Pro Bono Spotlight: Meet the new VLSP Pro Bono Coordinator

Check out yesterday's Pro Bono Spotlight article in the The Daily Record and welcome Danielle Nelson, VLSP's new Pro Bono Coordinator!​

Danielle O. Nelson

Court Help Center sees every form of legal need

Often desperate for help when they arrive at the Seventh Judicial District Court Help Center on the 5th floor of Rochester’s Hall of Justice, many find a bit of hope through attorney volunteers. The seemingly insurmountable problems weighing down area residents when they arrive at the Court Help Center include:

• Two sisters, mourning the loss of their mother, are trying to find out how to access mom’s bank account to pay bills associated with her home. They have no idea how to begin the probate​
• A woman is seeking an uncontested divorce since her husband refuses to appear in court, but they don’t agree on the divorce terms. She is afraid of her husband and anxious to terminate​
• A man discovers he is locked out of his apartment and all his personal property has been moved to the curb. Some of it is missing and he doesn’t know what to do.

Two sisters, mourning the loss of their mother, are trying to find out how to access mom’s bank account to pay bills associated with her home. They have no idea how to begin the probate​
​Two sisters, mourning the loss of their mother, are trying to find out how to access mom’s bank account to pay bills associated with her home. They have no idea how to begin the probate​
All of these people are unfamiliar with the legal system and cannot afford to hire an attorney. You can see their frustration and feel their fear. Some of them may have limited reading and/or computer skills.

Some may have language barriers. All are at the mercy of others to find pathways to resolve their
individual situation.

“While we don’t give people legal advice at the Help Center, we can be a collaborator in how to solve
their problem, Gail Norris (University of Rochester) shared when asked about her service at the Help Center. “Often the unrepresented litigants leave with a couple of options regarding whom to call or what papers and next steps are needed.”

“I have been an in-house lawyer practicing business law for more than 15 years, so I am rusty on legal issues these unrepresented litigants face. But I know how to network and use resources to find out answers. And I feel that doing so fulfills my ethical obligation to provide legal support for those who need it but can’t afford it,” Norris added.

The Help Center is open 22 hours a week. There are 2-hour morning shifts to fill five days a week, and 1.5-hour afternoon shifts Monday-Thursday, plus a 3-hour window on Friday afternoons at the Rundel Building of the Rochester Central Library.

“A VLSP staff member, or court staff will be present during the volunteer’s shift, so all volunteers can feel confident that they have resources to help the unrepresented litigants,” noted Scott MacPherson, VLSP staff attorney who oversees the Court Help Center. Scott can be reached at 585-295- 5712 or smacpherson@vlsprochester.org.

Sanjeev Devabhakthuni (Barclay Damon) typically takes two shifts per month. “I am reminded after every shift at the Court Help Center how important it is to provide access to our legal system to those who cannot afford it,” Devabhakthuni said.

The blink of an eye

That’s how VLSP attorney Karen Chung might describe the 12-week period UB Law student/ Pro
Bono Scholar Steven Maffucci spent at VLSP getting hands-on practical experience while he completed his JD. She loved having his help, it just ended too quickly.

Steven’s perception of those same 12-weeks might be described as eye-opening – as he learned
about the need for volunteer attorneys to help under-served clients in Rochester and Buffalo. Of his
own experiences, he shared a story about a client having nightmarish problems with the IRS over
penalties for early withdrawal of retirement funds – which he only withdrew because he was laid off of work and battling cancer.

“I saw how someone who is essentially doing everything right can, in the blink of an eye, be
faced with legal problems that just aren’t going to disappear,” Steven said.

The Wednesday on-campus class that Steven and seven other Pro Bono Scholars attended this
semester augmented their practical experience as they shared stories each week about various client issues.

“All eight of us were in different placements, some handling immigration or domestic violence,
others working with housing and family law issues,” Steven added. “We talked about how to approach clients with difficult news, and how to simply listen to clients.”

Asked about advice he might offer an aspiring law student, Steven quickly endorsed the Pro
Bono Scholars program by saying: “I’d tell them to jump on it. The Pro Bono Scholars experience gets you fully immersed in the real world.”

Closing the gap... volunteers needed

Closing the Gap is a partnership between the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York (LASNNY), Legal Assistance of Western New York (LawNY), Volunteer Legal Services Project of Monroe County, Inc. (VLSP) and Pro Bono Net with the goal of closing the urban/rural gap in legal services in northeastern and western upstate New York using innovative technology and cross program collaborations. The first Rochester area attorney volunteers were trained earlier this month, earning free CLE credits through VLSP in exchange for taking a rural client assignment via webcam.

This program is focused on consumer debt and eviction cases, so in addition to logistics/computer
training, the pro bono attorneys receive training and support materials in these substantive areas.
The volunteer attorney can work from their home or office – wherever they have a computer with
internet access, a webcam and microphone. The video chat feature – they tell me it’s easy.

