Lawyer jokes abound in our sometimes jaded society, but when someone needs

a lawyer, it's no joke.  Trouble is, thousands of Tucsonans can't afford a lawyer,

with fees as high as $5,000 for even a simple case.

 

That's where the Volunteer

Lawyers Program of Southern

Arizona Legal Aid comes in. 

Newly released statistics

show that last year, 1,220

Tucson lawyers volunteered

more than 24,000 hours of

legal work - a value of $4

million to help 2,641 clients

who otherwise couldn't afford

legal assistance.

 

The lawyers handled everything from divorce cases to eviction notices.  Just ask

Andrea Luján or Martha Peña, among the many Tucsonans assisted by

volunteer lawyers.

 

"I didn't know I had any rights," said Luján, whose New Year's Day celebrations

ended abruptly when someone began fiercely kicking the door of her mobile

home.  The woman she was buying the home from was trying to evict her.

Luján called police, who gave her the number for Southern Arizona Legal Aid,

which offers the Volunteer Lawyers Program.

 

"(The next day) at 11 a.m., I was at Legal Aid," said Luján, who has three

children ages 10 and younger.

 

Two days later, a judge dismissed the eviction case.

 

"The judge immediately saw what they were trying to do, and he held up a copy

of the tenant-landlord law," said Luis Ochoa, a partner at Quarles & Brady law

firm. The judge dismissed the case on the spot, said Ochoa, who did not charge

Luján a fee.

 

In three days, Luján went from despair to court victory, thanks to the free legal

aid she got from the Volunteer Lawyers Program, which sent her to Quarles &

Brady.

 

"Thanks to them, I have a home," she said.

 

Luján was the first person in 2007 to turn to the Volunteer Lawyers Program.

To qualify for use of the program, a person's income must fall below the federal

poverty line, which is $25,000 annual income for a family of four or $16,500 for a

family of two in Tucson.

 

Lawyer Shannon Giles, a partner at Quarles & Brady, is currently working for

free to secure the title of Luján's mobile home to complete her case.

 

A bit over a year earlier, Peña secured a divorce and a green card through the

pro bono work of lawyers Alyce Pennington and Lisa Schriner Lewis at the

DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy law firm.

 

In large part, Peña's growing comfort with English stems directly from the

devotion of Pennington and Lewis.

 

Their work gave her an independence that allowed her to devote herself to

classes in English as a Second Language at Pima Community College. With

her new-found language skills, she hopes to get a job at a bank.

 

"This time was terrible," Peña said about the period before she was referred to

Legal Aid. "I didn't know from this kind of help. I was lost. I was very confused.

Finally, when I got this help, it was wonderful."

 

Her English has flourished as a result. Each time the lawyers see her, they are

astonished by her progress. Peña conducted this interview almost entirely in

English.

 

"I would have had psychological issues, financial issues" without the Volunteer

Lawyers Program, Peña said. "I can continue raising my boy and do things to

start a new life. I do not even want to think what would have happened (without

the program). Now I am lucky because I have a healthy son, and we have a

better life than we had two years ago."

 

The Volunteer Lawyers Program has helped more than 22,000 clients since

being established in Tucson 25 years ago. But the program has truly emerged

since Michele Mirto became its director in 1996.

 

Ten years ago, VLP helped 400 people, and last year that figure topped 2,600.

In 1999, one law student at the University of Arizona helped in the program, and

last year 150 law students assisted with bankruptcy, domestic relations and

child support cases.

 

"Eighty percent of our child support clients have calculated their child support

incorrectly," Mirto said. "We increase child support an average of $200 per

month."

 

Lewis was one of those law students before she joined Pennington at DeConcini

McDonald Yetwin & Lacy. The Peña divorce was her first pro bono case as a

professional.  "There's just such a need for this type of work," Lewis said. "There

is such a large number of people who really need it and can't afford it."

