PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
The money raised from the Atlanta Bar Association Bard Show
(May 1 & 2, 2015), the Atlanta Bar Foundation Law Jam: Battle
of the Atlanta Lawyer Bands (June 27, 2015), and a portion
of the Lawyer Referral fees to the Atlanta Bar are donated to
various pro bono organizations who apply for grants. In late
2014, approximately $110,000 was donated to local pro
bono organizations from these Atlanta Bar groups.
All of the Atlanta Bar Association’s twenty-two (22) Sections
participate or support at least one type of pro bono activity,
including profession improvement activities. They also
financially support pro bono organizations and Pro Bono
March Madness. Following are some Pro Bono section
activities, which provide legal work to the less fortunate on a
volunteer basis:
The Bankruptcy Section has three main pro bono programs
as described by Section Chair Nancy Whaley:
1. The Reaffirmation Project: Lawyers provide assistance to
Pro Se Debtors in Chapter 7.
2. LICAP (Low Income Creditors Assistance Project) “The
goal of LICAP is to provide low income judgment creditors with
free legal assistance in bankruptcy cases. These creditors …
are pursuing or have obtained judgments against employers
and landlords….”
3. Adversary Proceeding Pro Bono Project. “This program
provides a pro bono lawyer to a pro se debtor in bankruptcy
with a pending adversary.”
The Estate Planning and Probate Section provides lawyers
to the Probate Information Center (PIC) in the Probate Courts
of Fulton and DeKalb Counties. At least once a month the
attorneys answer questions or provide help filing documents
with the probate courts. The Litigation Section supports
the Truancy Intervention Project (TIP) by promoting TIP
and its training sessions with their membership. TIP trained
attorneys serve as lawyers and Guardians ad Litem for the
chronically absent children. The Criminal Law Section also
supports TIP.
The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association
The Real Estate Section provides advice for landlords in
cases involving rental disputes in Fulton County State Court.
The Women in Profession Section “co-hosts a pro bono
partnership assisting low income cancer patients with their
legal needs” as noted on the Bar website. 4 The Intellectual
Property Section (IP) is one of the groups that helped cofound and will support the new Georgia PATENT Program.
The PATENT program “will be administered through Georgia
Lawyers for the Arts (GLA) which will screen and refer the
inventors to patent lawyers with the appropriate expertise
to assist with the filing of a patent application,” according to
Chris Lightner, Past IP Chair. Referrals will also be made by
firms and Atlanta and Georgia IP sections.
You can find more information on most of these opportunities
and how to get involved at atlantabar.org, by calling the Atlanta
Bar Association at (404) 521-0781 or by calling the Lawyer
Referral and Information Service at (404) 521-0777.
I appreciate the research assistance provided by Michelle
Tanen, 3L, The Saylor La