For the Good of the Gulf: UNC Law Winter/Spring Break Pro Bono Project

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Working for the Pro Bono Project-Day 2

The other half of our group has spent two highly productive days volunteering for the Pro Bono Project.
The Pro Bono Project was founded in 1986 by the Louisiana Bar Foundation to help provide legal services to the poor. Over 1400 attorneys in Louisiana contribute at least twenty hours of volunteer legal assistance to the Project each year. The Pro Bono Project receives funding from the New Orleans Legal Assistance Corporation, the Louisiana Bar Foundation's Interest on Lawyer's Trust Account (IOLTA), Title III funds, and private donations.
Our small group is helping The Pro Bono Project file pro-se divorce cases. Due to post traumatic stress resulting from Hurricane Katrina, the divorce rate has increased in New Orleans. In the last two days, our group has written seventy divorce petitions, contacted clients, and has arranged to meet our clients as well as other Pro Bono Project clients who were unable to attend their scheduled meetings due to a snow storm last week. I have automated the pro se divorce templates so that we can process client files more rapidly. One of our talented first year students has assisted multiple Spanish speaking clients.

Our group has enjoyed working on the 49th floor of the Shell Building in the law offices of Liskow & Lewis and with our supervising attorneys from Kilpatrick Stockton, Robert and Steve.
Below are several pictures of our group working for the Pro Bono Project.
Louis, Alexis, Najib and Meghan hard at work writing client petitions.



Ann Benoit, an attorney from The Pro Bono Project, answers Sarah's questions about a complex case.














0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home