Lawyer Referral & Information Service
Success for LRIS in 2014
Reflecting on a Year of Achievements
T
he Atlanta Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral and
Information Service’s (LRIS) goal is to aid the public
with finding the right attorney who has the capability to
address their legal issue and reflects legal professionalism,
integrity and commitment to service. On average, LRIS
representatives answer about 40,000 calls per year and
refer over 1,000 callers per month to our 320 panel attorneys
who have expertise in 86 areas of law.
Over the past year LRIS has become more involved with
the community through our marketing efforts; LRIS utilizes
many avenues of outreach to ensure our presence in the
community. This past year Lawyer Referral and Information
Service advertised on MARTA, at the Atlanta Bar Association’s
Legal Runaround 5K race, on social media, and on our
new and improved website. MARTA ran our ad starting in
June 2014 on buses, trains, and in the train stations; LRIS
representatives received several calls from MARTA riders
requesting legal advice and/or representation from our
qualified panel attorneys. LRIS participated in the successful
Legal Runaround 5K race that was held on September
13, 2014 by the Atlanta Bar Association, which benefitted
Atlanta Police officers’ children by helping to provide college
scholarships to those whose parents were injured or killed in
the line of duty; Lawyer Referral
and Information Service created
its own team and t-shirts to raise
knowledge of the service. Our
social media outlets are geared
towards the general public,
providing the community with
legal updates and stories. Since
the new and improved website
was launched in June, LRIS is
excited to have the ability for the
community and panel members
to interact with each other via
blogs and forums.
to retain a private attorney at the standard market rate. The
Modest Means Program was revamped in 2013 and has since
accepted over 200 applications. It is always rewarding for LRIS
to be notified of successful attorney-clients relationships and
case outcomes. Recently, one of our Modest Means panel
attorneys, Nicole Merenivitch, was hired by a Modest Means
Program client with only one and a half weeks before the
final hearing; the client was in desperate need of a qualified
attorney to represent her in court regarding a child custody
issue, after her previous attorney withdrew from her case.
Since this client has hired Attorney Merenivitch, the client
feels like she finally has the courage and knowledge to defend
herself against the opposing side; this individual describes her
attorney as knowledgeable, detail-oriented, confident, and
dedicated. We are pleased to know that the Modest Means
Program sponsored by the Atlanta Bar Association’s Lawyer
Referral and Information Service is providing qualified and
diligent attorneys to low income individuals and families in
the Metro Atlanta area.
The Modest Means Program
is sponsore