4 minute read
Help Wanted
You Can Make a Difference by Volunteering to Represent Tenants Facing Eviction
BY BILL CHRISTIAN
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If you’re looking for a pro bono opportunity where your work contributes to immediate change in the community, then you should consider the Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas (VLS) Eviction Docket Program. This volunteer opportunity offers a chance to do high-impact work in cases that do not require an extensive time commitment and with plenty of help from VLS.
VLS’s Eviction Docket Program serves low-income tenants facing eviction in Travis County JP courts by matching tenants, over Zoom, with volunteer attorneys. There is currently a “huge need” for attorneys to volunteer to help with the program, according to Carl Guthrie, the housing stability staff attorney at VLS.
The need for lawyers stems from a recent rise in eviction filings, as various measures to prevent evictions during the pandemic expire. Over the course of the pandemic, residential evictions were suspended or limited by the CARES Act, emergency orders from the Texas Supreme Court, or executive decrees by local governments. In addition, the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs instituted a statewide “eviction diversion program” to provide rental and utility financial assistance to eligible tenants and landlords. These extraordinary measures to reduce the number of evictions during the pandemic have ended or are expected to end by March 1. As a result, the number of eviction cases have already begun to climb, leaving many Central Texans in danger of losing their homes and unable to afford the services of a lawyer to represent them.
Through the program, volunteer lawyers appear by Zoom for the eviction docket of one of the local justices of the peace. A defendant facing eviction who appears pro se, wants the assistance of a lawyer, and meets the program’s financial eligibility guidelines is matched with a volunteer attorney to provide advice and representation in the eviction proceeding. Everything takes place over Zoom, including any court appearances.
Abby Griffith, a lawyer at Jackson Walker, has been a volunteer with the Eviction Docket Program since it first formed early in the pandemic. Last autumn, when VLS sought law firms to agree to provide volunteers on a regular basis, she helped coordinate a group of ten Jackson Walker attorneys, who have agreed to provide at least three lawyers to staff an eviction docket on a regular basis. Griffith reports that the eviction cases resolve quickly, within a week or two, and almost all by settlement.
And no matter how brief, an attorney’s representation can make a significant impact. Just slowing the eviction process down can be a huge benefit for a tenant, allowing a few crucial days to find alternative housing. A settlement can also avoid the stigma of an eviction on someone’s record, thus protecting a tenant’s ability to rent in the future.
Marc Vockell, Assistant General Counsel for the University of Texas System, is another local attorney who has agreed to volunteer on a regular basis. He says the program is a good opportunity for younger lawyers to gain valuable experience because you get time before a judge and get to work one-on-one with a client.
No prior experience with landlord-tenant law is necessary. Attorneys who commit to the program have access to eviction-law materials available on demand, and a VLS staff attorney is present at every Zoom eviction docket to assist. “You’re going to be a little uncomfortable at first doing something new—that’s part of being a lawyer,” says Vockell. “But VLS staff is there to help you every step of the way.”
In a recent opinion piece in The New York Times titled “It Should Take More Than 10 Minutes to Evict Someone,” Chief Justice Hecht of the Texas Supreme Court praised the eviction reforms that were introduced over the course of the pandemic. He expressed the hope that these reforms could outlast the pandemic, in order to achieve “a common goal: to create an opportunity for all litigants—tenants and landlords—to have the time and resources to resolve their housing problems in the least harmful way possible.” Lawyers can help achieve that goal by volunteering to represent tenants in the VLS Eviction Docket Program. To sign up, e-mail Carl Guthrie (VLS housing stability staff attorney) at cguthrie@vlsoct. org. AL
Bill Christian is an attorney at Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody and cochair of the Pro Bono Committee of the Austin Bar Association.
