Attorney volunteers help strengthen legal safety nets
I was shocked to learn that more than a third of our students in High School Districts 211 and 214 qualify for free and reduced lunches because their household income level is below the applicable poverty level benchmark.
Unfortunately, people in financial straits are more likely to encounter our judicial system and are even less equipped to handle these encounters. A few wrong turns in life can lead someone to insurmountable debt, punitive penalties, homelessness or incarceration.
Oftentimes volunteer attorneys, giving their time and energy, knowledge and experience, through programs such as those sponsored by the Northwest Suburban Bar Association (NWSBA), save people from even greater calamities when they need it most.
I believe it is important to shed some light upon the depth of poverty and the outstanding service that attorneys in our community provide through pro bono legal assistance to those in need.
Every month hundreds of people come to the Third Municipal District Courthouse in Rolling Meadows in desperate need of legal assistance. Dozens of attorneys volunteer their time to these individuals through programs sponsored by the NWSBA. Over the last three years, the NWSBA has partnered with the Chicago Bar Foundation and Legal Assistance Foundation to implement a Legal Self Help Desk at the Third District Courthouse.
The NWSBA Pro Bono desk is staffed every Friday afternoon by volunteer attorneys who counsel people in 15-minute intervals. This service provides immediate help to our community and to those in the greatest need. Private attorneys step up and volunteer, answering questions, alleviating worries, and preventing injustice.
Victims of violence and abuse, the homeless, those being evicted, having wages garnished, those having homes foreclosed upon, or any of the myriad seemingly insurmountable issues, all have an equal opportunity to be heard because of the tireless work of volunteer attorneys.
The NWSBA Court Facilitator Program provides assistance to those individuals attempting to navigate our judicial system on their own in divorce proceedings. The volunteer attorneys perform a tremendous service to those pro se litigants attempting to obtain a judgment for dissolution of marriage while streamlining an incredibly crowded court call that would otherwise be clogged by people unfamiliar with the judicial process.
In addition to the pro bono attorneys, the Court Facilitator Program and the Legal Self Help Desk, many other attorneys in the NWSBA volunteer their time and energy evaluating judicial candidates, serving as evaluators to high school mock trial competitions, and serving on the boards of local charitable organizations. This outpouring of energy helps shore up our communities' safety nets and makes for a better place to live.
Recently, I had the opportunity to host a luncheon sponsored by the NWSBA honoring more than 100 attorneys who have volunteered their time and energy through these and other worthwhile programs, benefiting our community and our profession. It was incredibly inspiring to witness the generosity of our local practitioners in the legal field.
As we celebrate National Pro Bono Week next week, please join the NWSBA in saluting all the attorneys who freely give of their time, energy, knowledge and experience to help the neediest in our community and champion some incredibly worthwhile causes.
William F. Kelley, the managing partner of Kelley, Kelley & Kelley, has practiced law in the Schaumburg area for over 30 years. He currently serves as president of the Northwest Suburban Bar Association.