BBVLP eBrief

Birmingham Bar Volunteer Lawyers Program eBrief

January 23, 2015

FREE CLE for Volunteer Attorneys on February 27th

To thank our volunteer attorneys and to provide them the tools they need to defend BBVLP clients, we are holding a free three-hour CLE on Consumer Debt Litigation hosted by Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice and Legal Services Alabama.

Please mark your calendars for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m on February 27th at the Birmingham Bar Center. Participants will learn how to effectively use relevant statutes and case law to help their clients win consumer debt cases.

To qualify for the free CLE, you will have had to volunteer at a Help Desk during the past year or taken a full representation pro bono case. You can also attend the CLE free of charge if you commit to working a Help Desk or commit to accepting a case in 2015.

Help Desk Opportunities

The BBVLP offers three Help Desks to provide legal services to low income community members every week. The Civil Help Desk is every Monday and Thursday from 8:30 am - Noon at the Jefferson County Courthouse on the 5th Floor. The Domestic Relations Help Desk is every Wednesday from 8:30 am - Noon at the Domestic Relations Courthouse. Please check out the Help Desk calendars for January, February, and March for available time slots. Please reply to this e-mail or contact Nancy Yarbrough to sign up.

Clients in Need of a Pro Bono Attorney:

NEW! DR 14-0001920

Client's Ex-Wife Wrongfully Preventing Visitation

Client has not been able to see his child in six weeks. The wife is in contempt of the divorce decree and still will not allow visitation. The client needs help with a hearing on a Petition for Rule Nisi in February.

NEW! DC 15-0002895

Client Needs Guardianship for Mentally Ill Cousin

Client takes care of her cousin who suffers from bipolar disorder. The client needs help getting a guardianship for her cousin.

NEW! DC 15-0002843

Client Needs Help with Father's Estate

Client needs help getting his father's will from his sister. The bank will not allow the client to have access to his father's records because he is not over the estate. The client needs access to the records because he is disputing a debt on the property owed by his sister.

DC 14-0002846

Client Needs Guardianship over Incapacitated Mother

Client is trying to get a guardianship over his 86-year-old mother. The mother suffered a severe head injury last fall and has begun showing early signs of dementia.

To accept a case, please reply to this e-mail or contact Nancy Yarbrough
with the case number.

Thank You to the Pro Bono Attorneys who Closed Extended Service Cases:

Andrew E. Boulter, Leitman Siegal & Payne, PC, obtained a final judgment for divorce for his client. The client's husband is a registered sex offender and the client had not been able to get a divorce for years because she could not afford an attorney.

Linda A. Fiveash helped a client to adopt his granddaughter so that the girl could have a stable home environment.

Priscilla L. Kelley obtained a final judgment of annulment for her client who needed to get out a short-term marriage because her husband lied about being divorced from his first wife.

Elizabeth M. Zwiebel, The Zwiebel Law Firm, LLC, helped a client get a final judgment for divorce, whose husband basically "fell of the face of the earth." Without the divorce the client could not qualify for social services. The client, a hard worker, did not want to accept help for free and offered to clean the volunteer attorney's house in lieu of payment, which the attorney refused.

Christopher L. Yeilding, Balch & Bingham, LLP, helped his client negotiate a settlement with a mechanic for a car that had been destroyed while in the shop.

Thank you to Thomas M. Little, Smith Spires & Peddy, PC, and T. Ross Kinder
for accepting Extended Services cases.

Thank you BBVLP Help Desk Volunteer Attorneys!

District Court Help Desk: 8 Clients Helped on Thursday (No Help Desk on Monday due to the Martin Luther King holiday)

Rosemary N. Alexander, Shunnarrah Injury Lawyers, PC

Patricia A. Doblar

C. Meade Hartfield, Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz

Honza J. Prchal, Henninger Garrison Davis, LLC

William F. Prosch, Jr.

Domestic Relations Help Desk: 32 Clients Helped on Wednesday

April E. Bauder, Gathings Law

Pooja Chawla

Patricia A. Doblar

Matthew A. Griffin

Leon K. Johnson

Priscilla L. Kelley

John B. Milledge

Louis M. Montgomery, Bhate Environmental Associates, Inc.

Megan M. Nix

Pamela Weed

Birmingham Bar Volunteer Lawyers Program
205-250-5198
nyarbrough@vlpbirmingham.org