Annual Review
Texas Legal Answers celebrates its one-year anniversary.
By Adam Faderewski
Texas Legal Answers, a
free online legal advice clinic for low-income Texans, celebrated its
one-year anniversary on June 1. As part of the State Bar of Texas’ Pro
Bono Texas initiative, the program was launched with the goal of
increasing access to justice for low-income Texans and removing barriers
for attorneys providing pro bono services. As such, qualifying users can
post civil legal questions to the site and get legal advice from
volunteer pro bono attorneys.
“Running Texas Legal Answers has
been an incredibly rewarding experience,” said Hannah Allison, State Bar
of Texas Pro Bono Programs administrator. “Our volunteers are amazing,
helping so many of our fellow Texans in need with an answer only they
can provide while empowering the clients and moving them closer to
accessing justice. I look forward to working on how this program can
grow and tackling the challenge of recruiting engaged, committed
volunteers.”
Texas Legal Answers has 599 volunteer attorneys
working on 173 active cases across 26 different categories (as of July
18, 2018). Volunteer attorneys have provided $510,625 in pro bono
services and answered 3,663 of 5,382 questions posted, or 68 percent.
“Texas Legal Answers is a simple way to provide legal
assistance,” said Ned Dennis, a solo practitioner in Marshall. “I
normally log on two or three times a week and review pending questions.
I respond to questions where the need is apparent and I feel competent
to reply. Sometimes I have to do some legal research to make sure I am
providing correct information and advice. Most questions, however, do
not require that. Normally, questions do not require more than five
minutes to respond to. Some responses result in follow-up questions or
more information and thus, more correspondence with the individual
involved.”
Texas Legal Answers is part of an American Bar
Association project that launched nationwide in 2015. The Texas program
had the highest number of questions posted in the nation in June,
according to the June 2018 American Bar Association Free Legal Answers
report.
George T. “Buck” Lewis, Free Legal Answers program
creator and ABA Pro Bono Committee chair, said the inspiration for the
program came about during a Tennessee Access to Justice Commission
meeting. Lewis said a recurring theme during discussions was that people
couldn’t get in touch with attorneys or go to clinics due to their work
schedules and personal responsibilities. Lewis said it was noticed
around the room that all the attorneys were using mobile phones to stay
in contact and that email might be a great way for people needing legal
help to reach attorneys.
The program launched in Tennessee in
2010 and was in about half a dozen states by 2015, when the ABA Pro Bono
Committee launched the program nationally. According to Tali K.
Albukerk, national administrator of ABA Free Legal Answers, 42
jurisdictions are committed to participating in the program. Of those,
38 jurisdictions are participating in the ABA Free Legal Answers program
in various stages of access by clients, pro bono attorneys, and/or state
administrators.
The number of volunteer lawyers has continued
to increase, said Lewis, and many attorneys who have never done pro bono
work are volunteering through Free Legal Answers programs. Lewis said
the attorney’s ability to answer questions at any time or at any place
has made the service more appealing to attorneys who had not
participated in pro bono work in the past.
Texas Legal Answers
can provide a way to access partnerships, add to summer associate
programs, is a great team-building exercise, and provides opportunities
for in-house clinics.
“The great thing about Texas Legal
Answers is that attorneys can either come together at the same place and
time for an e-clinic, work in different locations at the same time, or
work in different locations at different times,” said San Antonio Young
Lawyers Association Director Michael Ritter, who organized an e-clinic
with members of SAYLA and law students from St. Mary’s University School
of Law. “The Texas Legal Answers system provides flexibility to
implement an e-clinic or a pro bono clinic in a variety of ways.” Naman,
Howell, Smith & Lee sponsored the e-clinic, and Summer Moon Coffee
provided volunteers with a place to congregate and free coffee and
snacks.
“The opportunity to expose students to the process of
receiving, researching, and drafting answers to real-life legal
questions struck me as a meaningful way to introduce one of the many
ways in which lawyers can undertake pro bono practice,” said Gregory
Zlotnick, director of pro bono programs at St. Mary’s University. “The
site’s emphasis on providing clear, concise responses, free of the
dreaded legalese, stood out as an important learning experience.”
Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee also hosted students from Baylor Law
School at its Waco office to answer questions on Texas Legal
Answers.
The attorneys selected questions from Texas Legal
Answers and paired up with law students to answer the questions. The
newer students had group discussions with attorneys about how best to
answer the questions, while more experienced students drafted answers
that were reviewed and discussed with the attorneys, said Stephen
Rispoli, assistant dean of student affairs and pro bono at Baylor Law
School.
Both Rispoli and Zlotnick said that students loved the
experience and that they plan on continuing participation in the Texas
Legal Answers program. Both agreed that the program has the potential to
provide legal services to those in need who cannot afford it and/or
cannot make it to a free legal clinic.
“Many low-income
individuals who lack access to legal services cannot make it to a
physical location at a particular date and time,” Ritter said. “An
e-clinic allows lawyers to help people who are limited in transportation
or by geography. On the lawyer side, lawyers can answer questions at
their leisure, at their own pace, and either with friends and fellow
lawyers or by themselves in the comfort and privacy of their own
homes.”
In order to qualify for Texas Legal Answers, household
income should be less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level and
users cannot be incarcerated, may only seek civil advice, and cannot
post more than three legal questions per year (follow-up questions with
an attorney can be done as many times as the attorney or user chooses).
Users only have to submit their name and county.
Volunteer
attorneys answering questions are anonymous to users, are offered free
malpractice insurance coverage within Texas, and may decide their own
time commitment to the program. Texas Legal Answers offers three
training videos—instructions on how the site works, limited scope, and
using plain language—for volunteers and is planning to add more in the
future. For more information on how to volunteer, go to texaslegalanswers.org.
To learn more about hosting a Texas Legal Answers clinic at
your law firm or organization or to schedule an MCLE-accredited
presentation about Texas Legal Answers for your members or employees,
please contact Hannah Allison at hallison@texasbar.com.TBJ
