austinbar.org NOVEMBER 2020 | VOLUME 29, NUMBER 9
One Veteran's Story: How the Austin Bar’s Free Legal Advice Clinic for Veterans Saved Me from Homelessness
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ince the inception of the Austin Bar Association’s Free Legal Advice Clinic for Veterans in 2010, the clinic has helped 4,470 veterans and their families with a wide variety of legal issues. In the past year alone, the clinic has utilized 137 volunteers to serve 500 veterans. Even in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, Austin Bar veteran’s legal assistance program staff attorney Doug Lawrence and program coordinator Isabel Salazar have worked tirelessly to ensure that veterans who need legal assistance will not go unaided. Clinics are normally held each month at the Austin VA Outpatient Clinic. In-person clinics were suspended until at least early 2021, necessitating the shift to an online format. Virtual phone clinics have been held monthly since June, with the next scheduled for Nov. 19, 2020. The final virtual phone clinic for the year will be held on Dec. 14, 2020. Every one of the veterans who seek help from these clinics has a story. And quite often, the plotline of the story is complicated by legal matters that seem overwhelming to a veteran unequipped to fight battles of a
Mr. LaMair has been a lifesaver and a Godsend to me. I am so thankful for this program that allowed me to receive the help I so desperately needed. I can’t imagine what I would have done without this program and Mr. LaMair. legal nature. Through the Free Legal Advice Clinic for Veterans, they get the help and support needed to resolve their issues. The volunteer attorneys provide knowledge and expertise to untangle the obstacles—sometime minor, sometimes life-threatening —that stand between them and a happy and productive life. One such veteran, with one such story, is U.S. Army Sergeant Gloria Gay Armke. And the hero of her story is Free Legal Advice Clinic for Veterans attorney volunteer Trey LaMair. LaMair began assisting Sgt. Armke in early 2019 with a lawsuit against the builder of her tiny home. In a letter to the Austin Bar, this is Sgt. Armke’s story, in her own words (edited for length): To Whom It May Concern: My name is Gloria Gay Armke. I’m writing to you in regards
to the Austin Bar’s Free Legal Advice Clinic for Veterans at the VA Outpatient Clinic. In the fall of 2017, I signed a contract with a builder in Goliad to build a tiny house for me. It was going to take between three to six months to build. I had no experience with builders in the past. I had always rented or lived on post, being a soldier and moving around. I was told that he could do anything I wanted, that it would be custom built! After 20 months, my house was still sitting there, unfinished. I had been going to see the progress off and on during this time. Finally, the last time my sister and I went, we drove into Goliad when we left the factory and talked to the JP, who directed me to the Constable about what I was going through with this builder. They looked into the problem and informed me that they had problems with this particular person in the past. Then, that following Monday, I walked into the VA and signed into the Free Legal Advice Clinic for Veterans. Surprisingly, I only waited about 10 minutes and was called in to meet with a contract lawyer,
Trey LaMair. We sat down and I told him my story and he explained what he could do for me. Little did I know how much help he would provide. This man took the bull by the horns and pursued the builder consistently by filing court documents and doing everything necessary for my case. He continues to do so still. My house was delivered to me in April 2019. It was not livable, but I had my house. I borrowed money to make it livable and moved in last August. Over the past year, Mr. LaMair has filed many court documents, taken the builder to court, and won my case. He continues to pursue him, when needed. The builder has been ordered to pay back a percentage of the money he took from me and for the mental and financial damage he caused to me by not being true to the contract we signed. Mr. LaMair has been a lifesaver and a Godsend to me. I continued on page 9
