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Oklahoma Bar Association Annual Meeting - Members Recognized
January Birthday Celebrations?
We value your membership and we want to wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We are striving to take care of our members as well as taking care of the community. If there’s anything we can do to help you, please let us know. We are here to support your business and we want you to be successful. By being a member of the TCBA, you are also a member of the Tulsa County Bar Foundation. The Foundation owns the Association building and the building next to it. The rentals received from those two buildings help in the maintenance of those buildings. However, a general rule, the funds that come into the Foundation are the result of a fundraising event for our community and the monies raised are immediately distributed back out into the community through non-profit organizations. In an effort to assist the Foundation, we have implemented a monthly “Fund the Foundation” program. We’re asking each member who has a birthday this month to consider making a donation to the Foundation. You can do so with the QR Code below.
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If you are not currently a Fellow, please consider joining that program. As a thank you (and let’s be honest, an encouragement to other members), if you donate before the 10th of January, we will include a shout out to you in the February Tulsa Lawyer Magazine. If you wish to donate or joint the Fellows program, please contact Tami Williams or Julie Rivers and they can assist you. Again, we value your membership and if you need anything, please let us know. Happy Birthday and wishes for a wonderful year ahead. Sincerely, Kara Vincent, TCBA President
Street Law (NEW)
There is a new joint committee initiative underway that aims to provide legal life skills and mentorship to middle and high school students from west and north Tulsa through the Zone afterschool program. We plan to launch in the spring and are looking for lawyers, legal educators, and paralegals, who can assist with providing already prepared law lessons. The time commitment is one-two hours. Contact Tami Williams if you are interested in joining this joint committee to plan and check out our big announcement in the January issue.
CAP Volunteers
The FED docket runs Monday thru Thursday from 2-5p and the Pro Bono Committee is always looking for volunteers. Earn one hour of CLE credit by watching the virtual training.
CAP Phone Bank (NEW)
CAP is now offering a phone consultation option for anyone who wants to assist the CAP program. People in need can call the LRS line and get paired with a participating attorney for a 30 minute phone consultation only related to evictions or landlord/tenant issues. Be sure to check out the new Landlord Tenant Resource Page on the TCBA website!
Afghan Evacuee Pro Bono Project (NEW)
In the wake of the United States ending the war in Afghanistan, the state of Oklahoma has agreed to welcome the third highest number of Afghan evacuees who assisted with the U.S. mission there. The Tulsa region is welcoming more than 850 of these evacuees and allies, who are going to need to apply for and be granted asylum within a year or face the prospects of being removed. This situation presents a challenge and need that the legal community here in Tulsa must step up to meet.
Catholic Charities, the YWCA, and the TU Legal Clinic have been tasked with resettling, screening, and integrating our new Afghan neighbors, as well as helping them file for asylum with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services so they can stay here. They especially need attorneys to volunteer to help file the asylum applications in order to bring relief to our Afghan friends. Training will be provided for attorneys and prior experience with immigration law is not required. If you would like more information on how you can help, please contact Kojo Asamoa-Caesar at kasamoa-caesar@ cceok.org or Alex Gavern at agavern@ywcatulsa.org.
First Responders Will Clinic
Estate Planning Attorney Volunteers Needed to Prepare Simple Wills. This clinic aims to provide Simple Wills at no cost to those who are on the front lines every day providing much needed services in our community. You may set a limit to the number of clients you are willing to help. A timeline of the proposed clinic is below. Timeline: Registration Opens April 4, 2022 First responders will contact the TCBA staff to register. Those who qualify will be provided with an intake form to answer and return. TCBA staff will assign a volunteer attorney to each accepted client and share that information with both parties.
Virtual/phone Interviews April 4-29, 2022 Sometime between receiving the intake form and April 28th, the volunteer attorney should hold a virtual or teleconference with the client to discuss and finalize details of the Will.
Volunteers should plan to spend approximately 3060 minutes with each client to get a comprehensive and basic Will finalized. We will be preparing only Simple Wills for the first responders and no other estate planning documents or Wills for family members of first responders.
Document Execution May 6, 2022 Registrants may come to the Bar Center in person to meet with the attorney to finalize the Will by appointment. TCBA staff can register first responders to meet with his/her assigned attorney unless the attorney choses otherwise. For example, if a volunteer attorney prefers to have the client come to his/her office, we support and appreciate that. However, if you are an attorney who would prefer to do this at the Bar Center during a scheduled time, staff will be available to assist.