Legal Services

Legal Services was in need of 3 different things, so the mentor/mentee group was quickly split up into three groups in order to complete all the tasks.  About 5 people drove off-site to help out in the storage shed, JoAnne Heiting filed documents with the receptionist/officer worker Sara while Professor Cherry answered the phones and manned the front desk, and the remaining 3 students painted areas that needed touching up in the stairwell, hallway, and reception areas. 

Curious to see what the 1Ls thought of the first In Service day, I asked them about it as they painted the stairwell.

Taylor was expecting to be working at the food bank, and was pleasantly surprised to find so many different volunteering opportunities.  She liked that she was working with an organization that had a legal aspect.  At minimum, the 1Ls will learn, either through their own work today or from their fellow students, about the MANY different volunteer opportunities and organizations---there truly is something for everyone.

Taylor was a student at Winthrop before coming to USC Law.  She was very involved in community activities while at Winthrop, working with YoungLife all four years of college and recently interning at the public defenders' office.  She's interested in assisting the indigent in the civil arena (with a focus on helping juveniles), but also wants to learn more about intellectual property.

A fellow 1L, Kelly, comes to us from Xavier University in Ohio (although she's from the Upstate).  She was excited about today's event, but hopes that fellow students will go on to find something they are interested in personally so they can commit to volunteering at that organization.  Taylor, the 2L mentor, jumped in to say that her one reservation about today was that one day isn't always enough to form a connection with an organization, but she thought this day was a great way to give 1Ls a primer, an introduction, to all the different volunteer places.  She also noted that it was a great way to meet fellow students.

Kelly (our 1L from Ohio undergrad) was also involved in community service in college.  As a soccer player she participated in many events with her team in college---she helped out at a literacy center and helped coach high school soccer.  She also completed an unpaid internship in Dublin, Ireland, working for the Immigrant Council of Ireland (like a Legal Aid for immigrants).  She says she met many people from different non-European countries (Nigeria and Lithuania to name a couple) and also worked with people of many different nationalities (Russia and Romania). 

  I also interviewed our Legal Services contact, the newest attorney there, Olivia Jones.  Olivia is a pretty recent USC Law grad, and she was the Pro Bono Committee president while she attended.  She worked at the Administrative Law Court for about a year before coming to Legal Services this past November. 

  Olivia had a lot of great things to say about our very own Pam Robinson.  She said Pam was the most supportive person for her while she was in law school, and that Pam continues to have a presence in her life.  In fact, Olivia says Pam was at her wedding, at her recent birthday party, and is a frequent lunch partner.  Olivia credits Pam with getting her interested in public interest law.  She mentions that she knew she wanted a job where she could use her Spanish and that Pam got her involved with VITA (the tax assistance program that USC Law Pro Bono provides to local indigent individuals and families in the Spring Semester), specifically, the one-day program that was specifically for spanish-speaking individuals who needed help with their taxes.  Olivia remembers, very fondly, how much these people needed and appreciated the help.  In the end, Olivia put it perfectly for those of us who know Pam when she said that Pam was always there with an open door, a cup of coffee, and an open ear to act as her sounding board. I hear ya Olivia!

  Olivia is very happy about this program.  She notes that some of her former classmates still don't understand what it is the Legal Services does and she hopes this experience will educate not only the students who were at Legal Services today, but all the classmates who will hear about today's events.  Another main point Olivia made was that today's work shows that regardless of your legal skill/experience, you can always help in some way.  The 2-day law student 1Ls at Legal Services today painted and spruced up the office, which makes the office a nicer environment for the clients and also allows the attorneys and office staff at the office to focus on their main priority---the clients. 

  Professor Cherry (our very own Nonprofit Organizations Clinic professor) told us, as she manned the phones and greeted two clients, that she thought today was a wonderful opportunity for law students to get a firsthand look at what community groups do.  She thought the day had been very succesful.  JoAnne Heiting thought so too.  She helped out by filing paperwork with Sara (the receptionist). 

Personally, today gave me several things: an opportunity to get to know some 1Ls personally, whom I otherwise might never have had an opportunity to speak to; an appreciation of our school's commitment to community service and pro bono (everyone from our "law school mom" JoAnne to professors were there); an understanding of what Legal Services does; and an introduction to attorneys who are working a job they love while making a difference. 

Below is some information Olivia shared with us about Legal Services:

    Legal Service offices (there are 9 around South Carolina) provide help with civil matters.  They don't handle criminal matters, and if it involves a fee generating claim then they don't handle it either.  They provide this legal assistance to the indigent population of SC (estimated to be around 650K people).  They are funded completely from federal, state, and local grants (no, they aren't a state agency).  There is NO cost (they don't apply a sliding scale according to how much the client makes, it is free service for everyone who falls under the federal poverty guidelines) for the legal services, and clients only pay for outside costs (think filing fees, GAL fees, etc).  People in need of their services can apply by telephone or in person.  The Legal Services offices have the ability to assist, and communicate with, the disabled, non-english speakers, and the vision/hearing impaired.  They have braille and sign language services, can provide for a translator for any language, and can conduct home visits for those clients who are home-bound.  Legal Service attorneys provide legal advice, guidance on other resources, community education, pro se divorce workshops, and many other services.

    Interested in working with them---while some attorneys speacialize in certain areas (think foreclosures for one attorney, family law issues for another, domestic abuse (protective orders etc for the victims) for another, and estate issues for another), some offices have only a few attorneys who are more like general practitioners.  Attorneys who work there qualify for loan forgiveness and assistance programs.  There are positions for unpaid interns, but some of these spots can turn into paid positions as law clerks for the office.

  The economy has affected Legal Services, just as it has the entire non-profit world.  They are experiencing a heavier case load and have recently closed the Lexington Legal Services office.

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