In the Volunteer Lawyers Program, attorneys 

spend hundreds of hours giving free legal advice to low-income familes who

otherwise would not be able to afford it, aiding about 3,400 people in

southern Arizona annually. 

Dean Christoffel is a pro-bono, or volunteer, lawyer spearheading one of the Free

Divorce Clinics.

"We do the petition, we fill it out, file it with the court", says Christoffel.

The group gathers to get answers and help in a free divorce clinic.  The

attorneys giving the help begin each session with a brief introduction to divorce

procedures and client rights.

Jacqueline Henneman is a client of the Volunteer Lawyers Program.   She

explains what this legal helping hand means to her.

"There's a lot of women out there that don't get divorced and stay in the

marriage because they don't know about this. And if there's more attorneys out

there that would help, I think it would go by a lot quicker and they would get

more groups going and that would help a lot."

The Southern Arizona Legal Aid Proram involves more than 1,200 lawyers

devoting their time to assisting people in need.  The State of Arizona doesn't

require attorneys to do free work.  There is an aspirational goal of 50 hours of

voluntary time a year, but that is not mandated, so these attorneys are going

above and beyond the call of goodwill to help in our community.

Luis Ochoa an attorney and a member of the Board of Directors.  He

understands what this program means to his clients: 

"You know you're already at a disadvantage; now you're walking in by yourself

and you're probably dealing with a party that has a lawyer and they're just gonna

be able to take anything they want from people that can't afford to pay

anything."

The agency also taps into more than 100 UA Law Students who can help

clients, while also gaining real-world experience.

Dawn Aspacher is a second-year UA Law Student volunteering with the

program. "It helps us too, because we learn the paperwork as we go and

there's always an actual lawyer that we can talk to, ask questions so we're

learning as much as the client at the same time."

"People are so happy that they're able to get those services that the Volunteer

Lawyers Program provides, otherwise they would not be able to get an attorney,

they would have to deal with it," says Anna Ceder, a third year law student.

Volunteer Attorneys help in civil matters like divorce, bankruptcy, debt,

consumer and landlord-tenant disputes.

Original Story:  http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?s=6298522