Talk to a Lawyer Today event seeks volunteers

The annual Talk to a Lawyer Today event will take place on Jan. 17 at locations around the state. While the free CLE opportunities took place in late 2010, volunteers who want to participate may do so if they didn’t attend the CLE.

Those who participate in the event will have access to “Commonly Asked Questions about Indiana Law,” which they will be able to reference during their TTALT volunteer experience. The Indianapolis Bar Association has partnered with event organizers since the statewide program started in 2002 to provide this book at no cost to volunteers.

Various local bar associations have also helped offset the cost of CLE and the  event itself. The St. Joseph County Bar Association has helped promote this and other Ask a Lawyer events that Pro Bono District 2 has organized; the Evansville Bar Association has consistently supported the Volunteer Lawyer Program of Southwestern Indiana, that has a monthly Ask a Lawyer event and will have volunteers help with its Wills Project on Jan. 17; the Allen County Bar hosted the CLE for the Volunteer Lawyer Project of Northeast Indiana and has supported the Talk to a Lawyer Today event in Pro Bono District 3; and the Lake County Bar Association has supported Northwest Indiana Volunteer Lawyers Inc. with donations and promotion of the event in Pro Bono District 1.

While there is a waiting list for volunteers for the call center at the Indiana State Bar Association offices, which is overseen by the plan administrator for the Heartland Pro Bono Council, interested attorneys in other districts can still call their local pro bono district plan administrators for more information or to sign up to volunteer. Contact information is available at http://www.in.gov/judiciary/probono under “Information for attorneys.”

Last year, programs around the state helped more than 900 people who had legal questions, many of which were resolved within 15 minutes. The most common questions regarded family law, criminal law, estate and probate, real estate, and landlord/tenant issues.