March Madness Begins…

Whether or not you are a fan of college basketball and the way it takes over television networks and water cooler conversations this time of year, please join me in recognizing our own local spin on March Madness, courtesy of an annual fundraiser for civil legal services.

March 31 ends the fiscal year for the 2016 Campaign for Justice – and this year (like many) it is a mad scramble to the finish line. With days ticking by, the numbers are inching slowly toward the $280,000 goal – but they aren’t there yet.

On March 9 the, the gap from goal was $16,965 (or 94% complete); the next day the numbers shifted $600 to the good putting the balance at $16,365, putting us just over 95% of goal. Hooray!! But, if the pace doesn’t pick up for the last three weeks of March, this is going to be a nail-biter.

CFJ Co-chair Andrew Brown stated: “We are extremely grateful to all those who have already contributed and now make a special plea to others to help us close the gap in the coming days.”

The Justice Society Donor Reception is already scheduled for March 23 5:30- 7:30 at the Memorial Art Gallery for individual donors who contributed $350 or more to this year’s campaign. The social gathering includes remarks by U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth Wolford.

Looking back to last year’s CFJ Donor Reception, it appears the Campaign had $283,935 in pledges. However, 12 months later, there is still a $10,000 gap in the 2015 paid pledges to pledge commitments. So let this be an appeal to pledge fulfillment for BOTH campaigns.

The Justice Society was created to honor individuals at and above a certain dollar-level. For this year’s campaign individual donors comprised 40% of the contributions and 15 vendors also pledged at least $350 to this year’s Campaign.

Written by Nora A. Jones

A Latin lesson... for the public good...

Pro bono publico is the full Latin phrase that is often shortened to pro bono in day-to-day speech. It’s about 50 years since I took Latin 101,* but a recent Facebook quiz (48 questions!) refreshed my memory. For the exact translation of “pro bono” the answer choices were (a) for free; (b) for the good.

Curriculum vitae also popped up among the questions: is it (a) one’s accomplishments or (b) the course of one’s life?

In the course of Derrick Spatorico’s life (Pheterson Spatorico LLP), he took on a pro bono case in March 2015 that finally concluded in January 2017.

When he responded to a VLSP urgent call for volunteers in early 2015, he never imagined spending hundreds of hours over the course of some 23 months. Empire Justice was defending a husband and wife facing eviction and a partition action based on foreclosure on a second mortgage. They needed co-counsel to defend the wife as the developer filed a complaint against the now elderly couple.

“Had I known it would take so many months of work, I would have thought twice about taking the case,” admitted Spatorico. “It ended up being the right decision because this lady really needed my help. As I get older, I see more and more people who are in need of good legal services. I encourage my young associates to donate time every year.”

Vasanthi Pillai, VLSP staff attorney overseeing the case assignment, was pleased to share the news that the trial ended in January –with a result favorable to the home owners.

Without Mr. Spatorico’s dedication, for the public good, the result would have been different. And pro bono work has been a part of his life experience in the course of his career.

Written by Nora A. Jones 

 *Took 3 years of Latin at Ashtabula High School 1967- 1970; got a 93% on the FB quiz.

Just $21K to go... says CFJ Chair Andrew Brown

February is here, bringing back more hours of daylight and the promise of spring. Whether or not the ground hog saw his shadow doesn’t change that fact that there are only about 6 more weeks until the 2016 Campaign for Justice ends.
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Pledges currently stand at just over 92% of the $280,000 goal. Just a little over $21,000 is needed to reach this year’s goal. In the grand scheme of things, $21k is not that much, but without it, the civil legal service agencies would leave an even wider gap in the unmet needs of Rochester’s poverty level residents.

Assistance with tenant evictions, child custody, and consumer debt are just some of the areas where a lawyer’s help and guidance will likely make a significant difference in outcome. Even now we only meet some of the community’s needs, and the full Campaign for Justice goal is needed to maintain status quo.
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For those campaign donors who were putting off their pledge until the new year, the time is now to make your contribution. Campaign Cabinet members, volunteers, and legal agency staff have likely phoned or nudged you a couple of times, so your follow through now is most welcome.

