PTLA a Strong and Lasting Partner to VIP

This article is reprinted with permission from
Wednesday, May 29, 2007 issue of
The Legal Intelligencer © 2007 NLP IP Company.
Further duplication without permission is prohibited.
All rights reserved.

Ouraina Papademetriou, Managing Attorney
Philadelphia VIP

Philadelphia VIP is the agency that helps to provide free legal representation by volunteer attorneys and other members of the legal community to low-income clients who cannot be represented by other legal services or public interest organizations. For many of our clients, having access to legal representation can make the difference in whether they can stay in their home, maintain their job, and keep their family together and secure. It is often the last hope for help a low-income Philadelphian has to turn to for assistance in matters involving consumer litigation, child custody, child support, divorce, estate planning, immigration, landlord tenant, real estate, tax and tort defense. Most of our clients have already gone to Community Legal Services, Philadelphia Legal Assistance, or the other legal services and public interest organizations that try their best to help everyone that comes to them every day for help. Unfortunately, there just are not enough resources available to help everyone, and Philadelphia VIP does what it can to help fill the vast unmet need for assistance and representation by reaching out to volunteers to become involved.

The Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association answered that call to become involved and its strong commitment to help is a model that deserves to be emulated and celebrated. It was in November, 2004, when Sharon Browning, then the director of Philadelphia VIP, was invited to address the board of directors of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association at one of its lunch meetings. She was asked to talk a little about the work that VIP does. After hearing her describe how VIP strives every day to provide crucial legal services to low-income Philadelphians, the association, headed by its then president James J. McEldrew, III, made a pledge that it will take 100 cases per year through VIP. This commitment to actually provide much-needed legal assistance has helped make a lasting and important difference in the lives of the clients we serve.

Since Mr. McEldrew, the association's presidents, Samuel H. Pond and currently John M. Dodig, have continued to work hard to live up to the challenge of encouraging the association's lawyers to donate their professional time to take cases to help our clients free of charge. In a partnership that we know we can count on, as cases are referred to us from the various legal service and public interest organizations, we look to the members of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association to do what they can to help. They circulate summaries of available cases on their association's listserv and send out calls to handle emergencies that invariably arise in cases involving our clients. The level of commitment has been unwavering, and we appreciate the professionalism and dedication of the members of the oldest trial lawyer organization in Pennsylvania in helping to protect the rights of our clients.

It takes all of members of the Philadelphia legal community working together to make a difference. As the example of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association shows, by making a firm commitment to help, and partnering with a legal services organization that provides assistance to low-income Philadelphians, a system can be developed that can truly work to help those in need have equal access to the legal system.

Philadelphia VIP has been at the forefront of promoting equal access to justice and providing pro bono legal services in the Philadelphia community for the past 25 years. Philadelphia VIP is happy to develop a partnership with any group that wants to participate in a program that works to increase the legal services that are available to our clients. We can work to provide CLE-credited training in areas of the law important to our clients' lives, provide mentors to help answer questions as they arise in the course of the representation, and be available to help with any technical assistance needed.

A critical area of need in our community is legal representation in family law cases. Over 80% of litigants in the Family Court Domestic Relations Branch here in Philadelphia are unrepresented. They bring their pressing issues involving child custody, child support and divorce without having adequate understanding of the law and procedure. They need help from an attorney who is representing them to protect their rights and interests in these important matters. Many attorneys are hesitant to volunteer in family law cases because they are apprehensive that they lack knowledge and experience. In VIP's ongoing role in helping to meet the legal needs of our community, a training, Divorce Practice in Philadelphia, is scheduled to take place on Thursday, June 7th. It is being held right at the Family Court building at 34 South 11th Street, and is being taught by a premier faculty: the Honorable Idee C. Fox, Judge of the Family Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, the two Divorce Masters that address every divorce filed in Philadelphia County, Dennis L. O’Connell and Anthony T. Vanore, and the former Philadelphia VIP board president and family law practitioner, Michael E. Fingerman. This training will set forth everything a volunteer needs to know to be effective in representing a client in a VIP divorce case and will include a tour of the Family Court facility conducted by Judge Fox, materials written by Master O’Connell, and two CLE credits. The CLE credits are free to anyone willing to accept a VIP divorce case within six months of the training date. For someone wanting to help in an important way that can make a vital difference in the life of a family in Philadelphia, attending this training is one way to start.

There are many requests each day for free legal assistance from low-income Philadelphians seeking help in areas jeopardizing their well-being. Our volunteers are essential to making a difference in our clients' lives and we invite you to contact us, just as the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association did in 2004, to learn how all together we can do what we can to help. Each of us working together with one another can help increase access to equal justice under law for all members of our community.

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