Pro Bono Project

PRO BONO SPOTLIGHT By: Mary Frances DeVoe

Pro Bono Attorney Legal Aid of East Tennessee, Chattanooga

PRO BONO SPOTLIGHT

Serving the Legal Community in Assisting Low-Income Persons To Navigate the Justice System

Well, here we are again, one month into another new year and I’m back to try and convince you that it’s not too late to commit to taking more pro bono cases as part of your New Year’s resolutions.

“New year, new you” is the motto of every well-intentioned person as the clock strikes midnight on December 31. The New Year inspires new beginnings, new goals, new challenges, maybe even a new outlook. Thus, the new year is the perfect excuse to start something: go to the gym more, lose weight, read more books, learn a new skill, spend less money, get organized, the list goes on and on.

We all know that the first few days are easy. Energized by the New Year and the opportunities it brings, we happily shuffle ourselves to the gym, buy the tools for a new hobby, make a budget, etc. But, by the end of January, getting to the gym has become a chore, we’ve lost one of those tools we need for our new hobby, or we spent too much money on a new pair of shoes we didn’t need. Just remember, you’re in good company! According to a 2015 study conducted by the University of Scranton, by the second week of February, 80% of resolutions have failed.1

As I write this, we are headed into the second Saturday of January. Given this article is appearing in the February issue of DICTA and will probably arrive in your mailbox right around the second week of the month, it is safe to say my audience has also failed to keep their New Year’s resolution. Maybe time was your excuse, or exhaustion, a bad mood, perhaps even circumstances outside of your control. The point is, at one moment or another over the last month and a half we fell off the New Year’s resolution bandwagon.

If you are an avid reader of this column, you may recall that my 2022 resolution was to read 30 minutes every day. You may also recall that I failed one week into the NewYear. Resolutions are hard! This year, I’ve gone in a different direction. Rather than create a New Year’s resolution, I’ve done something very millennial which is create a “vision board.” Mostly it’s a lot of pictures, places I want to travel to in 2023, concerts I want to go to, aesthetically pleasing shots of time well spent. However, there are a few “words of wisdom” in this vision board of mine. The few I think are relevant to this piece are a note on how to schedule your month & a poem by the late Mary Oliver.

I won’t make you endure the entirety of how some random internet person thinks you should schedule your month or “Three Things to Remember” by Mary Oliver2 (although I do highly recommend her work). So, I’ll just skip to the good parts. According to this random internet person, you should spend one day a month serving others. And, in “Three Things to Remember,” Mary would like to remind you that “sometimes there are no rules.”

Last year I argued that the reason the New Year’s resolution you made for yourself on January 1st, 2022, failed was because it was self-serving. I still think that’s true. The fact of the matter is that it is easy to make an excuse not to follow through on our resolutions for self-improvement because they are, for lack of a better word, selfish. Moreover, often the excuses we make signal that we are prioritizing things outside ourselves like our job, children, spouse, friends, church, etc. These excuses work because they favor community connection over solitary self-improvement.

I’m not pointing this out to shame you, in fact, I have a proposition for you: let’s try again, New Year’s resolution 2.0! Sure, it’s February, but remember “sometimes there are no rules.” Afterall, a resolution is just “a firm decision to do or not do something.” This time, however, I think our “firm decision” should be to spend one day serving others.

Notice I didn’t say one day a month serving others, I’m just asking for one day out of your year. It could be a full 24 hours, it could just be a workday, it could be 12 hours- but one day, serving others. I know you will be shocked to discover that I have a recommendation on how you should spend that one day. Ready? Take more pro bono cases and volunteer at more clinics.

On average, it takes about 5 hours to handle a conservatorship case- intake to hearing. In 12 hours, you could do two of them and still spend 2 hours at a clinic. Our clinics require anywhere from 1-4 hours from you. In 24 hours, you could participate in 12 and serve two dozen members of our community.

East Tennesseans need your help, they need your skill, they need your time, they need you to help them navigate a court/legal system that isn’t designed for those without representation. Pro bono work, volunteers, and attorneys are essential to providing legal assistance to the 13.6 percent of Tennesseans who live in poverty3 .

In 2021, our office helped 11,653 individuals and created $73.7 million in economic impact for East Tennessee.4 That is a direct and provable affect on your community. I don’t know about you, but I am way more likely to maintain my New Year’s resolution if I see a $73.7 million result.

It might be too late for a “new year, new you” but it isn’t too late for a 2023 New Year’s Resolution 2.0. You have 8,760 hours in a year, why not give 24 of those to someone who needs you and those skills you worked so hard in law school to develop. If you are interested in taking a case or volunteering for a clinic, email CTorney@laet.org or check out Pro Bono Matters on our website: www.laet.org.

1 https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/articles/2015-12-29/why80-percent-of-new-years-resolutions-fail 2 https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/10079072-three-things-to-remember-aslong-as-you-re-dancing-you 3 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/TN/IPE120220#IPE120220 4 https://www.laet.org/laet-annual-report-2021/

Upcoming Clinic Opportunities

Faith and Justice Clinic: In person at City Church, 522 Sevier Ave in Knoxville, Saturday February 4th from 9am- noon.

Legal Advice Clinic for Veterans: In person at the Public Defender’s Community Law Office at 1101 Liberty Street in Knoxville. Phone advice options available. • Wednesday, February 8th Noon – 2pm • Wednesday, March 8th Noon – 2pm • To sign up, please use the form on the KBA Website or email ctorney@laet.org.

Debt Relief Clinic: In person at the Public Defender’s Community Law Office at 1101 Liberty Street in Knoxville. • Saturday February 11th 9:00am - Noon

Black-Owned Business Legal Advice Clinic: In person at the Knoxville Area Urban League, 1514 E. 5th Ave. • Thursday, February 16th from 4pm-7pm.