More than 700 friends of AVLF and Atlanta Legal Aid attended the June 11 event at Opera, raising over $75,000 to support equal access to justice in our community.

CAREY KERSTEN | June 30, 2015 Quick snapshot (name, education, job history, any other boards you sit on, etc.): James M. (“Jimmy”) Rusert, University of Georgia, A.B.J., summa cum laude […]

Grand Cru John Chandler & Elizabeth Tanis | Daily Report | Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP | King & Spalding LLP | Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP | Warner, Bates, […]

In 2013, Susan and her boyfriend, Juan, rented a home in South Fulton. A few months later, Susan was hospitalized, and Juan stayed with friends nearby so he could visit her frequently. When Susan was released, she and Juan returned to the home, only to discover that their landlord had turned off the water, changed the locks, and pawed through their belongings.

Please share your quick snapshot (name, education, job history, current position on board, etc.): Sarah Leopold Zampell, St. Lawrence University, B.A. with honors in history (2000); Emory University School of Law (2005); I was an associate with Holland & Knight, LLP for seven years and left the practice in 2012 to stay home with my children.  

How did you get involved with AVLF?  I first volunteered with AVLF in their Safe Families Office during law school as part of a public interest course. After that I was hooked and have volunteered ever since in a number of programs including in their One Child One Lawyer Program representing children in DFCS custody and in their Saturday Lawyers Program.

Meredith Dobbs, Daily Report (reprinted with permission)

W. Steve Allen is a banker, not a lawyer, but he became the board president for the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation this year—the first nonlawyer to head the board in its 35-year history.

My client, Mary Jackson, and I stood in the hallway outside Fulton County Courtroom 1B – eviction court. Ms. Jackson rubbed her reddened eyes. She had just finished describing the conditions inside her rented home: a broken furnace that forced her and her children to huddle around space heaters; a non-functioning oven; uneven floors that dipped dangerously downward; holes in the doors that let the cold air in. She listed all of the times she called her landlord for help, only to be brushed off. The landlord listened placidly, his face unmoving. Finally he leaned in toward me. “It’s not,” he said with disdain, “like I’m a slumlord.”

Congratulations to Michael Lucas, AVLF’s Deputy Director, for winning the 2015 SOAR (“Serving Others and Achieving Results”) Award from the Public Interest Law Association of Georgia State University’s College of Law.

Please share your quick snapshot (name, education, current and past jobs, etc.): Elizabeth Finn Johnson, Harvard University A.B. with honors in Government, University of Virginia Law School J.D. 1987; just retired as Senior Counsel, Employee Relations at The Coca-Cola Company, which I joined in 1990 as Litigation Counsel. Associate at Troutman Sanders 1987-1990.

How did you get involved with AVLF? My first introduction to AVLF was through the Winetasting when I was a young lawyer. In terms of work with AVLF, that started in 2001, after we formed our Pro Bono Committee at the Company and our first project was Wills on Wheels with AVLF. In addition, my husband was a longtime Saturday Lawyers volunteer.

Quick snapshot (name, education, current and past jobs, etc.):

Avital Stadler, Duke University 1993 (BA in Public Policy Studies) and Emory University School of Law 1998. Clerked for the Honorable Julie E. Carnes on the Northern District of Georgia out of law school. Served two stints each with McKenna Long & Aldridge and Sutherland Asbill & Brennan. Now, General Counsel at Esquire Deposition Solutions, LLC.

How long have you been involved with AVLF?

I took my first Saturday Lawyer case in 2002. I have regularly accepted cases through AVLF. I joined the Board in 2006 and have served every executive committee role from secretary to board president.

Adria Perez is a Partner at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP. Her connection with AVLF began when she was a summer associate at Kilpatrick Townsend when she represented domestic violence victims through the Safe Families Office. Adria credits AVLF for teaching her how obtaining a protective order for a victim can create a ripple effect that will change the victim’s and the victim’s family’s future for the better. Recently, Adria received an email from a client for whom she helped obtain a protective order in 2007. The client wrote: “Things are going as good as can be…but the thing that matters the most is that my daughter and I are together which is priceless. I just wanted to say thanks because without you it could have been so much worse…I just wanted to let you know that you made a difference to me and my daughter which we will be forever thankful for you.” From her experience with AVLF, and now being a member of the AVLF Board, Adria has learned how AVLF truly saves lives, and is very proud to be a part of such a great Atlanta institution.  

Over the course of 38 Saturdays in 2014, 286 volunteer attorneys met with 353 low-income Atlantans via AVLF’s Saturday Lawyer Program.

Most of these clients – over 80 percent of them – came to us because of problems with their landlords: lack of repairs, unreturned security deposits, illegal evictions. These clients included Ms. Murphy, who told us that she slept with cotton balls in her ears to keep out the cockroach infestation while she slept. They included Ms. Watson, whose landlord ignored her complaints about the cracking, sagging ceiling – until the ceiling caved in on her and damaged her neck. The remaining clients were evenly split between unpaid wage issues and consumer debt disputes.