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Community Involvement | Pro Bono
 
The goals of this program are to provide legal services to disadvantaged persons who would not ordinarily have access to such services and to develop a reputation for MMM as a leader in providing legal assistance to the surrounding community.

The Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, Inc.
("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.

Women's Initiative Domestic Violence Project
The firm's Women's Initiative is part of the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation's Domestic Violence Project. Attorneys represent victims of domestic violence at their civil temporary protective order hearings. In these cases, victims have already filed a petition for a temporary protective order, have received an ex parte order from a judge, and have now requested representation at their evidentiary hearing. MMM attorneys receive a pre-screened case from AVLF that includes the petition, the order, and an intake questionnaire and then make contact with their clients, prepare the cases, and represent the clients in court to obtain 12-month temporary protective orders.

More than 20 MMM attorneys volunteer with the Domestic Violence Project. In addition to representing victims in court, the firm has organized toy drives to benefit local domestic violence shelters.

Georgia Innocence Project
For more than a year now, MMM has been one of the largest supporters of the Georgia Innocence Project ("GIP") in the Atlanta legal community. The GIP's mission statement is "To free the wrongly prosecuted through the use of DNA testing. To advance practices that minimize the chances that others suffer the same fate. To educate the public that wrongful convictions are not isolated or rare events. To help the exonerated rebuild their lives." MMM has donated over 563 hours over the past year, which included more than 45 MMM volunteers. MMM attorneys, staff, and interns have filed habeas petitions, worked on going case investigations, helped with fundraising, and much more. MMM's Managing Partner, Bob Saudek serves on the GIP's Board of Directors. Since 2002, the GIP has helped exonerate 4 wrongly convicted prisoners in the State of Georgia.



 

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