 

Giles, too, has noted the ever-growing need for free legal aid.  "Our legal system

has become so complicated that it's become difficult for an individual to navigate

through that," Giles said. "It's our obligation to remedy that wherever we can."

About half of Tucson's attorneys do pro bono work through the program, which

screens potential clients to make sure they qualify before referring them to an

attorney. The program also keeps track of attorneys' volunteer hours and pays

for malpractice insurance for lawyers doing volunteer work.

 

"On the national scene, having 50 percent is on the high end, but that doesn't

mean we don't have a long way to go," Mirto said.

 

"Our hope," added Annie Barrett, the program's law student coordinator, "is to

get the whole Bar working with us. We want 100 percent."

 

Luis Ochoa, a partner at Quarles & Brady, coordinates his firm's pro bono work

and also works closely with the Volunteer Lawyers Program staff.  "The number

of volunteers VLP has been able to recruit is tremendous," Ochoa said. "I hear

about the impact every day. I just realize how many lives it touches in the

community. I want to encourage and motivate the lawyers who say they don't

have enough time. I try to achieve some balance in my life. How many hours I

devote to work, family, friends, VLP. It's part of the equation."

 

Pro bono is an "aspirational goal" established by the Arizona Supreme Court,

which recommends attorneys commit 50 hours per year to pro bono work. Some

states have mandatory pro bono but not Arizona, Mirto said.

 

The Volunteer Lawyers Program handles only civil cases, no criminal work,

though half its cases involve issues surrounding domestic violence such as

being evicted or child support. About a quarter of cases involve consumer

matters such as debt collection, bankruptcies and contracts. Wills and

estates and real property matters are popular, too.

 

"If you're eligible (for free legal aid), you will get something," Mirto said.

 

About 40 percent of eligible clients are referred to a pro bono attorney. The rest

get appointments with self-help legal clinics, advice or brief service - help with

filling out forms, writing letters, making calls - done with Southern Arizona Legal

Aid attorneys, where all cases start before they are farmed out to private

attorneys.

 

Martha Peña found the Volunteer Lawyers Program through a referral from the

Brewster Center, where she turned to get away from an abusive marriage. She

had started with a private attorney, who ultimately dropped her case after her

family paid $3,000.

 

  Peña, a native of Hermosillo,

  Son., came here in 2002 with

  a Tucson boyfriend, who then

  married her. Attorneys

  Pennington and Lewis

  determined there was

  domestic abuse and secured

  a divorce for her.

 

  "She had a little baby, no

support coming in, no job and the language barrier and was in the process of

getting a green card," Pennington said. "There was domestic violence. She was

afraid, totally alone, afraid her baby would be taken from her."

 

Luján paid an initial $4,000 to buy the mobile home she had moved into. A few

months later, the seller wanted to evict her.

 

"I went looking for an apartment because I didn't know I had any rights," said

Luján, who works at the the Citi call center at the UA Science and Technology

Park.  By chance, the solution came because the seller kicked on Luján's door.

Luján called police, who referred her to Southern Arizona Legal Aid.

 

The heavy lifting in the Luján case was done immediately, but key details

remain, and Ochoa and Giles are seeing those through. The title has not been

transferred to Luján and the lender is asking for a $4,000 down payment, but

Luján had made a $4,000 payment to the seller.

 

"We have to make sure she is credited for the first $4,000," said Ochoa, who

estimated the legal fees for Luján would have been about $5,000 without the

Volunteer Lawyers Program.

 

The program has a $451,000 budget, largely underwritten by about $200,000

from the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education and $180,000 from

a Legal Services Corp. grant. Mirto and Barrett are the two attorneys on the

eight-person staff.

 

Attorneys who do pro bono work say it provides rewards that writing a check to a

charity could never bring.  "I serve on a lot of boards," Pennington said. "Nothing

really beats working one on one with a client when something good happens

then and there. You're helping that person, and you see immediate results in

that person's life."