Posts Tagged ‘ Lawyers Doing Good ’

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 »

You Really Shouldn’t Call Attorney Jason Melton a ‘Jerk’ – Ever

February 15th, 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 Jason Melton…

Attorney Jason Melton: “Sometimes it’s just the right thing to do.”

: Attorney Jason Melton

There is a strong streak of decency running through Jason Melton as he talks frankly about his approach to the law. A very serious criminal and personal injury attorney from the Tampa, Florida area, Melton still manages to bring a dash of self-deprecating humor to the conversation about the hours of legal work he does for free.

“We’re not hurting. We can afford to do it, so we do it,” he says. “And we don’t do it so I have something to ‘bitch’ about or when someone says ‘you’re a jerk,’ I can say ‘no I’m not—I see what I do’.”

Whittel & Melton definitely does its share of pro bono work. But they don’t advertise it, they don’t crow about it and they don’t complain about it later after they’ve passed on taking a fee.

“It’s not like I review every case to see if they can pay—sometimes we forgo payment because it is just the right thing to do,” says Melton. “Sometimes there are issues that we feel strongly about and someone comes in with the perfect fact pattern and we want to prove a point because it comes up again and again in other cases.”

Many of the cases that Melton does pro bono are personal injury claims resulting from auto accidents where clients are underinsured. “A few weeks ago, I did a personal injury case and it was just a bad situation for everyone,” says Melton. “My client’s injuries were not life-threatening, but they have medical bills and there wasn’t enough insurance money to go around—so I just didn’t take a fee.”

“When we see a situation like that we just don’t bill,” says Melton. “Sometimes it is just the right thing to do.”

Melton is the former president of the Florida State Bar Association and in the past has done an “Ask a Lawyer” radio program. He’s very aware that people hold negative views of lawyers and are likely unaware that many other lawyers also do good things for no particular reason.

“My clients love me,” says Melton. “But unless someone has been injured in an accident they often think lawyers just take a cut of someone’s insurance payout. They don’t realize what it takes to deal with insurance companies.”

Melton’s working in a tough neighborhood these days. There’s no shortage of potential pro bono clients in Hernando County. The official unemployment rate is about 15.6 percent—that’s the highest since 1976 and the second highest in the state. There is also a large population of senior citizens who don’t have money to pay a lawyer.

Although the state bar association requires lawyers to report the number of pro bono hours they do annually, Melton says frankly—he usually improvises. “I usually just come up with a figure that is probably lower than what it really is. There’s no way to even guess” says Melton.

Melton’s quirky sense of humour comes with his services—no charge.

Jason Melton is an a partner in the firm of Whittel & Melton. The firm handles criminal and personal injury law, including wrongful death, DUI, traffic offenses and juvenile crimes. Whittel & Melton has a main office in Spring Hill, Florida.

Tags: Attorney Jason Melton, Lawyers Doing Good, Lawyers Giving Back, Pro Bono
Posted in Emerging Issues, Lawyers Giving Back | 4 Comments »

Attorney Deborah LaBelle: “We Owe Juvenile Offenders a Second Chance”

February 9th, 2011. By BrendaC

Attorney Deborah LaBelle: “There is no discretion. You take a 14 year old and they are automatically treated as an adult.”

Clearly injustice moves attorney Deborah LaBelle somewhere down deep. Since she graduated from Wayne State law school in 1979, she has waded into some dark waters, investing hundreds of pro bono hours, simply because she believes she’s doing the right thing. In 2008, after a 14 year battle, she and a group of other lawyers won a multi-million dollar verdict and landmark case on behalf of women who had been abused in Michigan prisons.

Labelle now has set her sites on getting a second chance for the thousands of juvenile offenders who languish in American prisons convicted of murder or felony murder committed prior to their 18^th birthday. “It is just mandatory,” says LaBelle, whose gentle voice belies the tiger within. “There is no discretion. You take a 14 year old and they are automatically treated as an adult. It is pretty stunning.”

Stunning indeed it is. The United States is the only country in the world where juveniles charged and convicted of murder (even if they were not principally responsible for the murder) are automatically given life with no chance of parole. There are 307 ‘juvenile lifers’ now in Michigan prisons ranging in age from 14 to 65.

One man, now in sixties, who LaBelle knows well, went to prison when he was 15 for murdering his abusive stepfather.

“He is not the boy he was,” says LaBelle. “He told me once he sometimes sees that boy in his minds eye and he just wants to shake him and say ‘why don’t you just leave, just go’.”

But that’s not what happened and he now has spent more than 50 years languishing in prison. “He was just filled with rage and anger and everything seemed hopeless,” says LaBelle. “Kids just don’t have experience or the ability to chart things out very well.”

