spends many hours helping low income Texans with everything from name changes to estate planning.

“No, it is not my practice area, but I find it really rewarding,” says Dinn.

I recently worked for a woman whose husband was in jail,” says Dinn. “They had been married for 20 or 30 years but she had not seen him for many years and it was essentially a paper marriage and she needed to extricate herself from the marriage.”

“Many people find themselves in situations that are just too complicated for them to solve by themselves. We can work out a solution and get them through the legal system, which is not intuitive.”

Dinn and a group of other lawyers from Gardere Wynne Sewell, together with the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program, do no cost wills and estate planning clinics. “It is a two-day process. We meet with the clients one day, then they come back and we draw up the will and execute it.”

“It can really make a difference in these people’s lives. Especially drawing up the wills—just the emotional comfort they get from knowing that their affairs are in order and that their family is taken care of.“

In addition, Dinn usually does four or five pro bono cases a year. “I think it pushes you in different directions professionally and it is really important to give back,” she adds.

Amy Dinn has a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law. Dinn is a partner in the firm of Gardere Wynne Sewell, LLP. Established in 1909, the firm has offices in Dallas, Houston, Austin and Mexico City. It provides legal services to private and public companies and individuals in areas of government affairs, energy, litigation, corporate, tax, environmental, labor and employment, intellectual property and financial services.

Tags: Gardere Wynn & Sewell, Lawyers Doing Good, Lawyers Giving Back, Texas attorney, Texas lawyer
Posted in Emerging Issues, Lawyers Giving Back | 1 Comment »

Pastor and Attorney? Bertram Marks is both and he’s here to help

March 22nd, 2011. By BrendaC

Attorney and Pastor Bertram Marks: “If you have an interest in community justice and integrity, the two just go hand in hand.”

If the career combination of Baptist minister and attorney sounds like an oxymoron, don’t bother to mention it to Bertram Marks. “Oh yes, I have heard that one before,” says Marks with a gentle laugh.

Marks is the lead partner in a full-service law practice in Farmington Hills, Michigan, where he combines his ecclesiastical and legal training to the maximum. “It is not really as dichotomous as one might think,” he says. “If you have an interest in community justice and integrity, the two just go hand in hand.”

Marks, who is also Pastor at the First Community Baptist Church, says he “can’t think of a time there weren’t at least 3 or 4 pro bono cases” on his docket. “A lot my work is in the area of economic justice, civil rights labor,” says Marks, “So I bundle all that up to deliver real help to people.”

And people in Michigan have some very real problems these days. Many people have been rocked back on their heels by industry shutdowns, lost jobs and sinking house prices.

“There is a huge wave of pain out there,” says Marks.

Just keeping the heat on during a long Detroit winter is a challenge for thousands of people. Financial assistance is available but many people either don’t know to access it or are simply too proud to admit they need it. Aware that it would be in the uncomfortable position of cutting of service to thousands of families, DTE Energy executives came to Marks in 2007 and asked for his help.“

“We found people were so turned off by the utility company when they got a shut-off notice they just kind of shut off, too,” says Marks. “There’s a feeling of hopelessness and going into a utility service office was the last thing they wanted to do.”

“I was able to convince the utility if we could base these support centers in faith-based Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bertram Marks, Lawyers Giving Back, Pro Bono
Posted in Emerging Issues, Lawyers Giving Back | 7 Comments »

Attorney Bruce Flammey: I knew HOA Situation was ‘Just Wrong’

March 15th, 2011. By BrendaC

Attorney Bruce Flammey: “This…involved a colossal level of amount stupidity on a number of interlocking levels”

Bruce Flammey is definitely not a publicity hound—but several weeks ago, the straight shooting Nevada lawyer decided to jump into a local news story after heard about the Trueblood family and its dispute with a local home owners’ association (HOA) in Las Vegas.

“It offended my sense of right and wrong,” says Flammey.

In early December, just before the holidays began, the Tara Villas HOA ordered the water be cut off at Deena Trueblood’s home after she had bounced a check to a collection agency.

“I thought, this is crap,” says Flammey who once served on a HOA board and in fact now does legal work for HOA boards in Las Vegas.

Flammey immediately got in touch with the reporter working the story and offered to provide the family with free legal help. “I said if Deena Trueblood needed any help with this or wanted to talk to a lawyer about this, I would be happy to do so. And literally within hours I got a phone call back.”

The HOA had not only ordered the water cut off, it had ordered that the pipe be cut outside the Trueblood property line to discourage an attempt to have the water reconnected.

When Flammey connected with Deena Trueblood the facts of the case made him even more determined to get everything put right again. Deena and her son by this time had been weeks without water despite the fact that she made good on the bounced check way back in December.

“In fact, it was more like a clerical error than a bounced check,” explains Flammey.

“She was back on solid ground with the collection agency and as far as it was concerned everything was okay—and had been for weeks,” says Flammey.

One Call Does it All

Flammey picked up the phone and called the HOA’s lawyer. “He said he wasn’t actually their lawyer,” says Flammey, “but he would call the HOA and explain how asinine this was.”

And within 48 hours, after almost six weeks in dry-dock, the water was once again flowing in the Trueblood household.

It might seem like a small gesture, but to the family with no running water, fighting a bureaucracy—it was magic.

“This, in my opinion, involved a colossal level of amount stupidity on a number of interlocking levels,” says Flammey.

“I would have told this HOA under no conditions do we turn off the water to peoples’ homes,” says Flammey. “If I had been their lawyer they never would have ended up on the news.”

“It might have been legal, but in my view it wasn’t a good idea.”

Bruce Flammey is an attorney with a strong sense of justice. He is in solo practice at Flammey Law in Las Vegas, Nevada. He handles legal work for multi-family housing units and home owner association boards.

