The Florida Bar Foundation

Brevard Legal Aid launches "Pro Bono Promise"
Attendees at Brevard's Pro Bono Promise kick-off in October.
(See below for detailed caption)

February 2010
by Gabrielle Davis

ORLANDO — Brevard County Legal Aid is giving area lawyers the chance to give back to their community on their own timetable through a new initiative called Brevard’s Pro Bono Promise.

Launched in October, Brevard’s Pro Bono Promise offers training along with opportunities to participate in pro bono services that take less time than traditional pro bono cases.

And their efforts are making a difference.

More than 40 lawyers signed up to do pro bono work at the October kick-off event, and between October and January the program has seen a 20 percent increase in pro bono services compared to the same time last year, said Rob Johnson, executive director of Brevard County Legal Aid.

Findings from a Florida Bar Foundation-funded study, released in September 2008, show that most Florida lawyers have the desire to provide pro bono services but lack the time.

“We’re offering more limited opportunities for attorneys that fall into the group of wanting to do pro bono but are unable because of family commitments or not having enough time,” Johnson said.

Last year the Foundation awarded pilot-project grants of $663,440 to 13 legal aid programs, including Brevard, to enhance or redesign their pro bono programs.

Through Brevard’s Pro Bono Promise volunteer attorneys can work in diverse practice areas, such as representing youth aging out of foster care through a limited appointment in their particular area of expertise.

“For example, a contract attorney can assist a child by explaining and negotiating a lease,” Johnson said.

Attorneys can also assist homeowners facing foreclosure with pre-litigation matters, such as interpreting loan documents, reviewing case files and participating in mediation, rather than being locked into representing the client through the foreclosure process.

In employment law cases, pro bono attorneys can provide quick services like writing demand letters to an employer who is wrongfully withholding a worker’s pay.

And in family law matters, attorneys can take on simpler, time-limited cases rather than longer-running dependency cases.

“We have begun to offer trainings in each of these areas for attorneys who may not usually take those types of cases,” said Lane Cofer, pro bono coordinator for Brevard County Legal Aid. “We also have legal aid staff attorneys and other pro bono attorneys available to mentor volunteers and answer any questions that may arise.”

Along with the kick-off of the Pro Bono Promise program, Brevard County Legal Aid also helped launch The Florida Bar’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Service’s “One” campaign in Brevard.

The “One” campaign, funded by the Foundation, is a statewide pro bono effort for one attorney to take on one case to help one client in need.

In this photo: Clockwise from left: Chief Judge J. Preston Silvernail;
Legal Aid Managing Attorney, Peter Pancoast; guest speaker and pro bono attorney James Torres; Judge Charlie Crawford; Judge Jim Earp; Legal Aid Executive Director, Rob Johnson; Florida Legal Services Pro Bono Liaison Adrianne Davis; and Judge Lisa Davidson pictured at the Pro Bono Promise kick-off in October.