Because some of the cases require urgent attention (emergency evictions), it is helpful for a volunteer attorney to sign up for particular days to be on call.

The attorney will communicate via webcam with the client who will have a computer connection at one of the LawNY outlying offices (Bath, Elmira, Geneva, Ithaca, Jamestown or Olean).

To volunteer for this exciting new Closing the Gap opportunity, contact Scott MacPherson at VLSP:
smacpherson@vlsprochester.org.

Written by Nora A. Jones

Savage inequalities: landlord v. tenant

For me, the clipart above is iconic for someone who seems to hold all the power.
In the landlord-tenant relationship, that is often the landlord, and most clearly so when a petition for non-payment and petition to recover possession of real property is involved (a/k/a/ eviction notice). The landlord’s decision to put someone out on the street in 72 hours is often a last resort due to the financial stress of a non-paying tenant. The tenant generally is already feeling vulnerable because of loss of job or illness that he/she has no concept of how to negotiate for more time or partial payments. The already stressed tenant has another probable disadvantage: the landlord often has an attorney and the tenant does not.

That’s where the Tenant Town Court Program, staffed by attorneys volunteering their evening hours, can help tip the balance. An advocate for the tenant can suggest an extension of time both for back-payments and evacuation date. Giving someone 10 days to find a new place is always better than 3 days.

Attorneys at the Appellate Division, Fourth Department have been helping with these types of situations in Irondequoit Town Court since January 4, 2016. Maureen Gilroy says the experience has been rewarding.

“I cannot emphasize enough the amount of gratitude the tenants have expressed basically to just have someone on their side and to talk to.”

Gilroy negotiated almost four weeks for a tenant to find alternate housing, and Libbie DiMarco reviewed another tenant’s situation, negotiating with the landlord’s attorney for a reduction in back-owed rent and three weeks to find a new place.

“The tenant had no local family, she was originally from out-of-state,” DiMarco noted, acknowledging how harsh a 3-day eviction might have been.

Linda Kostin, Lisa Paine , Alan Ross, Michael Tuohey, Adam Oshrin, Brittany Jones, Craig Peterson, Kristin Dawson Henderson, Joseph Dinolfo, Christopher Larrabee and others have been attending Irondequoit’s Tenant Town Court sessions, helping more than two dozen tenants negotiate a more tolerable outcome than what they faced coming into court that evening.

This program is funded by a generous grant from The New York Bar Foundation.
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Written by Nora A. Jones

500 hours of pro bono = 12 credit hours for UB 3L

New York State is the first and only state that allows and encourages law students to swap classroom work for full-time public service at a time when underserved clients out-number the number of pro bono hours local attorneys have available to offer.

Steven Maffucci is finishing his third year at the SUNY Buffalo School of Law by working 12 full-time weeks at Volunteer Legal Services Project of Monroe County, Inc. With a 3-credit class on campus one afternoon a week, he will complete his third year while most classmates are still in the classroom and anticipating taking the bar exam.

He’s one of eight UB Law students selected for the Pro Bono Scholars Program which was just introduced in 2014 by then-Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, and allows 3L students to take the February bar exam.
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A Rochester native, Maffucci has both civilian work experience and four years of military service under his belt, so he especially feels ready to “get to work.”

Working under the supervision of VLSP Staff Attorney Mary Beth Conway, Maffucci has shadowed other attorneys during two Family Law Custody Clinics held at the VLSP offices, and had similar experiences in the Irondequoit Tenant Town Court Program on two occasions.

"I’ve also been able to help out by calling several clients facing a denial of unemployment benefits to learn details after the initial intake. I’ve also participated in client interviews involving child protective services issues, name change, identity theft, and mortgage foreclosure.”

He has also helped staff attorneys with research projects ranging from immigration and naturalization issues to unemployment to family law.
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And that’s just been in his first four weeks!

Written by Nora A. Jones

With CFJ at $284,435, there is much to $mile about

The Justice Society Donor Reception provided a special opportunity to acknowledge the “exeeded goal” status of the 2015 Campaign for Justice. With a $280,000 fundraising goal to support programs at three legal service agencies – Volunteer Legal Services Project, Inc., Rochester Legal Aid Society, and LawNY – the individual “high givers” ($350+) accounted for $116,000 or nearly 40% of the dollars pledged.

Law firm pledges, in-house council contributions, pledges from a dozen or more vendors, and numerous individual donors of smaller amounts comprised the balance of the $284,435 recorded for this year’s campaign.

About 86% of campaign pledges have been paid, but the remaining $40k needs to be collected to officially wrap up the Campaign for Justice by March 31.

Campaign co-chairs Frank Novak, William Q. Lowe, and Arline Santiago all expressed their relief and gratitude at this year’s campaign success.

​“Setting a $280,000 goal did make me nervous,” admitted Frank Novak, grinning broadly at the March 10th reception held at the Memorial Art Gallery.

Written by Nora A. Jones