“The heart of this issue is sentencing people who commit their crimes when they are 14, 15 or 16 years old to the harshest sentence you can give to anyone, which is life without parole,” says LaBelle. “We believe this is cruel and unusual punishment.“

LaBelle has filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief in the state of Michigan on behalf of 9 class representatives. All are juvenile lifers currently being held with no chance of parole for the rest of their lives in Michigan prisons.

This is the first civil rights suit of its kind in the United States and aimed at what she describes as a simple goal. “We are just asking that the parole board just take a look at them. Have they matured, was this a youthful impetuous crime, did it involve peer pressure, or was it one of those stupid horrible things that youths sometimes do in a moment. Have they matured and should they come home at some point?” asks LaBelle.

A recent report authored by LaBelle and others was funded by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other donors. And also, when LaBelle has received attorney fees for cases she was involved in, much of it goes right back into funding other lawsuits aimed at righting systemic wrongs.

What kind of a lawyer does so much for so little?

“Well, I just like the work,” says LaBelle.

Deborah LaBelle is a graduate of Wayne State Law School. She mentors undergraduate and graduate students and has supervised at least six interns a year for the past ten years. Her practice, the Law Offices of Deborah LaBelle is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Tags: ACLU, Attorney Deborah LaBelle, Lawyers Doing Good, Lawyers Giving Back, Pro Bono
Posted in Lawyers Giving Back | 12 Comments »

Attorney Michele Fuller: 5 Must-Do’s to Protect Special Needs Children

January 17th, 2011. By BrendaC

Attorney Michele Fuller: “Not exploring the options is the biggest mistake a parent can make.”

Attorney Michele Fuller

Parents of special needs children are often so busy with day to day issues, they neglect to prepare for the day when they’ll no longer be there. “Many consumers and parents don’t realize when they have these kinds of issues that they really need to see an attorney who specializes in these kinds of issues,” says Michele Fuller from the Michigan Law Center.

Fuller, who herself is the mother of a child with autism, says not exploring the options is the biggest mistake a parent can make. Many parents incorrectly believe that their child will lose all his or her government benefits if they are included in the will.

“Once they go to a specialist or someone experienced in this type of planning that knee-jerk reaction disappears,” says Fuller, who also is the director of a non-profit group called Advocacy that helps families with mentally or physically challenged children with legal issues.

“I think disinheriting a child is one of the biggest mistakes parents can make because they are leaving the most vulnerable child they have nothing.”

Fuller often advises parents to provide for a “third party trust” in their will to protect their most vulnerable child. It can also protect the estate for the benefit of the more capable siblings.

“This contract is for the benefit of your special needs child—a third party beneficiary,” says Fuller. “They don’t own the money, they are just benefiting from the contract you are creating. That is why we call it a third party special needs trust.”

“With our non-profit group (Advocacy) we have created a third party joinder agreement, so that people can enter into a pool trust,” says Fuller. “It is really meant for people with more modest estates. They don’t have a lot of money, but they still need effective planning for their special needs child or disabled family member.”

Parents often leave everything to a so-called responsible child, but Fuller points out some problems with that decision. “What they have done is essentially disinherited their most vulnerable child in favor of the most responsible child,” says Fuller. “But especially in this economy where people may lose their job, or go through a divorce and half of—or all of—that money may go to creditors or a former spouse—now they have really opened up to door to disaster for their most vulnerable child.

“That sibling may simply not have time to devote to their more vulnerable brother or sister, but there is still an important role for them to play.

“One of the great ways to incorporate family and a trustee is to appoint a trust protector,” says Fuller. “They supervise the acts of the professional trustee so if something goes sideways—they have the ability to move the trust.”

Fuller offers this top five list for parents of physically and/or mentally disabled children.

1. Do not disinherit them

2. See an experienced special needs attorney or planner

3. Make sure there is a plan and fill out letters of intent

4. Make sure who ever is going to help take care of your child knows your child. Does your child have pets, or special friends, or do they go to sleep with the light on?

5. The money situation can be handled, your child will be going through a huge transition so make sure the right person is going to be there for them

Fuller is also a member of the National Academy of Special Needs Planners.

“People who are passionate about this often have a child who is disabled,” says Fuller. “I love helping these families, they are so appreciative and you feel like you really change lives so it is extremely satisfying.”

Michele Fuller is the founder of the Michigan Law Center. She is an expert in a wide range of estate planning issues, particularly special needs planning, elder law, probate administration and settlement planning. Michigan Law also helps fellow attorneys, advisors and other professionals with advice on the best to serve their clients in these areas.

Tags: Estate Planning, Lawyers Doing Good, Lawyers Giving Back, Michele Fuller, Michigan Law Center, Special Needs Children
Posted in Lawyers Giving Back | 6 Comments »