Foundation president pushes innovation

August 2008
by Nancy Kinnally

When resources are flat and demand is on the rise, there's only one solution: innovate.

That's the philosophy of Kathy McLeroy, who began her term as president of The Florida Bar Foundation in July after nine years on the Foundation's board. She sees the Foundation as the primary leader in devising solutions to the challenges faced by the legal services delivery system in Florida, where the poor are facing some of their toughest times in decades.

And when McLeroy reads the economic tea leaves, she sees even greater danger ahead. "I think we're going to continue to see, in the next year or two, people coming to us who never have before, or coming to us with new problems," McLeroy said. "A good example is the foreclosure program."

A recent joint project of The Florida Bar, The Florida Bar Foundation, Florida Legal Services Inc. and the Real Property Probate and Trust Law Section of The Florida Bar is linking low-income families facing foreclosure with volunteer attorneys through a toll-free hotline.

"Families suddenly facing job loss, reduction in work hours or sudden major health issues have been among the most vulnerable to the foreclosure crisis," McLeroy said.

Florida's quick and effective response to the foreclosure crisis is an example of the difference good leadership can make. For McLeroy, it also demonstrates an increasing level of sophistication she's seen over a decade on the board of The Florida Bar Foundation. "It's been my sense that we've done a much better job of spotting those issues before they come up," McLeroy said. Using the same forward-thinking approach, the Foundation has funded technological advances such as a statewide computer system for legal services case management, as well as pilot programs that have helped develop best practices. McLeroy cites a program in Lee County that succeeded at speeding up the process of holding delinquent parents accountable in child support cases, and another that provided a video and materials to help pro se bankruptcy filers understand their rights under a new bankruptcy law.

But with just 400 legal services attorneys statewide, no significant increase in funding on the horizon to increase that number, and a poverty population that is steadily on the rise, The Florida Bar Foundation will need to continue to work with its grantees to explore new ways to reach more people in need of legal services. "Otherwise, we're going to have to turn more people away, and that's not acceptable," McLeroy said. "We're already turning away one of every five people who need us." A soon-to-be released report by the Florida Supreme Court/The Florida Bar's Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Service recommends a number of ways to increase the service provided by volunteer attorneys. Launching the implementation of the report's recommendations will be among McLeroy's priorities during the remainder of her term.

She also sees a need to encourage more programs designed to help pro se litigants, many of whom are facing problems such as eviction that can't wait until an attorney is available to take their case.

One such program is a walk-in Legal Information Center set up at the Hillsborough County Courthouse that served 5,489 pro se litigants in just the first eight months of this year. Developed by Bay Area Legal Services, an organization McLeroy has twice served as president, the program is not only a life-saver for the litigants, it also has helped lift a burden from the shrinking staff of the clerk's office. "Every time the chief judge sees me, he thanks me for the pro se assistance projects at the courthouse," McLeroy said. Winner of The Florida Bar President's Pro Bono Service Award in 2005, among many other awards for service, McLeroy chairs the pro bono committee of Carlton Fields, a firm with a strong culture of volunteerism.

"Kathy McLeroy's years of dedication and experience with pro bono and legal aid make her a superb leader for The Florida Bar Foundation," said Bruce Blackwell, the Foundation's immediate past president. "She's not only passionate about the Foundation's work, but she also knows it inside and out, having served on virtually every committee."

McLeroy spends so much of her time focused on meeting the legal needs of the poor out of a belief that only fate separates her from them. "I understand fully that I am where I am because of things that have nothing to do with me," McLeroy said. "The circumstances I was born into allowed me to become a lawyer. It could easily have been just the opposite."