MMM - Community Involvement

("AVLF") is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing pro bono representation to low-income individuals, who live in Fulton County or who have a case that can be resolved in Fulton County. Created in 1979 through the joint efforts of the Atlanta Council of Young Lawyers, the Gate City Bar Association, and the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, AVLF now has a roster of well over 1000 volunteer attorneys, law students, and paraprofessionals, who assist clients through a number of different programs. The Saturday Lawyers Program functions as a collaborative effort between AVLF and the Atlanta Legal Aid Society ("ALAS"). It is through the Saturday Lawyers Program that a majority of AVLF's eligible clients receive representation. Each week, staff attorneys from AVLF and ALAS prescreen clients for financial and geographical eligibility and review each case to ensure that the client has an appropriate legal problem. Eligible clients are subsequently scheduled for a Saturday Lawyer's Program meeting and assigned to a volunteer attorney. The types of cases assigned to volunteers include assisting clients in cases involving consumer issues, contract issues, car purchases, repairs and repossessions, debt relief, privatized and subsidized housing, landlord and tenant disputes, wage claims, education issues and problems involving real or personal property.

The firm also provides limited legal assistance to Sheltering Arms, one of Atlanta's oldest, largest, and arguably the most respected non-profit childcare providers. The Sheltering Arms organization is described in greater detail in the Community Involvement section of this website. The firm credits each associate with up to fifty (50) hours of pro bono legal service per year towards such associate's billable hour goal.