Some Things In Life Are Free

Our firm attended a fund raiser last night for the Mobile Volunteer Lawyers Program. It was good fun, good friends, decent food (hey – it was a banquet) and great feelings. The event was part of Pro Bono Week, celebrating volunteer lawyer programs across the country.

Several local lawyers who are also amateur actors put on skits that ranged from funny to serious to inspiring.

The Alabama State Bar Association set up the Volunteer Lawyers Program to provide legal help to lower income Alabamians in non-fee generating civil cases. Presently, the program is running in Montgomery, Mobile, Birmingham and Huntsville. This is the legal profession at its finest moment. Blakely Davis, the director of our program, told us that the attorney participation rate nationwide ranges between 15 and 25 percent. In Mobile, Alabama, however, the rate is 60 percent – WOW. Credit goes to Blakely, her staff and the local board members.

If you have a legal problem and can’t afford a lawyer, contact the local VLP office. If you practice law in Mobile and have not yet participated, sign up today. Got a good lawyer joke? Save it for someone who has not been served by this great program. Those who have won’t give you much of a laugh.