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ABA Military Pro Bono Project: 2012 Winter Newsletter - Military Attorneys
- 1/11/2012
- ABA Military Pro Bono Project
ABA Military Pro Bono Project
2012 Winter Newsletter
Military Attorneys
The ABA Military Pro Bono Project, www.militaryprobono.org, accepts case referrals from military legal assistance offices anywhere in the world on behalf of junior-enlisted servicemembers with civil legal issues, and it places these cases with pro bono attorneys where the legal assistance is needed in the United States. The Project also includes Operation Stand-By, through which military attorneys may seek attorney-to-attorney advice from civilian attorneys to receive guidance to help them further assist their servicemember clients.
Thank You For Using the Project Resources!
Many of our servicemembers are troubled with legal needs that can distract them from their missions and can make their already difficult daily lives even more challenging. Thank you for registering with the Project to use the Project’s referral system, Operation Stand-By and website resources to further help our servicemembers.
Cases Referred for Pro Bono Legal Assistance
Since the Project’s establishment in late-2008, we have served the pro bono assistance needs of nearly 500 servicemembers and their families with over $2 million in donated billable hours from our pro bono attorney volunteers. We are proud to report that nearly half of the case referrals submitted to the Project are approved by the designated supervising military attorneys and successfully placed with volunteer attorneys. Thank you for your help by submitting case referrals!
You can find the Project’s updated referral guidelines after logging onto the website. We will be counting on you to refer only those most meritorious and deserving clients. Additionally, the thoroughness of the information submitted with case referrals, the substantive and geographic areas of cases, and other factors can influence how quickly or successfully referred cases will get placed with volunteer attorneys.
Acknowledge Our Volunteers and Spread the Word!
New: Salute to Pro Bono!
Did a volunteer attorney, located by the ABA Military Pro Bono Project, help one of your clients with a legal matter? If so, take this opportunity to make a quick note to acknowledge and thank a volunteer for his or her pro bono help! Click here to find further information and leave a note.
We depend on volunteer attorneys throughout the nation who are generously willing to provide pro bono help to our servicemembers who are in need of pro bono assistance. After we gather and screen submitted comments, your comment may be posted on the Project website, so website visitors can see how our volunteer attorneys are helping servicemembers with legal needs. Note that your comment may be edited so the name of your client or other personally identifying information will not be included in the post.
Spread the Word about the Project
Over 1,500 attorneys and pro bono coordinators have registered with the Project with an interest in helping our servicemembers and/or providing advice through Operation Stand-By. However, our volunteer roster must continue to grow so case referrals can be successfully and quickly placed with volunteer attorneys throughout the nation. Do you know others who might be interested in helping servicemembers with their legal needs—perhaps former law firm colleagues, law school friends, or connections within your community? Please spread the word to your networks about the Project. Encourage them to register on the Project website so they can stay up-to-date about the pro bono opportunities on behalf of our servicemembers.
Using the New Operation Stand-By
The Project also includes Operation Stand-By, through which you may contact civilian attorneys with legal questions relating to their geographic areas and substantive areas of expertise for attorney-to-attorney advice, so you can receive guidance that will allow you to further assist your servicemember clients.
In working with your clients, there may be times when you need state-specific legal information, or perhaps deeper analysis of a legal area with which you are less familiar. For example, due to your client’s unique facts, you may have questions about the proper jurisdiction for your client’s case, whether there is a potential legal remedy for your client’s issue in a certain state, or how a particular remedy in an unfamiliar legal area can be pursued.
Through the new Operation Stand-By lists, you may connect with civilian attorneys who can advise you on these issues. The lists are accessible by military legal assistance attorneys who are registered with the Military Pro Bono Project. Make sure that you read the Operation Stand-By guidelines, noting that clients should not communicate directly with Operation Stand-By volunteers, you may not provide any information on the Operation Stand-By lists to your clients or other individuals, and you may not contact these attorneys to seek pro bono representation for your clients.
Thank you to the ABA Family Law Section’s Military Committee, which partnered with the Project in the creation of the new Operation Stand-By in 2011.
New Resources and Updates on the Project Website
Project’s Online Library
Did you know that the Project has an online library filled with resources that focus on legal issues faced by servicemembers, veterans, and military family members? Log onto the website and visit the Project Library. Thanks to the Georgia Online Justice Community, about 100 new resources were recently added to the Project Library.