Tags: Attorney Bruce Flammey, HOA, Homeowners Association, Las Vegas, Lawyers Giving Back
Posted in Emerging Issues, Lawyers Giving Back | 2 Comments »

Attorney Michael Blickensderfer Opens his Wallet to Help Out in Tampa

March 8th, 2011. By admin

Attorney Michael Blickensderfer: “You think they are small or unimportant donations, and you don’t realize the impact that will have on others.”

A quiet spoken attorney with a very loud and clear commitment to the community around him, Michael Blickensderfer made a decision to open his wallet and open it wide. Although the Blick Law Firm may do a bit of legal work for free from time to time in the classic pro bono definition, Blickensderfer, a former prosecutor and public defender in New York and Florida, decided he’d step to the plate with cold, hard cash.

The firm contributes up to 10 percent of its annual income to charity. “It varies,” says the very modest Blickensderfer, “a tithe is 10 percent, we are not always faithful to that amount, but we try to be consistent.”

After 25 years in public service and a brief turn at private practice in three other Florida firms, Blickensderfer went out on his on own two years ago. Together with his wife as the office administrator and his daughter as the marketing and community liaison, the Blickensderfers have established their own very personal way doing things.

The Blick Law Firm has established relationships with about a dozen organizations, from the St. Jude’s Hospital for Children to a Christian motorcycle riders association to a suicide prevention organization. “These are groups we have connected with sometimes out of personal relationships with some of their members, sometimes people come to us or perhaps it is through a client,” says Blickensderfer. “We discuss as a family where we can best put our resources and make a difference.”

Primarily a personal injury practice, Blickensderfer provides a range of other legal services from bankruptcy law to real estate. They regularly reach out to organizations and participate in community events. “Sometimes we hear about a needy family through some of these organizations,” says Blickensderfer, who is a committed Christian. “It touches your heart, you feel compassion and just you feel the need to reach out and help.”

“On New Year’s day we went to the Christian Motorcycle Riders Association event,” says Blickensderfer. “We just showed up and gave them a donation. We didn’t think we did that much but they were so grateful.”

“We were just putting a little gas in their tanks; they really go out and do all the hard work. They’re out there with their ‘tanks on fire’ ready to do things and we were pleased to able to help them,” Blickensderfer says.

Although Blickensderfer, who is also a former US Marine, says there are a lot of lawyers out there who volunteer their time he prefers to go the ‘donation’ route. “A lot of lawyers at other firms do a lot of pro bono work,” he adds. “I don’t do that much in the classical sense of pro bono.”

The firm is developing a bit of a reputation around Tampa for its generosity but Blickensderfer says people still seem surprised to see him arrive with a check in hand. “We just want to help the best way we can,” he says. “I think people are surprised in this day and age when anyone goes out of their way to help.”

“You think they are small or unimportant donations, and you don’t realize the impact that will have on others,” he adds.

“I wish we could do more,” says Blickensderfer. “We have a lot to be thankful for and I count my blessings when I look at others and see how many people are in need.”

“I thought I had problems,” says Blickensderfer with a smile and a bit of humor in his voice.

Lucky for Tampa Bay, Blickensderfer came to town with his check book.

Michael Blickensderfer has a degree in business administration from Ohio State University and earned his J.D. at the Seton Hall University School of Law in New Jersey. The Blick Law Firm, based in Tampa, FL, handles personal injury litigation, bankruptcy law, wrongful death lawsuits, medical malpractice cases, as well as other areas of law.

Tags: Florida Attorney, Lawyers Giving Back, Michael Blickensderf
Posted in Emerging Issues, Lawyers Giving Back | 6 Comments »

Attorney Spencer Aronfeld and Lawyers to the Rescue

March 1st, 2011. By BrendaC

Lawyers Giving Back looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we’re talking with Florida attorney Spencer Aronfeld…

Attorney Spencer Aronfeld: “This is better than my day job. I’m not getting paid, but this is absolutely the most exciting experience I’ve ever had as a lawyer.”

: Attorney Aronfeld of Lawyers to the Rescue

Attorney Spencer Aronfeld has a dream. He wants Lawyers to the Rescue to be known around the world as an army of attorneys ready to provide pro bono legal services wherever they’re needed to help people caught up in epic events.

“My vision is that Lawyers to the Rescue becomes an organization like Doctors without Borders,” says Aronfeld who has been a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer in Miami for over 20 years. “Maybe we can’t save lives like doctors, but lawyers can change and improve people’s lives in times of crisis.”

It all started last year when Aronfeld was sitting on the tarmac in Miami aboard a private jet waiting to fly out to work on a Chinese Drywall case. He looked out the window of the plane and saw a group of tired and frightened earthquake refugees arriving from Haiti and he desperately wanted to help.

Within a few days, Aronfeld and his wife Dina had raised thousands of dollars for the Haiti relief fund. But the Aronfelds thought there must be a way for lawyers to do more than raise money.

They kicked Lawyers to the Rescue in gear and soon began offering free legal help to the homeless at a shelter in downtown Miami.

When the BP Oil spill happened, a Texas doctor friend asked if Lawyers to the Rescue could come to a little village outside New Orleans, where a group of Vietnamese and Cambodian shrimpers were wondering how in the world they would support their families with the Gulf waters swimming in oil.

“They were living in these FEMA trailers left over from hurricane Katrina,” says Aronfeld, “and they spoke absolutely no English.”

“BP was going to have these men go out there in their little shrimp boats and try to clean up this Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Lawyers Giving Back, Lawyers to the Rescue, Spencer Aronfeld
Posted in Emerging Issues, Lawyers Giving Back | 3 Comments »