Free legal help is on the way
Published: October 24, 2011
SEBRING - A note to those needing free legal advice: This is your lucky week.
From 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, attorneys will be in the Sam Polston Auditorium at the Bert J. Harris Jr. Agricultural Center, 4509 George Blvd., Sebring, dispensing advice for free.
From noon to 2 p.m. Thursday, attorneys will gather to do the same at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, 595 E. Main St., Avon Park.
At least four attorneys will be at each location, said David Schumacher, who heads the Highlands County Bar Association.
More than 30 such free "ask-a-lawyer clinics" will be held throughout Florida as part of a program called One-on-One Florida, according to the Florida Pro Bono Coordinators Association.
"The clinics are the result of collaboration between bar associations, legal services organizations and law schools, and are an outgrowth of Florida's One Promise campaign, which was launched in October 2009" by the Florida Supreme Court's Standing Committee on Pro Bono.
One function of the clinics, Schumacher said, is to dispel the myth that attorneys always charge for their consultations. A number of lawyers, he said, offer free initial consultations.
Helping cash-strapped clients is contagious, Schumacher added. "If you do one pro bono case, you'll want to do more."
The gatherings also are part of the American Bar Association's National Pro Bono Celebration week, which runs through Saturday.
"The celebration is a coordinated national effort to meet the ever-growing needs of this country's most vulnerable citizens by encouraging and supporting local efforts to expand the delivery of pro bono (free) legal services, and by showcasing the great difference that pro bono lawyers make to the nation, its system of justice, its communities and, most of all, to the clients they serve," according to a statement by the ABA.
As part of his proclamation announcing the celebration, Sebring Mayor George Hensley said "there are only about 10 legal aid lawyers to serve the 10th Judicial Circuit of Florida's low-income population. ?"
The circuit covers Highlands, Polk and Hardee counties, and has a combined population of more than 693,000, the bulk of whom live in Polk County.
Of these, 22.9 percent of the U.S. Census-estimated 28,864 residents of Hardee County live in poverty. In Highlands, 16.4 percent of 97,738 residents live below the poverty level. In Polk County, 14.4 percent of the estimated population of 566,657 lives below the level.
rboyer@highlandstoday.com (863) 386-5838
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Source: http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/2011/oct/24/LAINSIDO1-free-legal-help-is-on-the-way/news/
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