by Teri Corsones, Esq.
Pro Bono Made Easy!
On December 1, 2016, the Vermont Bar
Association and Law Line of Vermont jointly
launched “VT Free Legal Answers”, a new
on-line resource for low-income Vermonters.
The project offers them the opportunity to
log on to vt.freelegalanswers.org, follow
the prompts, and post up to three civil legal
questions. Volunteer lawyers who have
registered to help can log on to the same
site any time day or night, select a question
to answer from the queue, and answer it
on-line. The person who asked the question
then gets an e-mail to let him or her know
that the question has been answered, and
can log on to read the answer. The project,
which is not unique to Vermont, allows
lawyers to easily provide pro bono services
whenever it is convenient for them.
The “Free Legal Answers” program was
first jointly developed by the Tennessee
Alliance for Legal Services and a private
law firm, Baker Donelson, LC, in 2011.
Six other states (Indiana, Minnesota,
Alabama, South Carolina, Arkansas and
West Virginia) established similar programs
soon after. In 2015, the American Bar
Association developed a cloud-based
version of the software and has offered it
to other interested states at no cost. Now,
more than 40 states, including Vermont,
are offering the program.
To date, over 30 Vermont lawyers have
registered to participate. To register,
lawyers log on to vt.freelegalanswers.org,
click “Volunteer Attorney Registration”,
review and agree to the “Use Agreement
for Lawyers,” and follow the prompts.
Once the site administrator (Sam Abel-
Palmer at Law Line of Vermont) approves
the registration by verifying that the
lawyer’s license is active and in good
standing, the volunteer lawyer will receive
an e-mail notification of approval and can
begin answering questions.
Client users who meet the low-income
eligibility requirements must sign the
Use Agreement, indicate the category of
case involved, and provide facts about
their case. To qualify, clients must have
household income less than 250% of the
federal poverty level, not have liquid
assets exceeding $5,000 in value, may
not be incarcerated, and may not request
assistance with criminal law matters. If
a client user is not eligible to use the
site, the website will direct the person
to other resources including private bar
referral, self-help options and legal service
providers. Users are limited to posting
three questions on three different topics in
a calendar year.
www.vtbar.org
When a client submits a
question and receives an
answer from a lawyer, a limited
lawyer/client
relationship
forms, as described in the
Use Agreements for both
users and lawyers. The
representation is limited to
providing an answer to the
question, and will not involve
any continuing representation
beyond the act of providing
the answer. The user consents
to the limited nature of the
relationship, or is not allowed
access to the site.
Volunteer lawyers may log
on at any time to review a list
of user questions, and select
what they want to answer. If
they wish to see only questions
in certain categories, they can
subscribe to the categories
and to receive an e-mail
notification
whenever
a
question is posted in that
category. They can read the
full question before deciding
whether to select it to answer.
They can also post follow-up
questions if they wish, before
answering the question. Once
a lawyer selects a question
to answer, it is moved to the
lawyer’s personal queue,
and he or she will have three
days to post the answer. If an answer isn’t
posted within that time frame, the question
will be returned to the queue.
Lawyers need not do a conflicts of
interest check upon viewing a name or
reading about a particular situation, unless
they actually recognize a conflict of interest
with the person or the situation. Volunteer
lawyers who provide brief advice and
counsel via the website are covered by
professional liability insurance maintained
by the American Bar Association and by
Legal Services Law Line of Vermont, Inc. If
a user and volunteer lawyer agree to meet
off-line or continue services beyond the
on-line service, however, there is no further
coverage under the ABA or Legal Services
Law Line.
The lawyer’s identity is not revealed to
the client unless the lawyer chooses to
do so. Once the lawyer has answered the
question, the client is asked to accept the
answer or send a follow-up question to
the answer. A lawyer can indicate “case
closed” whenever the lawyer decides that
THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • WINTER 2016-17
VBA’s business cards, which
include contact information
for vt.freelegalanswers.org,
vtlawhelp.org (modest
means) and VBA Lawyer
Referral Service, shown
on display at the Franklin
County Courthouse window.
the question has been fully answered, or
that there is nothing further that the lawyer
can do to assist the client. This ends the
limited attorney-client relationship and
communication between the client and
lawyer ends. An on-line survey is then sent
to the client user for feedback.
We’re grateful to Vermont lawyers for
the tremendous pro bono services they
consistently provide. We also hope that
this program will be a convenient way
for all Vermont lawyers, including those
with transactional, in-house, corporate
and government practices to fulfill their
pro bono aspirations, recommended by
the Rules of Professional Conduct to be
50 hours per year. Please feel free to
contact me at [email protected], VBA
Legal Access Coordinator Mary Ashcroft
at [email protected], or Law Line of
Vermont Interim Director Sam Abel-Palmer
at [email protected] with any
questions.
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