clients . With a few rare exceptions , the grants do not fund paid lawyers delivering services to clients ( although the grants may support the administrative aspect of running and coordinating volunteer and pro bono efforts ).
As part of our grant process , we ask the agencies that receive the College ’ s funds to tell us their stories of people that they have helped . I am sure you will agree with me after reading just a few of these from our 2023 recipients what an incredible impact your donations continue to have :
Dade Legal Aid – Put Something Back ( 11th Circuit ). A single mother of three children had very low income and was dealing with more than $ 55K worth of debt . My mission was to save her only means of transportation and discharge as much of her debt as possible , said the pro bono attorney . While I was successful in getting the client to keep her $ 6,000 car , I was only able to discharge less than $ 20K in debt . The rest of the debt constituted student loan debt , which , in his view , was not dischargeable . The U . S . Department of Education held claims against client totaling the amount of $ 18,137.00 , but she was happy with the result . She knew that the student loans were not dischargeable at that time . He proceeded to close the case soon after obtaining her discharge . During a conference in Alabama , he heard of certain new guidelines that the U . S . Department of Justice had instituted to make it easier and enhance the consistency and equity in handling student loan discharge cases in bankruptcy proceedings through the filing of an adversary case and submission of an attestation of why the student loans would constitute a hardship for the debtor . Upon learning more in depth about how the mechanic of the new guidelines ,
he contacted the client to explain the possibility of being able to discharge her student loan debt by following the new guidelines . Our pro bono attorney felt he had a very compelling case , and could do something more for the client and perhaps be able to discharge some more of her debts . So , he undertook the filing of an adversary proceeding in her bankruptcy case to attempt to discharge the client ’ s student loan debts . Upon the filing of the case , he set out to complete the required attestation explaining the client ’ s situation as follows :
That she is a single mother of three children ; that she lives with her family in a government subsidized two-bedroom apartment , and barely can make ends meet to put food on the table and cover her other monthly living expenses and that since falling in financial distress and after filing for bankruptcy , she developed and continues to suffer from acute mental disorder that inhibited her ability to find and keep fulltime employment , and could only work part time and regularly attends psychological treatments and therapy sessions through government assisted programs as a result of her medical condition . It took about two months to get a final determination by the Department and ECMC , and we am happy to report that both agreed to FULLY discharge the student loan debt !! When the attorney called the client to give her the good news , she cried and thanked him for taking such an interest in her situation . This kind of heartfelt thanks cannot be described . It is certainly not what you typically get from a paying client . It felt so good to have been able to achieve such results and help client discharge ALL of her debt , including ALL of her student loan debt . Good things certainly happen
continued on page 26
9