Celebrating Service
2013 Atlanta Bar Association Pro Bono Award:
Real Estate Section
By Michael Leavey
Dorough & Dorough, LLC
[email protected]
W
ith the Atlanta Bar Association’s Celebrating Service
luncheon right around the corner, the Real Estate
Section could not be prouder of its pro bono program counseling unrepresented and underserved residential
landlords. Through this program, which is held once a month
at the Fulton County State and Magistrate Court Self-Help
Center, member-volunteers of the Real Estate Section provide brief consultations on a walk-in and scheduled basis to
new and inexperienced residential landlords, many of whom
have leased their own homes or individual rooms therein to
make ends meet and simply do not have the resources to
hire an attorney. In these consultations, Section members
work to provide landlords with a better understanding of their
obligations and tenants’ rights under Georgia law (for example, the proper statutory procedures for evicting a tenant or
suspending utilities). A key to this worthwhile program’s success is attorney participation. The Section encourages its
members to become involved by signing up for a shift. The
volunteer shifts are only a few hours. And, we have materials on-hand providing an overview of landlord-tenant law.
So, one does not need prior experience with landlord-tenant
issues to participate. For those who are interested or have
questions, please contact Cory Thompson at
[email protected].
If you are interested in becoming more involved with the
Section or its activities, please contact a Board member
(listed below) or Karen English at [email protected].
***
The Real Estate Section’s Board includes Chair Michael E.
Leavey (Dorough & Dorough, LLC); Vice-Chair Jonathan
L. Neville (Arnall Golden Gregory, LLP); Secretary Brian J.
Harris (Bloom Sugarman Everett, LLP); Treasurer Cory B.
Thompson (Kutak Rock, LLP); Immediate Past Chair Charles
H. Van Horn (Berman Fink Van Horn PC); and Members-atLarge Ricky B. Novak (Strategic 1031 Exchange Advisors),
R. Kyle Williams (Williams Teusink, LLC), and Kevin M. Rys
(Neel & Robinson, LLC).
In addition to the Section’s robust pro bono activities, we also
have resumed our monthly breakfast series, which are held the
first Thursday of each month at 7:30 a.m. at the offices of Arnall
Golden Gregory in Atlantic Station. We kicked off the season
in September with a presentation from Vivian Hoard of Taylor
English Duma LLP on “Recent IRS Challenges to Conservation
Easements.” Vivian covered some of the hazards real estate
lawyers and their clients face when establishing conservation
easements on property. At the S