A LawNY team reaches out to potential donors

A new year, a fresh start... Bringing Hope to Less Fortunate Families

For many of us, the holidays encompass visits with extended families and it can feel good to get back to a schedule with only nuclear family in our daily lives. However, for some Rochester children family gets very complicated.

Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC is partnering with Volunteer Legal Services Project on an initiative that focuses on Grandparent Kinship cases. BS&K attorneys have already accepted five cases where drug addiction/overdose, alcoholism, prison, and similar circumstances have made the birth parents inappropriate caregivers, and family members step up to officially take the reins.

Curtis Johnson recently spent 30+ hours helping a client (maternal grandmother) and her husband who had been taking care of two pre-school children after the children’s mother passed away from a heroin overdose. The heartbreak in reviewing the facts reminds us just how difficult 2016 was for some people, including an innocent two-year-old and four-year-old.

Earlier this year, the client was asked by the parents to take care of the children for a while because they were unable to provide for them – as both were on heroin. Child Protective Services was involved, finding the father was not providing adequate care.

With the assistance of Mr. Johnson, the court proceedings took place and the father entered a treatment program and moved in with his parents. He obtained primary custody of the children, and Mr. Johnson was able to get his client visitation for a full weekend each month.

See what I mean about complicated?

Four more custody issues have been assigned to BS&K attorneys Franz Wright, Ed Hourihan, Theresa Rusnak, and Mary Moore. Although the firm typically has few Family Court interactions, the Grandparent Kinship Pro Bono Signature Project is allowing firm attorneys to make a difference and support each other as they help fulfill a significant community need.

All of the pending custody issues involve a grandmother (often maternal) who has already been involved in raising the children. Some of them involve drug addicted parents, potential kidnappings, violence in the home setting, and even murder of a custodial parent.

Thank you Bond Schoeneck & King for taking on these tough cases.

It takes a village...

Campaign for Justice Cabinet hard at work to meet $280,000 goal

Seated, from left: Dan O’Brien, Thomas Durkin, T. Andrew Brown, Megan Dorritie, and Franz Wright. Standing: David Tennant, Sheila Gaddis, Brittany Belknap, Carolyn Nussbaum, Maureen Mulholland, Barbara LaVerdi, Bill Lowe, Aileen Shinaman, Michael Schnittman, Frank Novak, Lori O’Brien, Steve Tranelli, Kelly Ross Brown, and Bryan Babcock.

The morning this photo was taken, about a dozen CFJ Cabinet members were missing or left early. See what I mean about a village? The saying, “it takes a village to raise a child” reflects the beliefs of some African tribes.

The CFJ Cabinet includes many experienced and loyal volunteers who have been helping Volunteer Legal Services Project, Rochester Legal Aid Society, and Legal Assistance of Western New York raise funds to meet critical legal needs of the underserved Rochester community for over 30 years. And their commitment to legal justice helps these agencies meet about 20% of the legal needs of the city’s population who live in poverty.

The CFJ Cabinet are in effect the caregivers who are ensuring equal justice in matters of housing, child custody, consumer fraud, etc. that threaten the safety and security of many underserved folks.

Since this photo was taken in November, this year’s campaign was launched and pledges totaling $180,395 have been tallied just a few days shy of Christmas.

With a little over $180k committed, the remaining balance drops to five digits as volunteers continue to spread the word about the campaign’s importance in our community.

The Law Firm Challenge is off to a great start with 51 attorneys under age 40 contributing so far. Early in the new year, we will learn more about the firms and attorneys who make up the younger tiers of the legal community.

Written by Nora A. Jones

Paying it forward where it is needed most...

Most of us reading this rarely worry about how to get somewhere. Our transportation options are reliable day to day, and we may grumble about the cost of parking but it doesn’t keep us from eating dinner.

