LUNCH AT LEGAL AID
By Ellen Archibald

I don’t actually eat lunch at Appalachian Legal Services (ALS), but I spend one lunch hour a week there, screening applicants for ALS’s bankruptcy services. ALS (the result of a merger between the Legal Aid Society of Charleston and Appalachian Research & Defense Fund, Inc), in Charleston, takes clients from 12 counties, but it doesn’t have the resources to assign each bankruptcy client to a staff or pro bono lawyer. Instead, a Charleston bankruptcy lawyer teaches a 3-hour self-help class, for people who want to file for bankruptcy and appear able to handle the paperwork on their own.

My job is to see if applicants for bankruptcy help are interested in and could likely benefit from the class. The class has been offered once a month, on average, over the past ten years, but it can address only basic bankruptcy filings.

I explain generally how bankruptcy works, answer basic questions (do I have to include my house? I hear you can’t get credit for 7 years?), and explain what ALS can offer: the self-help class. I have to tell many people that ALS can’t help them. For example, student loans are common, but the federally guaranteed loans require special treatment, and the self-help class doesn’t cover them. Sometimes I can refer people to other sources of help.

In most cases, the debts really do appear beyond the clients’ control. An elderly widow moved to West Virginia to live with her daughter and son-in-law, who brought her to ALS. Without adequate health insurance Mom couldn’t pay her medical bills, and the family couldn’t afford to pay Mom’s bills in addition to their own. A young mother had debts she incurred, without understanding their terms, before she married; she came with her husband, laid off from his job, and 2 toddlers. I told her she qualified for the self-help class, but after her husband explained that she couldn’t read or write, we agreed her best hope was to find a lawyer to help her.

My one lunch hour seems like very little, but it helps in 3 ways. I give people limited information on bankruptcy and sometimes can suggest other ways to cope. Second, the interview gets people on the road to help when they literally don’t know where to turn. Finally, my interviews give ALS staff lawyers more time for their caseloads.

I began lunch-hour volunteering several years ago when I worked for the State and could not take pro bono cases or volunteer during work hours. Evalyn Anderson, a State lawyer who’s screened bankruptcy clients on her lunch hour for several years, suggested I try it. Now I’ve moved back into private practice, but a lunch hour still easily fits into my schedule. Andy Nason, who has a Charleston bankruptcy practice and also does lunch hour screenings, gave me tips on interviewing bankruptcy applicants. The ALS receptionist calls when the first applicant arrives, and I’m close enough so I work at my office until a client is there for me.

In addition to bankruptcy screenings, West Virginia’s legal aid services have other needs that limited-time pro bono lawyers can meet, and they’ll offer or arrange for help in areas unfamiliar to a volunteer. Some lawyers volunteer to spend a morning every few months to do initial interviews, give advice, and recommend which cases should receive direct representation. And if you don’t feel you can volunteer to take an entire case, consider scheduling lunch at legal aid!

About the Author
Ms. Archibald is a lawyer with the law firm of Kesner, Kesner & Bramble in Charleston.