New Website Organization
The Project’s public website, www.militaryprobono.org, was recently reorganized so it can better accommodate potential future expansions to the Project. With the new organization, we also hope that you will find the public website easy-to-use when making case referrals and utilizing Operation Stand-By and other website resources.
ABA Home Front: Legal Resources for Military Families
ABA Home Front is an online resource, on www.ABAHomeFront.org, designed to help military members, veterans, and their families find legal information, referrals, and representation for civil legal matters. The ABA Home Front website includes the following:
Directory of Programs
The Directory of Programs is a national, state-by-state guide to the free and low-cost legal service programs available to assist veterans, servicemembers, and their families with all types of civil legal problems. The Directory features contact information and descriptions for military legal assistance offices, legal aid and pro bono programs, lawyer referral services, and military-specific programs.
Information Center
The Information Center provides current legal information on a variety of topics affecting military families. The legal content in the Information Center is exclusive to the ABA, adapted from a number of publications issued by ABA entities, and is written in a manner that is easily understood by non-attorney users. The Information Center features short articles on matters of interest to military members, including: (1) considerations when hiring a lawyer; (2) eligibility for free services through military legal assistance offices; (3) family law matters; and (4) legal protections available under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
Survey: Assessment of Judicial Training on Military Issues
An online survey is being conducted by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) with funding support from the Vivian Phillips Charitable Trust. NCJFCJ is requesting help with a very important needs assessment regarding training and technical assistance for juvenile and family courts on military issues. This survey is brief and will take less than 10 minutes to complete. NCJFCJ is asking for survey responses by January 17.
Click here to participate in the survey.
Your answers will remain completely confidential. If you have any questions about this survey, please contact Dr. Shawn Marsh at smarsh@ncjfcj.org or (775) 784-8070.
Dialogue: Fall 2011
Read the latest article in Dialogue— the magazine of the ABA Division for Legal Services, which brings you news and topical information about the delivery of legal services to low and moderate income people—featured by the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel (LAMP): Youth in Military Families: An Invisible At-Risk Population, by Justice Bobbe J. Bridge (ret.), Merina Bigley, and Hathaway Burden.
Would you be interested in writing an article to be published in Dialogue? Review the Dialogue Writers’ Guidelines or contact Jason Vail at jason.vail@americanbar.org for more information.
Recently Released Books
A Judge’s Benchbook for the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
A Judge’s Benchbook for the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, by Colonel John S. Odom, Jr., USAF, Retired, is designed to acquaint judges of all levels regarding the provisions that protect servicemembers while they serve on active duty, because many judges are unfamiliar with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The Benchbook is available on the ABA Web Store.
The Military Divorce Handbook
Now completely revised and expanded, the new edition of The Military Divorce Handbook, by Mark E. Sullivan, is a timely and much-needed addition to a family lawyer’s library. Both comprehensive and practical, it covers all aspects of representing servicemembers and their spouses in divorce in an accessible, easy-to-use format. This book is available on the ABA Web Store.
ABA Members may purchase these books at discounted prices!
Free and Discounted ABA Membership for Military Attorneys
ABA membership delivers resources that help Judge Advocates develop professionally both during their service and as they transition to civilian life.
FREE ABA Membership
Did you know that you are eligible for a free ABA membership if you are currently an active-duty Judge Advocate and have been licensed to practice law for five years or less? See further information about this membership offer!
Membership Discount
For those not eligible for a free membership, the ABA is offering a new, lower group membership rate for active-duty military lawyers, retired JAG officers, and reservists. Military lawyers can now join at the group rate for only $70 per year and pay individually through the online form.
Thank you to the Project’s Star Ranking Supporters!
The ABA Military Pro Bono Project depends on financial contributions from Project partners, law firms, corporations, and private individuals to further its mission to connect active-duty servicemembers and their families to attorneys willing to donate their time to deliver high-quality, free legal services. Financial support of the Project, through the American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education, a 501(c)(3) entity, helps to ensure that our servicemembers receive the legal help that they need.
Special thanks to the following Star Ranking Supporters:
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AM General
Bechtel
General Dynamics
Lockheed Martin
Rockwell Collins
And thank you to all of our Star Ranking Supporters acknowledged on the Project’s website.
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