There are many in the Rochester area who don’t have a reliable vehicle, can’t afford $8 a pop in the Civic Center garage, or may not even have money for a bus pass.
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BING! Light bulb moment!

Barbara Anne Zinker was talking with her friend Sheila Gaddis about how many visits to Family Court it takes to resolve custody issues. Earlier in 2016, Zinker, a retired City of Rochester employee (1973-2013) was supporting a friend through a child custody matter and made several observations about the Hall of Justice. ​

She recognized that the cost of parking was steep, but in talking to Sheila learned that many VLSP clients use public transportation.

VLSP staff members Danielle Sharp and Scott MacPherson joined the conversation and through their collaboration a transportation program was started in conjunction with the Seventh Judicial District Help Center.

A willingness to donate $250 coupled with a bright idea launched a program that has been in place since last July. 

“In these first months, at least one person per week visiting the Help Center has used a bus pass,” Barbara noted in a recent conversation. “There may be a seasonal increase as winter arrives. And even helping one person a week is rewarding.”

Retired from a life-time of civil service, Barbara feels blessed to be able to help others and sets a great example for how someone not even involved in the day-to-day legal community can make a difference with even a small donation.

Barbara noted that copy expenses can also be a factor for someone involved in the civil legal services. Maybe there should be a parking fund for special vouchers. Maybe….

Just an observant citizen, speaking up and stepping up where there is a need.

Written by Nora A. Jones

"Change can be a good thing" say Campaign for Justice fundraisers

The 2016 Campaign for Justice had $70,030 in pledges by the end of the day November 16 – the first day of the phone-a-thon effort by approximately 50 volunteers in about 50 different locations.

That’s what changed: LOCATION. It used to be that volunteers gathered at one location after work to use a bank of telephones to call potential donors, working from stacks of printed donor cards. This year calls were made by volunteers all day and evening, from whatever phone was handiest, while volunteers used an online database of potential donor names. Reams of paper were spared and the effort surpassed the 2015 first-day tally of $69,148.

Legal Assistance of Western New York (LawNY) put together a team to focus on the one thousand plus attorneys who have never donated to the Campaign for Justice, so they were willing to gather for a lunch hour photo in the Telesca Center for Justice with LawNY Executive Director Ken Perri participating via video conference from the Geneva office.

In the photo, LawNY’s Marlene Attardo and Robin Marable use cell phones to demonstrate calling efforts while Harter Secrest & Emery LLP attorney and LawNY Board Member Iskra Bonanno (center) joins the effort. Far right is Lori O’Brien, LawNY managing attorney. Contributing to the $280,000 campaign goal, several of those “cold calls” resulted in donations.

When the Campaign for Justice started in 1986, I personally was working on a Wang system at Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Co. at 50 E. Broad St., and talk of the paperless office was a pipe dream. Personal computers were making their way into more and more businesses, but we had not yet come to rely on cell phones, or e-mail, or handheld devices. We did not know what an electronic tablet was.

So that very first Campaign for Justice fundraiser relied on paper files, and paper donor cards created from that accumulation of data that we so freely call a database today. Our file cabinets and file folders held the recorded information we manually looked up.

We’ve come a long way in 30 years, with the 2016 Campaign for Justice eliminating reams of paper allowing volunteers to work from and update a special donor database. And, if you are pulling names and phone numbers from cyberspace via electronic device, you can probably be anywhere to make and receive phone calls.

Using the CFJ online database of names and phone numbers saved an initial printing of some 2500 pledge cards/donor sheets. Those paper sheets needed to be sorted, alphabetized, updated, and handled by multiple people over the course of the campaign.

“We still believe in the value of the personal outreach. It is a once-a-year opportunity to help level the playing field where low income residents need guidance on debt, foreclosure, custody, tenant evictions, unemployment insurance, and similar daily-living concerns,” VLSP Executive Director Sheila Gaddis noted.

Written by Nora A. Jones