Coles-Cumberland Bar Association Lawyers Run Mandatory Pro Bono Program to Help the Underserved Population

Tweet

Imagine you’re a lawyer in a rural part of Illinois, and you learn that the local office of your legal services organization may close because of budget cuts, leaving many economically-disadvantaged people without free legal representation.

It happened in Coles and Cumberland Counties. The Mattoon office of the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation (LOLLAF) faced closure, but ISBA lawyers and members of the Coles-Cumberland Bar Association decided they could not let that happen.

The bar association took an unprecedented move. They determined that it was the responsibility of its members to help, in an organized way, those low-income persons in the counties who might otherwise be deprived of representation in civil legal matters.

So the membership voted to put a mandatory pro bono program in place. The program required that each member provide ten hours per year of assistance to one or more low-income clients referred by LOLLAF. In lieu of accepting cases, the members could pay an annual opt-out fee of $250.

It worked. LOLLAF ended up not closing its Mattoon office and in fact, adding an experienced, part-time attorney to handle cases. Even so, the bar association has continued its mandatory pro bono program. Volunteer lawyers have taken on an average of 35 civil cases each year. Members who paid the opt-out fee saw their financial contributions go to LOLLAF.

It should come as no surprise that the lawyers of the Coles-Cumberland Bar Association have won awards for their selfless service to the bar.